Has anyone here tried and failed to make it and pay your bills with photography/videography as your profession? What mistakes do you think you made? How much luck do you think is involved in "making it" in this industry as opposed to raw talent and skill? Obviously networking is huge, as it is in any profession in any industry, but how much of making this shit your job is luck? If you could do it over again, what would you do differently?
No.
>>4321637Hell no, but I would like to try selling some pieces, and maybe even offering one on one classes. Could be fun.
Unless you want to take a decade slowly going from a side hustle to part-time job to full time, the most viable way to make a living as a photographer is to do weddings, and that sounds like a personal hell to me, so I never tried
Yes.
>>4321637I failed with videography because I wanted to work with artists (theatre companies, music videos, indie films, etc). Artists are cheap and mostly broke people, thay paid little and late. After 2 years I switch my target to corporate and it was a fucking relief: more money and less headaches.>>4321750This is good advice and the reason I never thought about photography in the first place. Weddings and brides are a nightmare.
>>4321761Can you expand a bit? Why do you think you “failed”? Do you still do photography as a hobby?>>4321809Did you fail or just switch demographics? I’m starting to do a few paid corporate photo jobs here and there and the pay is alright but my god are they boring and uninspiring
Do porn. I'm dead serious. Either behind or both in front of and behind the camera.
>>4321637Yes. Focusing on gear robs you of creativity within boundaries. Overextending yourself into places you don't want to be for money sucks (e.g. weddings) and will kill your love for the medium. A story is the most important part of any visual medium - try and put it in everything, even random snapshits, and you'll be more satisfied with your work. This includes videos, watching youtubers take b roll of flowers+cats+apartments then call it 'cinematic' is horribly groan inducing.Most importantly - this is an artform. participate and enjoy it from that angle, not consumption of gear or new tech or etc. Pick up your camera like you're picking up a paintbrush and use it with that in mind or else everything you take will be garbage and you're no better than a marketer with a good eye.
>>4321841>but my god are they boring and uninspiringNext year, they'll want the exact same video. different person, similar words, exact same video. And the year after. Maybe inbetween they'll want a.little social video, show off the team or a fun project they're working on, maybe you'll do a short for HR. But Corporate work is meant to be taken to fund personal narrative work. Corporate work is incredibly uninspiring, boring, un creative, etc. However, if you let it, it'll teach you a ton.
>>4321637I did weddings.It was horrible. Imagine being a tattoo artist and you have to do minimalistic tattoos on young broke women all day long. They don’t want to pay full price, and they freak out if the smallest microscopic line isn’t perfect (which is impossible anyways). That’s how weddings are. And basically anything involving women. So, I started making videos for businesses. Started making a couple ones for free, and even reworked or created if you will a social media presence for smaller businesses. And even the larger ones wanted me as long as the decision was local, then I was actually making stuff for really big brands. And this was really good money as well. But I did get bored with it after a while because the income was average but I always had to chase it. A bad flu, and I’m not paying my bills that month. So I started making phub / only content and then i made some serious money. Like half a years pay in a month. But ofc, working with women is impossible, and even with multiple contracts, a simplified contract and filming while I’m going through the contract and explaining every single detail and how it will be constituted, they all wanted the videos to be taken down, but they isn’t want to pay me back. And then local media and the police got involved, and they kept taking all my equipment on monthly raids (while keeping it for 3 weeks every time) so I couldn’t continue. I bought a lot of gold when I earned a lot, so I sold that and my breitling watch and got some new equipment. And now I’m growing at a good rate on a YouTube channel. And I find this much more rewarding. But still. Problems every time I work with a woman. What I would do different. Don’t work with women. And if you work with them, then don’t be available. Don’t give them any chance to contact you directly. Make it all go through some “corporate” mail. It hurts being too nice. Just be strict. Especially with women.
>>4324850why did this comment give me a semi
>>4324917Because youre a woman
>>4324850Amazing post anon. Most of my paid gigs were organized by women... Maybe, that's why I refuse paid shoots now.
I'm working for free at the moment. I'm not doing anything that pays money as a filmmaker yet as that's like the Spongebob episode of Pretty Patties where spongbob sells the patties and then everyone in town comes back to talk about the infective problems of the patties they all had. I do not want to be Mr. Krabs in that episode, so it's for free as of now.Added, I'm too ugly for porn. To do porn you have to be sexy and perform well in bed, not my ability. I can play as someone porn actors have sex in front of, but just not actually filming or being a part of it.
>>4326287Like literally I can imagine what it would be, Me playing as some dorky dude named sheldon while I keep on harping I have a girlfriend like a weakling while some overly buff dude screws the girlfriend.Trust me I've seen pornos that play like that.
>>4326289I think the word for it is "cuck porn"? Anyway I'm speaking in terms of videotaping porn and being on a porn movie.
>>4326287>>4326289>>4326292lol!put me in the screencap
>>4326307I think my infamous line would be: "Nooooooooo.... Stop it.... It's my girlfriend."And the girl be like,"But Zach, I'm just trying to pay for the pizza with the pizzaman!"
People here bitch so much about weddings I have come to the conclusion they are just pansies/wussesIt's a job that pays well, requires less effort than flipping burgers at McD's and is an easy way of getting your foot in the door of professional photographytl;dr>how 2 make money as photog>NO NOT LIKE THATt. gaybois
>>4326287>>4326289>>4326292>>4326312LMFAO Zach you never fail to surprise, but let me offer you a word of cautionYou'll start off as a cuck actor/filmer, but then one day your "gf" will ask you to join and you'll be engaging in a FMM threesome (female male male)Soon you'll be participating in gangbangs and eventually work your way up to porking girls solo.Honestly, I think it may end up distracting from your photography career a bit, but it'll pay the bills and then some so there's that.
>>4326315You mean being porked by guys solo
>>4326315My dick is only 3.5 inches long and my balls are no larger than 2 cherries. Do you think guys and girls will still want me?
>>4326468have you considered how good you’d look as a girl?
>>4326479But Im gay. If I became a woman I would be straight, and I'm gay.
>>4326494>But Im gay. If I became a woman I would be straight, and I'm gay.good news: you will never be a woman
>>4321637Two years and change ago I dropped my office job and went full time as a photographer, the first year was rough, second year I got work a agency and lasted about 7 months, been independent since january 1stAm thriving in work, but I do make some fuckups, don't follow these steps:Buy too much gear you don't really need (one occassion you needed a longer telephoto doesn't justify buying one)Not having a rainy fund (still don't, I have 5k USD in pending payments and my clients have gone above the 30 day paying timeline)Being unlikeableNot going out of your comfort zoneNot wanting to do free work to shell out your portfolio some more>>4321809This guy is on the money, do commercial shit, maybe give it an artistic touch but don't just shoot artsy shit, some people live off that but they are far and few
