how to make money from photography

Making Money From Photography

Andrew Mason36exp Photographers’ School

www.36exp.co.uk

Agenda• Summary of ways to make money from photography• Where to look for work• How to start from scratch and build a portfolio• How to develop your portfolio• Importance of developing a style• Website development options• How to get found on the web• Intro to social media for photographers• How to make customers happy• Basic sales and marketing techniques• Non-creative considerations• Can you go full time?

Ways to make money from photography

Andrew Mason36exp Photographers’ School

www.36exp.co.uk

What are they?

• Stock

• Portraits

• Weddings

• Travel

• Interiors

• News

What are they?

• Photojournalism

• Art

• Estate agents

• Google Business View

• Cars

• Product

What are they?

• Commercial

• Fashion

• Schools

• Events

• Corporate

• Competitions

Where to look for work

Andrew Mason36exp Photographers’ School

www.36exp.co.uk

Where to look for work

• BJP website

• People Per Hour

• Photographers.co.uk

• Artsjobs.co.uk

• Demandstudios.com

• Gumtree.com

• Photographers’ agencies

How to start from scratch and build a

portfolio

Andrew Mason36exp Photographers’ School

www.36exp.co.uk

What’s in your portfolio?

• Photos that represent what you can do

• Photos that represent the type of work you want to do?

• Your favourite photos?

• Your holiday snaps?

• Your cat?

What should be in your portfolio

• Do your photos look professional?

• Do your photos look amateur?

• How many photos?

• Who is your target?

• Is your portfolio for personal pleasure or to find work?

How to start your portfolio

• Who’s going to pay you to build your portfolio?

• Will you work for free?

• Can you assist?

• Second shooting

• Hiring models

• Hiring studios

• Work in a group

How to start your portfolio

• Join groups and clubs

• Take part in workshops

• Gain skills

• Working for free is valuable experience

• Get used to dealing with clients

• Make mistakes

• Gain confidence

How to start your portfolio

• Get feedback

• Work for charity as a volunteer

• Only max 2 or 3 shots of each person in your portfolio

• Needs variety

• Decide what to specialise in

• Don’t turn anything down

Develop your style and portfolio

Andrew Mason36exp Photographers’ School

www.36exp.co.uk

How to develop your portfolio

• You can’t please everyone

• Decide on an area to specialise in

• E.g. food, product, portrait

• Some are related e.g. portrait and wedding

• But, food and wedding?

• Too many subjects will confuse your clients

How to develop your portfolio

• Be brutal, you’ll have to cull some images

• Don’t include your holiday photos or your cat

• Stand out from the crowd (in a good way)

Develop a style

• Who are your favourite photographers

• Why do you like them?

• Take inspiration

• What is a style?

• Takes time to develop, and constantly evolves

• People need to know what they’ll get from you

• Not everyone will like your style, but enough should

Website development

options

36exp Photographers’ Schoolwww.36exp.co.uk

Build your own or off the shelf?

• Off the shelf packages:• Clikpic, Layerspace, Squarespace, Zenfolio

• Build your own:• Wordpress is most accessible

• Flickr, 500px?

• Domain name and email address

• What functionality do you need?

How to get found on the web

Andrew Mason36exp Photographers’ School

www.36exp.co.uk

Content and links

• Content is king

• Keyword research

• Keyword competition

• Go for long tail keywords

• Titles and meta

Content and links

• Image alt tags

• Build links

• Get social

• Analytics

Intro to social media for photographers

Andrew Mason36exp Photographers’ School

www.36exp.co.uk

Build a following

• Pick your channels – Facbeook , Twitter, G+ as a minimum

• Set up FB business page

• Pinterest, Instagram

• Share stories & helpful info

• Don’t sell

Build a following

• Follow and engage influencers

• Build organically

• Tag people

• Get reviews

Make customers happy!

Andrew Mason36exp Photographers’ School

www.36exp.co.uk

Customer delight

• An unhappy customer will tell 7 people, a happy customer will probably tell no one

• Always exceed expectations

• Under promise, over deliver

• Don’t reply instantly to bad emails

• Be nice

Basic sales and marketing techniques

Andrew Mason36exp Photographers’ School

www.36exp.co.uk

Sales

• Identify needs

• Build rapport

• Ask questions

• State benefits, not facts

• Ask for the booking

• Get contact details and follow up

Marketing

• Create a brand

• What makes you unique?

• Why should people choose you?

• Communicate your strengths

• Create a brand name and / or logo

• Control what you publish

Marketing

• Create promotional materials

• Send follow up emails

• Identify your target market

• Where do they go?

• Hit them 3 times

• Consistently be there

Marketing

• Create a marketing plan

• Don’t expect instant results

• People are not always ready to buy

• Always follow up

• Stay in touch

• Create content and stories

• Network

Pricing

• Should match your offering and your target

• Too cheap = low quality

• Too expensive = no customers

Non-creative considerations

Andrew Mason36exp Photographers’ School

www.36exp.co.uk

Legal and above board

• Finances• Tax• Sole Trader / Ltd Company• Bank account• Record keeping

• Insurance• Your equipment• Yourself

Sole Trader

• As freelance photographer, sole trader is probably the best option

• You are the business, not an employee

• Simpler and cheaper to administer than a ltd company

• Register as a sole trader with HMRC

• You will need to complete a tax return every year

Ltd Company

• You own shares in the company and are it’s employee

• Pay yourself an income from the company

• May be more tax efficient

• Need an accountant

• More admin and cost

Be Organised

• Have a separate bank account

• Keep records of income and all business related outgoings

• Sole trader – self assessment is easy if your records are up to date and you are organised, but painful if not

• Ltd co – accountant will do accounts and tax return

Tax

• If you have another job all photography income will be taxed, could be at 40%

• You will pay your tax as soon as your tax return is done, deadline is 30 Jan for previous financial year

• Save a % of your photography income for tax, it can add up

• VAT is only chargeable if you have turnover of over £80,000

Insurance

• Camera Equipment – insurance for personal use probably doesn’t cover business use

• Check locations covered

• Personal liability

• Professional indemnity

Can you go full time?

Andrew Mason36exp Photographers’ School

www.36exp.co.uk

A salary?

• How much do you need to live on?

• How many jobs can you get per week?

• How much can you charge for each job?