How To Become A 17-Year-Old Freelance Photographer

[kodiak]

OP, do you do mainly 'Event Photography' or sell stock photos?
by events, i mean local events, shoots for races, fetes, familys... which are then sold directly to relatives/friends/participants... (defn might even exclude weddings, which are a bit different)

-looked at your website, seems to be a mix, but unsure which ones you actually sell more of.

i think event photography is rather a different market to studio based.
quality can (not saying they are ) be lower, and also price usually is too, aim is to sell many shots in one outing.

with event photos i thought, key to success in this, is getting the right events, and agreements with organiser - particularly good events are ones involving children/pets. then making sure you get pictures of everyone/thing.

i think event photography is not as difficult to get into, in the uk you can buy a franchise to get you going,
perhaps a good place to start for youngsters?

 

[jelloshotsrule]

All I can say is, the customer is getting what he/she is paying for....

Too bad.

great post!

keep up the good work peter, it's awesome to see such motivation and obvious business sense at such a young age. i wish i had your motivation.

 

[Applespider]

All I can say is, the customer is getting what he/she is paying for....

Too bad.

Did you even read the line at the top where he says

I know, I know. These are absolutely terrible. And no, they weren't sold to anyone. But I do want to give you guys an idea of where I started and where I am today.

Since he seems to be into multipart posts, I imagine that his Picture Gallery 1 is where he started and his next post will show some of his better pictures.

Incidentally, having seem some 'special event' snapshots by family members, these at least have both horse and rider in them without having part cut-off or being entirely blurry.

 

[Clix Pix]

I always look forward to your posts, as your photos are extremely good (although your posts are a bit harsh... ).

Anyway, hopefully as I post more and more photos in the 'Picture of the Day' thread and this thread, you'll offer some constructive criticism - I would truly appreciate it.

For now, though, let's be humane .

Sometimes I do come across a bit too bluntly....sorry about that!

Yes, I'll be interested in seeing how you do with your new camera and gear!

The POTD thread is a fun one for all of us and a great way to share progress!

 

[Clix Pix]

Peters Photography is not my job. I work at Sears - Sears is my 30+ hour per week job. Obviously, I pay taxes on the money I make from Sears - comparatively, Peters Photography's income is much less. I'm not quite sure what the laws are, but in Colorado I believe there is a minimum 2000 dollar annual amount before you have to file for income taxes if you are under 17 per job.

If you are already working and are being taxed on earned income, you had better take a good look at federal, state and local tax laws to be sure that you are not doing something that could be regarded as illegal. The fact that you have a website advertising "Peters Photography" with your prices and such makes it all too easy for the revenue boys to come after you if they think you're running a business without proper licensing and raking in loads extra "under the table." This is a little different situation than the kid who babysits from time to time and doesn't declare that income in addition to his or her job at a supermarket.

While I know some of us on here sound like fuddy-duddies or bitter or jaded, we are also coming from the perspective of experience -- not necessarily just years of experience in photography, but years of experience in life, in the working world, in the world where we sit down every March and calculate how much Uncle Sam is extorting from us come April 15th.... and we pay real estate taxes, pay to keep a roof over our heads and food in our families' mouths, etc., etc. Those who are in business for themselves are mindful of all the p's and q's of such a venture.

You seem like a smart, ambitious young man, so take some time now to be sure that you are doing everything legally and aboveboard, getting a business license if it is required, paying the necessary taxes, etc. It's not as simple as putting up a website advertising a "business" and charging people for your photos...

Oh -- and keep taking photos, whether or not you are paid for them, as you do show promise.

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

2004 : Signs of Improvement

How To Become A 17-Year-Old Freelance Photographer : Picture Gallery Two

Now, I recognize that the quality in the shots below is still very, very low - we're talking around 2.5 megapixels . But, the technique clearly improved over the shots I was taking in 2003.

Still, it requires very little skill to take pictures of horses jumping - at least, when your using continuous shutter mode. On my Minolta DiMage 7i, I could take 7 frames per second - effectively sucking out all the skill that was required in taking shots of horses jumping. Today, I use a Nikon D50; while it is a much better camera, it is much more difficult to take pictures with, as its continuous shutter mode is far too slow to take pictures of horses jumping.

Anyway, here's a look at the pictures I was taking in 2004 (now, these are pictures of a white horse - which, believe it or not, turn out much, much better than pictures of darker horses - this is one of my best 2004 shots, so you can see how much room I still had for improvement! )

As you can see, the background was very distracting - sure, sometimes busy backgrounds are inevitable, but in this case, it's really inexcusable...

2.5 megapixel shots made cropping effectively impossible - as you can see, this shot would have benefited tremendously with a bit of cropping around the sides...

Because I had a strong desire to get better (I was only 15 at this time), I decided to practice on my dogs as well (you'll enjoy these shots! ):

My Jack Russel Terrier, "Pika"

My Weiner Dog, "Heidi"

Hopefully you're beginning to see that my biggest problem was not only the resolution of the pictures, but the 'blur' that the continuous shutter mode produced. Some of the pictures I took at horse shows were so dissapointingly blurry that I never even made them available for sale. Clearly, a new technique or camera was in my future...

 

[dextertangocci]

...A number of MacRumorians...

lol. MacRumorians

 

[njmac]

I'm glad you are able to find a market for your photography. Have you checked out SportsShooter.com? Browse the articles and the forums and see what you can learn from the pro sports photographers.

Good luck with your next shoot.

 

[kodiak]

are you panning the camera with the subject?
or just trying to freeze it with shutter speed?

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

Post Four : Change is Good.

How To Become A 17-Year-Old Freelance Photographer : Post Four

Change is good. Just look at Apple - I know it may seem like they take forever to update their products, but for those who don’t follow Apple on a day-to-day basis, it seems like they’re always coming out with something new (remember Madonna? She said that “every time she buys an iPod, Apple replaces it with a newer model.”)

Well, after three years of consistent, but relatively limited, improvement, I knew that I needed to invest more in my ‘photography adventure’ than I had previously. Previously, I based my business model off of my local professional photography studio - I gave the customer a ‘binder’ full of color thumbprints, and allowed them to order which pictures they wanted with a ‘purchase order’ form. Ultimately, however, customers (especially older ones) wanted to see their pictures blown up. So, I started taking my laptop to their house, and going through each picture individually. Finally, with the advent of iWeb and my purchase of .mac, I was able to make a basic website that people could visit and view their photos on in the comfort of their own home.

Unfortunately, customers (notably teenage horseback riders) copied a number of the pictures straight from the website and pasted them in their MySpace profiles or printed the pictures themselves. So, I’ll have to figure out a way to combat that in the future...

After the June 6th show at Cottonwood, I also finally realized that I needed to purchase a new camera. While continuous shutter mode was easy to use and offered more pictures-per-jump, the quality was terrible. Therefore, I went ahead and purchased the Nikon D50.

Now, it is much more difficult to ‘snap’ a single picture with the D50 than it was to use continuous shutter mode to ‘snap’ 14 pictures on my Minolta. The skill required to use the D50 is much higher than the Minolta - and therefore, I’ve been practicing quite a bit in preparation for the August 5th show. But, the quality is undoubtedly higher, and hopefully I’ll feel less guilty charging for my pictures.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I competed with two distinct groups of photographers - the moms and dads with their point and shoots, and the more advanced photographers that focus solely on equine photography. Clearly, I had to strike a balance between price and quality - and, after buying a new camera, I’ll have to adjust my prices accordingly (although I won’t be changing them midseason).

End Of Post Four

In the final few posts, I’ll focus specifically on my website and on where I see myself going from here. However, look for more photo galleries to come soon!

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

How Do You Improve?

This isn't one of my 'official' posts ( ) but I think it's important nonetheless.

The best way to improve, other than simply going out and practicing, is to compare yourself to other photographers doing similar work. And that's what I did - beginning a few months ago.

By the way, since pricing is such an interesting point of discussion to so many, this is also how I got an idea about how much I would charge...

Here's a gallery from one of the 'professional' equine photographers I've looked at recently.

Main Site: http://rhoodphoto.tripod.com/id4.html
Gallery: http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/album.jsp?aid=768a5498cf45c402efdf

Personally, I believe that my shots are competent (or even superior in some cases) to his shots - although I tend to focus more on jumping than he does, jumping is more difficult to capture than a horse doing flat work...

His pricing structure (in a nutshell) looks like this:
4x6 : 5 dollars
5x7 : 10 dollars
8x10 : 15 dollars

As you can see, it's not too different from my pricing structure (yeah, it's a bit more expensive, but not lightyears ahead of what I charge...)

Eventually, I got to looking at other, (better) photographers - especially those that focused on jumping. That's when I realized that I needed a new camera.

Here's an example of one of their shots: http://www.christinahandley.com/details.php?gid=90&sgid=&pid=1094 (I can't post the picture in this thread, due to copyright violations...)

...And here's one of mine (with the old camera):

...And here's one of mine (with the new camera):

Clearly, she had some advantages (she was out in an open field, whereas I was stuck in an arena) - but, she charges 20 dollars for a 4x6 (10 times what I charge). You can, however, see how much improvement there is between my old camera and my new camera...

Hopefully, you're beginning to understand how difficult it is for a 17-year-old like myself to make sure that everything he does is 'fair' and successful.

 

[iGary]

Hopefully, you're beginning to understand how difficult it is for a 17-year-old like myself to make sure that everything he does is 'fair' and successful.

I really don't understand the whole point of this post other than to give yourself a big ol' self gratuitous pat on the back, personally.

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

Picture Gallery Three : Before and After

How To Become A 17-Year-Old Freelance Photographer : Picture Gallery Three

Note: I'll try my best to use similar jumps so that you can get an idea of how much the shots have improved...

Before:

And After:

Before:

And After:

Before:

And After:

Obviously, I still have a lot of work to do - but it's improving...right?

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

I really don't understand the whole point of this post other than to give yourself a big ol' self gratuitous pat on the back, personally.

Glad you understand where I'm coming from - it is slightly annoying to be told I'm charging too much...

 

[JosiahPB]

Is it bad to say I think anyone with the camara you have could produce these shots. Although your pictures do look good, it seems as if your knowledge doesn't exceed that of a member of a high school photography class...Just my opinion.

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

Is it bad to say I think anyone with the camara you have could produce these shots. Although your pictures do look good, it seems as if your knowledge doesn't exceed that of a member of a high school photography class...Just my opinion.

It's taken me about four years to get to where I am today - a lot of photography lies in skill, in luck, or in natural talent. I've seen phenomenal pictures taken by other high school students - then again, I've seen terrible pictures taken by them as well (just looking at my high school newspaper).

Surprisingly, the D50 is a lot more complicated and difficult to use than the Minolta. I said a number of times that anyone could take the shots I was taking with the Minolta (very little skill was required) - the D50, however, is a different story

 

[njmac]

What do you plan on majoring in at College? Do you want to do this as a career? (I'm just curious..... has nothing to do with that other thread )

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

What do you plan on majoring in at College? Do you want to do this as a career? (I'm just curious..... has nothing to do with that other thread )

Well I want to be a chemical engineer (which, obviously, has tons to do with photography ). To be honest, I don't see myself pursuing photography mcuh after this summer...too 'competitive' of a market

 

[Dr_Maybe]

Also not paying the taxes and fees is the same as stealling from the local, state and federal governments and using that stolen money to substitize your bussines, possibly without such stolen money you would run a negative cash flow.

That doesn't make any sense, unless you think the government owns everyone and everything.

If someone gives me their money for work, it is my money. When did it become the governments money? Taxation is robbery.

 

[form]

If only everyone came to that conclusion.

I think ChrisA just believes everyone else should have to pay because he does.

 

[Nuc]

That doesn't make any sense, unless you think the government owns everyone and everything.

If someone gives me their money for work, it is my money. When did it become the governments money? Taxation is robbery.

I like how you think. Unfortunately I don't want to end up in jail...

Nuc

Edit: on a side note why not add a watermark to your photos on your website. I did a quick search at the apple download site and found EasyBatchPhoto. You could also try version tracker but I'm to lazy.

 

[seenew]

Interesting posts, all around. I do think the criticisms were a bit harsh, especially ChrisA's first post. :\

But yeah, I'm just posting to say that I'm 18, and I tried freelancing for a short while (horses as well, actually!), and I found it just to be more trouble than it was worth. I couldn't charge high prices, though I did charge more than you did/do, and it still wasn't enough to justify the gas and equipment expenses that came along with it. Not to mention the time involved. Finishing up high school, I had a lot on my plate already.
So I just continued to shoot for fun, got recommended and hired to head the digital post-processing section of a local studio. That was more fulfilling; getting to work around pros, ask questions, observe, and even borrow equipment-- all while getting paid $7/hr to work literally whatever hours I wanted.
I started my site, just for fun, to show off my work, and a few people have asked me to shoot photos for them, or paint, or draw. I've never pursued clients, they just fall into my lap sometimes and I get to make some extra cash and get some more experience. Like this past week when I went out on a shoot with a local band, had a lot of fun, learned a lot about my new 350D, and just charged them $250 for the session, didn't offer prints, just a DVD with all the best shots (about 125 good ones).
I guess I'm just saying I can appreciate what you're doing, but I myself don't think it's worth it until you get the experience/skills to charge pro prices and open a studio of your own.
Plus, I've got college in less than 2 months, no time to run a small business!

 

[beavo451]

After the June 6th show at Cottonwood, I also finally realized that I needed to purchase a new camera. While continuous shutter mode was easy to use and offered more pictures-per-jump, the quality was terrible. Therefore, I went ahead and purchased the Nikon D50.

Now, it is much more difficult to ‘snap’ a single picture with the D50 than it was to use continuous shutter mode to ‘snap’ 14 pictures on my Minolta. The skill required to use the D50 is much higher than the Minolta - and therefore, I’ve been practicing quite a bit in preparation for the August 5th show. But, the quality is undoubtedly higher, and hopefully I’ll feel less guilty charging for my pictures.

To be honest, your before and after shots show improvement. You now are exposing the pictures correctly. However, composition and technique is still quite poor. There are some obviously misfocused shots. Even the photo that you linked is not very good.

The next step is to learn the panning technique. Set a slower shutter speed on your camera and put it on AF-C (does the D50 have lock on? if so, turn it off). Follow the horse and rider in your viewfinder so that you are turning the camera smoothly. Right before the jump, start the burst and follow the horse through the jump and after the land. You should see an improvement in keeper photos. Also, since the background will be motion blurred, the composition and feel of the photo should be improved as well. Try new angles as well. Or if you are feeling brave, stand next to the obstacle and use a wide angle lens.

My view onb photography is 1/3rd gear and 2/3rd photographer. You have the gear part down, now just work on the photographer part.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

That doesn't make any sense, unless you think the government owns everyone and everything.

If someone gives me their money for work, it is my money. When did it become the governments money? Taxation is robbery.

Nice thought, but roads, police/fire protection, and so much more requires that we all pay taxes.

 

[seenew]

I think there are some limitations, but I'm fairly sure you can make money and not have to procure a buisness license, as long as it's like, a hobby or something. A friend of mine works on cars out of his house like this.