The Horses Mouth

[Auldy]

Hi all, been lurking here for a while now and thought it was about time I threw my two penith in. To give you a bit of background I studied photography in Newcastle for 4 years, graduating in 1995 and have been a full time pro now for well over 10 years, shooting both studio and location work based in the North East of England. In a nutshell a regional jobbing photographer, with no specialist areas, taking whatever comes my way. Except weddings and babies, i draw the line at those, although there is good money to be made, its not for me. My client base varies from local and national agency work, threw to small/medium businesses and Plc's.
So why start posting now, although there are a few pros on here information is sporadic and can sometimes seem like a closed shop, with advice from well meaning amateurs lacking accuracy. So if your on the cusp of turning your hobby into a profession, want to know what life is like as a pro, what you can charge, what's expected of you, how to contact clients, present yourself and your work or just want me to critique your images before exposing them to potential employers ill be honest and open, no matter how trivial the question ask away.
Im not afraid to put myself in the firing line, checkout what i do and where i work, www.chrisauldphotography.com , constructive criticism is always welcome.

 

[shabba]

The main images on your site seem a bit soft to me, not sharpe etdc, the thumbnails are fine and some lovely images there. Just something I noitced.

Thanks for posting - if you don't mind me asking what can an 'average' pro earn? Not yourself but an average tog, I know there probably is no average tog as such, but someone who does a bit of everything? I have NO idea, I'd have a total guess its £30-50k per year?
Obviosuly millions of factors and I appreciate that - nobody has ever been able to give me even a rough idea though.

 

[Auldy]

Cheers for the response, regarding softness, the shots are pretty lo rez which may explain the softness. As for earnings it depends on alot of factors, clearing 50k a year isnt out of the question if you keep overheads down, if your employed by someone else half of that.