Do You Make Money From Your Photos?
By Brian Auer • November 6th, 2007The Internet has made the act of selling photos available to practically anybody. It seems like everybody is trying to make a buck (myself included) with their photography. I’m curious how many of us actually make anything from it, and at what level. So for this poll, tell us how well you do with your money making ventures. And for the purpose of the poll, just include money made directly from selling photos rather than things like blogging or hired photography work. I’m talking about your personal stock.
Also check out the results from last week’s post where I asked “What’s Your LEAST Favorite Weekly Topic?” I had a lot of good feedback from everybody who commented, and the poll results say quite a bit too. The least favorite topic is the reader poll, followed by link roundups and photodumps. The most favorite topic was the featured article, followed by the quick-tip.
So I’ll continue to run all the current weekly topics since there wasn’t a strong opposition to any one topic. I may occasionally skip a poll if I can’t think of anything to ask, but it’ll still be here every week otherwise. I’m also going to try implementing a new schedule to give you guys more of the meaty articles.
- MON - Featured Article
- TUE - Reader Poll
- WED - Featured Article OR Quick-Tip
- THU - PhotoBlog
- FRI - Quick-Tip
- SAT - Link Roundup
- SUN - PhotoDump
Brian Auer is a photography enthusiast from San Diego, California. He's also the guy behind the Epic Edits Weblog. As a hobbyist photographer since 2003, his passion has been to constantly improve his photography skill set, to share his own knowledge with others, and to become an integral part of the photographic community.
Visit the author's homepage | View all Epic Edits posts by Brian Auer
Brian,
I work alongside my Dad in the Advertising / Industrial / Interior photography industry in South India. We’ve been doing this relatively recently, for the last 4 years. I was an Art Director in the Advertising field before this. I’ve recently started off a small design shop, which I hope to build up into something worth talking about, but for now, Photography keeps the electricity zipping through my powerlines, and puts the bread on my breakfast table.
Cheers!
Susheel
P.S.: Oh! I did forget to mention that we also have two photography studios that we use for our own work as well as rent it out to photographers who need the space.
Man, I knew you were neck deep into photography, but I didn’t realize you had so many things going on. Next time I’m in India and I need a studio, I know who to call. I’m curious to know if you make more from hired work or direct photo sales — if you don’t mind saying, that is. It’s just that I have absolutely no experience with hired work. And what type of stuff do you do in your design shop?
Brian,
The next time you’re in India and need a studio, just drop by…
The photography industry is quite competitive where I am, and doesn’t really pay the way we would like it to… I don’t make direct sales of photographs at all. I spend too much time working on stuff that I’m hired to do. All the rest of my time is devoted to ColoursAlive, the design shop. I’m currently working on web and print design.
Thanks for your interest…
I’m a-tryin’
I’m getting the wheels turning, trying to get my foot in the door in the competitive world of Photography in Toronto.
I’m sure you’ll make it — you rock! Just keep shooting and sharing.
Find your site interesting. With regard to selling photos, I wonder how many photographers make real money from just their web sites. I think getting gallery representation is probably the way to go. I know when I buy art, i want to see up close and personal. As for the art of capturing black-and-white images, my theory has always been to close in on your subject and watch the light. Without light, in my opinion, black-and-white photos lack interest. You can get away with a lot when shooting in color, but that is not generally the case in black and white. Just my humble opinion.
Rhea
Never tried. But i have made money (peanuts, actually) selling my 3D illustrations.
You have a great site. Really. I sell photos too, but not receive big money from internet:(