Thoughts on Pursuing a Career in Photography

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James Sparham

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Hi all

A bit of a random post, but I'm considering a career change and thought I'd seek some advice!

I'll provide you with some context first...

So, I've been doing copywriting/marketing for the last four years and recently lost my job due to Covid. The first job I did included a lot of architectural photography (interiors), which I loved doing. The second marketing job I got didn't include photography, and I really missed it.

Now I'm unemployed I'm at a bit of a crossroads. I'm considering freelance copywriting because writing is my main skill, but in truth I find it bit boring! I'd love to do photography full time, but I'm not really qualified in it other than a GCSE (grade A) and A-level (grade B).

Obviously it'll take time for me to build a portfolio etc. I'm already working on a couple of non-paid projects, including an upcoming wrestling event and situation shots for a personal trainer. I may even contact my old company to see if they want some interior shots taken.

Based on your experiences, am I being realistic here in pursuing photography as a new career? Or should I stick with what I know?

Any advice would be most welcome.

Kind regards and keep safe

James
 
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Forget it if you want to make enough money to live on. There's a decreasing market as everyone with a mobile phone thinks they're a tog and the companies all claim not to have any budget for photography. By all means try it as a sideline but stick to what you know for your main income. You may get lucky and land a decent contract but I wouldn't want to rely on it.
 
Thanks for your reply Jonathan. I hear what you're saying. I remember going on holiday with a friend who insisted that his iPhone could do exactly the same job as my wide angle lens. It really bugged me :LOL: I'm guessing a lot of people are doing video as well to help bring in more business. I'm probably not going to do that to be honest, which would limit my opportunities.
 
There's plenty of work, and a very good income potential, for people who can both produce outstanding work and have the business skills, but for most people, it's a struggle to make minimum wage, competing against untold thousands of others and racing each other to the bottom in terms of price.
 
Why not give it a try? Check out Sue Bryce training she covers everything from photo technique to the business side.
 
There are photographer jobs around. Wiltshire Fire wanted one a few months ago but the pay was only £25k. If you have some other skills like knowledge of audiovisual equipment or Photoshop it can make you more attractive to potential employers. A level photography is a good qualification. Get a diverse portfolio together and set up a simple website.....
 
Thanks for taking the time to respond guys. I really appreciate the advice. I'm definitely going to get a portfolio together. I've got a lot to learn, so you'll likely see me posting more in the coming months and years seeking further advice.

All the best

James
 
T_J_G said:
It's doable, you'll need tog get your head down and create good work. But remember you'll spend 10% of your time taking photos, the other 90% will be comms, admin, editing, delivery, accounts, more marketing etc.
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That rather depends on what sort of work you are doing.

Self-employed perhaps. But as a staffer a large percentage of my time was photography.
 
DemiLion said:
Why?
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OP wasn’t quite specific but it did read like he was looking at self-employed apart from his mention of qualifications.
 
Nothing wrong in going self employed, the problem is in what kind of work that earns the money? I was lucky enough to be able to afford a run down boarding kennels and cattery with a mortgage. Finally after 25 years very long hours and horrendous amount of replacing/ rebuilding to it all produced a 6 figure turnover, when we sold. To give some idea we had 8 days off in those first 7 years
Anyone going it alone will tell you it takes around 7 years to get established and to be honest we nearly went under several times during that period. So you need enough money to sustain you while you build up your business and 200% determination to suceed, anything else then don't bother. Daydreaming earns nothing

It is not just what you want to do it is also knowing the business side of running your own business ie, advertising- book keeping (accountant)?- competition awareness- equipment and maintaining it- selling your product/service-transport costs - insurance -legal contracts- health insurance (you earn nothing in hospital) income tax- VAT?- no paid holidays- living costs -backup ie second shooter/staffing costs- the list is endless.

If you can get overcome those hurdles then your on your way to earning a bob or two. My wife and i managed it and now retired on investments and pensions

What made me go self employed was the thought of working hard to shove money into someone elses pocket instead of my own. Best move I ever made.
 
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realspeed said:
Nothing wrong in going self employed, the problem is in what kind of work that earns the money? I was lucky enough to be able to afford a run down boarding kennels and cattery with a mortgage. Finally after 25 years very long hours and horrendous amount of replacing/ rebuilding to it all produced a 6 figure turnover, when we sold. To give some idea we had 8 days off in those first 7 years
Anyone going it alone will tell you it takes around 7 years to get established and to be honest we nearly went under several times during that period. So you need enough money to sustain you while you build up your business and 200% determination to suceed, anything else then don't bother. Daydreaming earns nothing

It is not just what you want to do it is also knowing the business side of running your own business ie, advertising- book keeping (accountant)?- competition awareness- equipment and maintaining it- selling your product/service-transport costs - insurance -legal contracts- health insurance (you earn nothing in hospital) income tax- VAT?- no paid holidays- living costs -backup ie second shooter/staffing costs- the list is endless.

If you can get overcome those hurdles then your on your way to earning a bob or two. My wife and i managed it and now retired on investments and pensions

And people wonder why I can afford a place like this
View attachment 307348
It is through sheer hard work over many years.

What made me go self employed was the thought of working hard to shove money into someone elses pocket instead of my own. Best move I ever made.
Click to expand...

Look at me i've got a mock Tudor mini mansion.
 
Go for it, but spread your risk. I went self employed in 2016, doing design (graphic, 3d and technical). Had another job packing and shipping meat on the side (part time) to make ends meet as I started after a redundancy with no clients (literally not one).

Started building a client base doing design, mentioned I had a camera (canon 100d) and got some photo jobs, some products but mainly events. Ironically 4 of my regular clients have come from the meat packing job as they have offices near the warehouse, and I got talking to them. I have been all over the UK shooting pics, Budapest, Russia and have Shanghai on the horizon when we can open up again. I did not even think about offering photography when I started.

Learnt (and still learning) about videos, but now offer it as a service. It is a growing part of my business.

Three years in and I was earning more than my last employed job, I was able quit the meat packing (and still sleep at night).

Just coming up to five years and could not be happier. Covid has hit my work quite a lot as it was very event based, but the design side has ramped up and now doing a lot of live broadcasting as events can't happen, again a learning curve but keeps things interesting!

I think it is a balance between being brave and cautious, taking chances but risk aware, trying new things but still being able to deliver, and being adaptable. But most importantly, meeting the right people at the right time and creating the right impression (this was the hardest thing I have had to learn)! Come across as needy, cocky, over confident, under confident, too relaxed, unsure etc and you have lost them.

Copywriting is a great skill, no reason you can't have multiple streams of income. The holy grail is regular clients so there is no chasing new business all the time (you don't earn while looking for work). It used to be called jack of all trades, but now it is multi skilled!

It is a one way road though, I don't think I could go back to being employed again.

Good luck!!
 
realspeed said:
Better than living in a mud hut. Thought jealousy would show its head. Graft and you can have the same
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I'm not jealous of such a materialistic show off, just made me laugh and cringe a bit at the same time.
I retired at 54, own my modest house and enjoy my life, didn't work particularly hard either and had loads of time off.

Are you Alan Partridge in disguise?
 
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tijuana taxi said:
I'm not jealous of such a materialistic show off, just made me laugh and cringe a bit at the same time.

Are you Alan Partridge in disguise?
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And there was me thinking you lived in a genuine Tudor mansion. :LOL:
 
T_J_G said:
It's doable, you'll need tog get your head down and create good work. But remember you'll spend 10% of your time taking photos, the other 90% will be comms, admin, editing, delivery, accounts, more marketing etc.
Click to expand...

I am so fed up of reading rubbish like this.
So you reckon if you work a 40 week, just 4 hours, half a day is actually shooting photos?

And you'll therefore earn half a days money per week.

Utter crap. The business side is absolutely no different to that involved in any small business.

And of course you would be out shooting or editing 5 days a week, with editing of course also being paid on a day rate.
 
realspeed said:
Nothing wrong in going self employed, the problem is in what kind of work that earns the money? I was lucky enough to be able to afford a run down boarding kennels and cattery with a mortgage. Finally after 25 years very long hours and horrendous amount of replacing/ rebuilding to it all produced a 6 figure turnover, when we sold. To give some idea we had 8 days off in those first 7 years
Anyone going it alone will tell you it takes around 7 years to get established and to be honest we nearly went under several times during that period. So you need enough money to sustain you while you build up your business and 200% determination to suceed, anything else then don't bother. Daydreaming earns nothing

It is not just what you want to do it is also knowing the business side of running your own business ie, advertising- book keeping (accountant)?- competition awareness- equipment and maintaining it- selling your product/service-transport costs - insurance -legal contracts- health insurance (you earn nothing in hospital) income tax- VAT?- no paid holidays- living costs -backup ie second shooter/staffing costs- the list is endless.

If you can get overcome those hurdles then your on your way to earning a bob or two. My wife and i managed it and now retired on investments and pensions

And people wonder why I can afford a place like this
View attachment 307348
It is through sheer hard work over many years.

What made me go self employed was the thought of working hard to shove money into someone elses pocket instead of my own. Best move I ever made.
Click to expand...


Canny believe you posted that!
ffs
 
To the OP,

As I have always said, there is lots of work out there!

If you can consistently produce and supply a quality product, regardless of what it is, at an acceptable cost, on time in a business like and trustworthy manner then you will receive repeat work time and time again.

The minute you drop your standards, they will look elsewhere!
 
riddell said:
I am so fed up of reading rubbish like this.
So you reckon if you work a 40 week, just 4 hours, half a day is actually shooting photos?

And you'll therefore earn half a days money per week.

Utter crap. The business side is absolutely no different to that involved in any small business.

And of course you would be out shooting or editing 5 days a week, with editing of course also being paid on a day rate.
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Totally agree . I've never even thought about it but if I was to break a working week up it would be 40% taking photos(including travel) 40% editing and 20% admin /facebook/emails etc
 
A business plan would answer most of your questions... It makes you work out if you have a chance to succeed or not...
 
Photography is quite ride ranging, different technical skills and marketing strategies can be required. Have you given anything thought to what your niche might be? Weddings, Portraits, Studio, Commercial, Advertising, Corporate head shots, interior, sports, the list can go on.
 
Don't even think about going down the route of wedding photography. I tried it for a year or so and whilst I made a bit of money it wasn't a wage I could exist on. Then there are all the add ons. You need good insurance against something going wrong, there are many, especially a mother in law who creates merry hell when you photograph the bride more than her. (I kid you not!). Or the bride who does not want to be photographed (I had two like that). Then getting delayed because I was held up after a lorry trashed my car. The stress can be horrendous. It may not be your fault but if there is a fast buck to be made they will try it on. I had several suits and whichever I wore had to be dry-cleaned after each wedding to clear away the smell of old perspiration.
 
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James Sparham said:
Hi all

A bit of a random post, but I'm considering a career change and thought I'd seek some advice!

I'll provide you with some context first...

So, I've been doing copywriting/marketing for the last four years and recently lost my job due to Covid. The first job I did included a lot of architectural photography (interiors), which I loved doing. The second marketing job I got didn't include photography, and I really missed it.

Now I'm unemployed I'm at a bit of a crossroads. I'm considering freelance copywriting because writing is my main skill, but in truth I find it bit boring! I'd love to do photography full time, but I'm not really qualified in it other than a GCSE (grade A) and A-level (grade B).

Obviously it'll take time for me to build a portfolio etc. I'm already working on a couple of non-paid projects, including an upcoming wrestling event and situation shots for a personal trainer. I may even contact my old company to see if they want some interior shots taken.

Based on your experiences, am I being realistic here in pursuing photography as a new career? Or should I stick with what I know?

Any advice would be most welcome.

Kind regards and keep safe

James
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Interiors you say - if you are any good at them then there's a real opportunity to get some money coming in soon enough, a pal of mine has just started doing them from last October and is earning £300+ most weeks already. If you can add on related work, such as floorplans, drone shots etc. then you'll do even better

And I know these comments go against advice from others above - but...

I've never bothered with a Business Plan, nor do I personally know anyone who ever has, primarily as to create one you have to make assumptions a year or more in advance (based on nothing you know about or can anticipate) and things are so fluid its quickly all b****x

Weddings are easy to get into and easy to shoot. It's not easy to get to the point of shooting dozens a year though, so adding interiors to Weddings (as I know two do successfully) could be a route to get started on. Some find them stressful, if you think you would then don't do them

Of course it really comes down to what you need to make to pay the bills, and what you'd really like to make to pay for a 'life' - whatever yours is. If that's £20,000 pa needed then that's pretty easy, if you need £40,000+ then that becomes much harder quickly

If you can Copywrite enough to cover your basic living costs then I'd suggest you do that, then you can work on your photography business too without the stress of it having to fund the basics

Good luck

Dave
 
DG Phototraining said:
Interiors you say - if you are any good at them then there's a real opportunity to get some money coming in soon enough, a pal of mine has just started doing them from last October and is earning £300+ most weeks already. If you can add on related work, such as floorplans, drone shots etc. then you'll do even better

And I know these comments go against advice from others above - but...

I've never bothered with a Business Plan, nor do I personally know anyone who ever has, primarily as to create one you have to make assumptions a year or more in advance (based on nothing you know about or can anticipate) and things are so fluid its quickly all b****x

Weddings are easy to get into and easy to shoot. It's not easy to get to the point of shooting dozens a year though, so adding interiors to Weddings (as I know two do successfully) could be a route to get started on. Some find them stressful, if you think you would then don't do them

Of course it really comes down to what you need to make to pay the bills, and what you'd really like to make to pay for a 'life' - whatever yours is. If that's £20,000 pa needed then that's pretty easy, if you need £40,000+ then that becomes much harder quickly

If you can Copywrite enough to cover your basic living costs then I'd suggest you do that, then you can work on your photography business too without the stress of it having to fund the basics

Good luck

Dave
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Yes, pretty much.
The business world now goes in two separate and opposite directions, and has for some time. There are the absolute specialists who do just one thing, do it superbly and are so good at it that they are constantly turning away work (for example, an agricultural mechanic may be so good at repairing tractor clutches that he can't keep up with the demand) and someone who's good with computers can offer a very wide range of services including post-processing, website design, SEO, marketing, photography, graphic design and so on, providing a full service to other small businesses, and both of these approaches can be highly successful. And both can fail dismally.

But, I come back to what I said in my first post
Garry Edwards said:
There's plenty of work, and a very good income potential, for people who can both produce outstanding work and have the business skills, but for most people, it's a struggle to make minimum wage, competing against untold thousands of others and racing each other to the bottom in terms of price.
Click to expand...
The people who do well (assuming that they work hard and have the essential business skills) are those who do outstanding work. The people who are pretty much guaranteed to fail are those who
1. Delude themselves about their skill levels and commitment and basically con their customers.
2. The people who take on work that they can't do properly, either because they believe that they can or because they're so desperate for work that they go after any form of work whether they can do it well or not.
3. The people who have an amateur approach rather than a professional one, to equipment, and who spend far too much on fancy gear that they don't need, just because being "professional" gives them a rationale for buying gadgets.
4. The people who try to be "busy" by undercutting the market rate, which can never work because they will always be competing with people who will work for silly cheap money.

If there's one single approach that makes a real difference to success or failure, then I believe it can be summed up in just one word, professionalism.
This includes quality, service, commitment to the job in hand, fair and honest dealing, confidentiality, integrity, building long-term relationships, profitability.
 
Dealing direct with clients/customers are just that, not friends . After all it is business nothing else. we found as J K mentioned above they will if possible try and stitch you up, this is where a clear and concise contract is a must. for example in our case we had people collecting their pets days before pickup date agreed and demanded the days not used paid back. This is the type of thing when you can go back to the contract and refer them to the relevant section of which they should have a copy. We never ever gave that back. Claiming back deposites was also a no no as the booking could have been for someone else and you lost out, Be polite at all times but also firm your reputation is paramount. Strangely enough this stratagy worked really well, customers soon realised how we operated and came back year after year.

Of course everyone has their own ideas and what worked for us may not for other types of business, you just have to find out what suits you best
 
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darkroom12 said:
The stress can be horrendous. It may not be your fault but if there is a fast buck to be made they will try it on. I had several suits and whichever I wore had to be dry-cleaned after each wedding to clear away the smell of old perspiration.
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haha I dont do weddings for just those reasons and I have had a page on my website for many years saying the above :) https://www.kipax.com/index.php?e=weddings
 
What an awful and depressing thread.

Anyway... I'm just a happy amateur and all I can do is wish you luck James.

You may succeed or you may fail but if you don't try maybe you'll always wonder what would have happened so if you can keep the money rolling in somehow and avoid going into debt and other catastrophise then why not chase the dream and give pursuing some sort of career in photographer a crack? I'd say be careful and be prepared to give up and go in another direction if it doesn't happen for you but other than the obvious cautionary advice... You only live once so why not go for it.
 
James Sparham said:
Hi all

A bit of a random post, but I'm considering a career change and thought I'd seek some advice!

I'll provide you with some context first...

So, I've been doing copywriting/marketing for the last four years and recently lost my job due to Covid. The first job I did included a lot of architectural photography (interiors), which I loved doing. The second marketing job I got didn't include photography, and I really missed it.

Now I'm unemployed I'm at a bit of a crossroads. I'm considering freelance copywriting because writing is my main skill, but in truth I find it bit boring! I'd love to do photography full time, but I'm not really qualified in it other than a GCSE (grade A) and A-level (grade B).

Obviously it'll take time for me to build a portfolio etc. I'm already working on a couple of non-paid projects, including an upcoming wrestling event and situation shots for a personal trainer. I may even contact my old company to see if they want some interior shots taken.

Based on your experiences, am I being realistic here in pursuing photography as a new career? Or should I stick with what I know?

Any advice would be most welcome.

Kind regards and keep safe

James
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I would go for it if I were you. If you have a realistic plan then do it.

There are things you'll want to consider, being self employed isn't the stress free utopia many think it is. I had a director level position in a pharmaceutical company before becoming self employed. I've never worked so hard, or at times, being as stressed as I have since self employment. For 3 years I didn't take a photograph for myself. I still love it though. Theres nothing better.

So do it, but remember its not always the as easy as you may think
 
DG Phototraining said:
I've never bothered with a Business Plan, nor do I personally know anyone who ever has, primarily as to create one you have to make assumptions a year or more in advance (based on nothing you know about or can anticipate) and things are so fluid its quickly all b****x



Dave
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Absolutely agree with this statement. I've never much seen the point in business planning either . Far better to make yourself adaptable to changing circumstances with an end goal in mind, rather than committing to a preconceived path of action.

Can't remember who first coined the phrase but the old adage about no plan surviving first contact with the enemy certainly rings true. I've always prefered Mike Tyson's slightly more forthright version that "Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth" .
 
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Haydn Clarke said:
Absolutely agree with this statement. I've never much seen the point in business planning either . Far better to make yourself adaptable to changing circumstances with an end goal in mind, rather than committing to a preconceived path of action.

Can't remember who first coined the phrase but the old adage about no plan surviving first contact with the enemy certainly rings true. I've always prefered Mike Tysons slightly more forthright "Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth" .
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In a former business life we wanted to borrow something like £29,000 and our bank at that time required a BP and other P&L etc. forecasts covering a 5-year period, that took literally months to prepare !!!

By the time we'd finished it, the main 'product' of sale had changed, the forecasts were clearly pointless as a result, and we'd earned enough anyway to not need the loan :D

Dave
 
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