Reach your financial goals with photography - the first step ....
The best financial advice I've ever read was this:
“You will never, ever have the money in your pocket to fulfil your dreams by saving money (as in spending less and always bargain hunting). The only way to have more money is to find ways to earn more of it.”
So what do you do?
Plead with your boss for a pay rise?
Find an evening job?
Sell your soul?
No, because you are a photographer, you have superpowers (even at an amateur level).
You see, our lives are fast-paced, and advertising agencies are relying more and more on imagery to get their messages across. There are tons of ways that you can use your photography to earn big money on the side.
Here are some of the ways you can earn money with photography:
Sell your images as prints, postcards and posters.
Deciding on a specific type of portrait photography and starting a small business with that
Hosting Photo-Walks
Selling your niched knowledge in one area of photography (like I do with online courses)
Renting out your equipment
As an image editing service
Specialising in one area of product photography/sporting event/community work and becoming the go-to photographer for it
OR use your photography to promote:
your Etsy shop goods
your blog
yourself as an influencer
Note that some of these sidelines come with a considerable amount of preparation and different time/money investment levels. YES, I never said that it would be easy ;)
BUT IT’S ABSOLUTELY DOABLE!!!!!!
Some of them are “time for money” projects.
Some of them need time to prepare, but you just sit back and reap the profits once that is done.
If you’re interested in making money with photography, especially with the photographs which you’ve already taken, then selling your images as stock photography is a wonderful place to start.
I started with stock photography before I knew anything about taking good photographs.
There are a couple of things you need to know before you start:
You sell the image rights (the license to use your image for advertising purposes) and not the actual image. Meaning you can sell it a million times over.
You DO NOT have to be a professional photographer to earn money with stock photography. You don’t even have to be all that good.
Some agencies pay well, some only peanuts.
Some agencies allow you to sell your image right across multiple platforms. Others insist on having exclusive rights (this usually means earning more per image but making fewer sales).
You (usually) have some say in the matter as to how your images are used - but not always. That’s why it makes sense to think hard about which types of images you offer and whether you’d be thrilled to see it on a billboard on Times Square.
You upload a selection of your chosen images. Then the agents (at the stock photography agency of your choice) decide which of them they would like to offer their clients (advertising agencies, graphic designers, projects managers, book printers etc.).
It not easy at first as some of your perfect images aren’t what they’re looking for, and others you almost didn’t upload will be accepted.
It took me several years to understand the ropes of stock photography. Still, I became one of the top 50 photographers in one of the most upscale agencies (they have an image acceptance rate of only 5%, making acceptances all the more impressive).
What can you expect to earn?
This is a tricky one because it depends on a couple of things:
Which agency you're using and how well they pay.
How many images you'll be able to offer them, and how many you'll be able to provide them with in the future*
How specified your images are (if you specialise in landscape photography and live near an exciting place, you'll be the "go-to" photographer for pictures from that area).
Big names pay high prices, so you can earn up to $200 - $300 for one image on Getty Images, but possibly only $0.10 with smaller brands.
Success and income won't come overnight, but if you dedicate your time and energies to stock photography, then you can seriously earn around $500 per month in a couple of years. In your sleep.
*I promise you that once the agencies start accepting your images, you’ll become addicted to the process. You’ll come up with fantastic image ideas and continuously push yourself to succeed.
The choice is yours, you can leave your images in your archive to get dusty, or you can offer them as stock photos and earn some money in your sleep.
Unexpected side effects/opportunities:
I made friends with dozens of photographers the whole world over, met some of them for real-life photography trips and am friends with some of them to this day.
Every time one of my photos was accepted, I posted the image and a link back to it on my Facebook timeline. People in my area started noticing my success and taking me and my photography seriously. It set the foundation for my photography business.
I also created a post and linked every book, calendar, blog post or article where my images were being used. This cemented my success even further.
And hee-hee, I was once contacted by Mercedes Benz to take similar images to this one every time I saw a parked Mercedes (old or new)
Stock Photography is the ABSOLUTE best way to start earning money with your images, purely because you’ve got professional photographers assessing each of the photos you offer them. There is no better feeling for an ongoing photographer than when you find out that a professional agency thinks your image is good enough for them and sees it as an opportunity for you both to earn money.
Enroll now
Earning Money while you sleep
and learn the ropes of stock photography the easy way
Would you like to set foot in the world of making money with photography? Then join me in the current round of the workshop “Earning Money in your Sleep”.
Don’t spend weeks, months and years trying to understand how things work, which kind of image the agencies are looking for and how to become the “go-to” photographer for your favourite agencies - like I did! Take the easy route with the workshop “Earning Money while you Sleep”.
Click the button below to learn more about the workshop:
Make sure you sign in soon as there are only 50 places available.