Anyone else here working a regular job/day job as a photographer? I've been working as a real estate photographer for a while and still do side jobs for things like corporate portraits/events, and I'm curious if anyone else on /p/ works in photography too.
>>4467257I do mostly weddings, but also adjacent stuff like engagement, family, boudoir, brandingFirst paid stuff was senior portraits and small concerts / events
>>4467261How'd you get into boudior? That seems in stark contrast to weddings and family photos, so I don't see how you'd connect to that kind of clientele through those.
>>4467257I have tried it but I discovered that I will lose my passion for photography if I keep doing this shit so I stopped doing it.
>>4467263Boudoir is commonly done as a gift to a new husband, it goes hand in hand with wedding photography. It's pretty common and not as salacious for most as you'd think.
>>4467281I think it depends on what kind of photography you enjoy and what the job is. For doing real estate, I never did anything like it prior, so it was a form of photography I had no previous interest or experience in.>>4467282Really? So at some point the wife just emails and says "btw I want some lewds for my husband"? Odd but I kinda get it, I just wouldn't of figured it was so common.Is boudoir exclusively tied with the wedding world then?
>>4467625Redpill me on real estate photography
>>4467695What would you like to know?
>>4467696How to get your foot in the door? From where do you start?
>>4467704Basically just try and build up a portfolio of your own (even abandoned buildings can work, it's about showing your understanding), then take a look for entry level roles in your city. Most real estate agents use established companies that have teams of photographers and editors, nobody does the whole thing alone, as the volume would be too high for one person (turnover for some properties is literally same day or very next morning in most cases).Upskill yourself in everything Adobe too (including video) as that's what every company will be using.
>>4467707Can you post some example of great real estate photography? Or can you give me a link to a website which uploads that sort of work? Thanks anon
>>4467708Unironically just go on Zillow and look at listings for really nice houses, not crap shacks, as agents will tend to only hire photographers for the really good listings that need to stand out. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11502-Keeley-Ct-Orlando-FL-32837/46143051_zpid/?imxlb=g,9Here's a pretty good example. You'll also always be doing HDR, it's a standard in real estate since people want to feel like its a well lit space, so strong shadows are a complete faux pa.
>>4467709I can pull it off. I do have formal photos of buildings exactly like these. I think I am going to straight up apply, kek.
>>4467710Yeah just go for it bro, make sure to attach some examples of your work to the application and you'll do fine. They constantly get applications from no-photos and they just trash those immediately.Oh and people skills, emphasize those. You'll be constantly talking with agents and home owners and need to be good with people.
>>4467711>need to be good with people.OOF, this is the department where I lack. But I am going to shoot my shot. Thanks anon.
>>4467720If you've ever worked in anything that involves people (even just at Wal-Mart), you're good. You don't need to be some master salesman, you just have to not be a massive autist (being slightly autistic is okay though since that is just a part of photography).
>>4467257> real estate photographerare there any other photography jobs? this is the only one that comes to mind besides taking pictures of fashion models
>>4470477news papers maybe although I get the distinct feeling the journalists just use their phone these days
>>4467696Roughly how well does retail photography pay and do you have to travel a lot for the job? It feels like the ind of job where you'd need to constantly be on your feet visiting houses
>>4467625>>4467263Realizing I never replied, but the other anon is correct, most come from weddings.Often they'll schedule something beforehand to have a printed book available as a surprise gift for an album. I've done one the morning of too, basically as part of the "getting ready". Otherwise, usually done as a gift for husband's birthday or anniversary present.Weddings are great because you can get engagement, wedding, anniversary, maternity, family, etc all from one client. Weddings themselves also offer about the best opportunities from word of mouth you can get, from both clients and other vendors.
>>4470555During the trainee/probationary period, it pays utter dogshit but then improves once that period is over (likely to weed out people that don't give a fuck about photography or the hours needed). It's definitely not a massive high paying job ever after that and you're on your feet the majority of the time, but I guess it depends on how you feel about driving a lot, walking a lot and carrying a camera on a tripod for about 8 or 9 hours a day. I started to lose some weight doing it which was nice and depending on your schedule, you can take an hour or two for lunch (not paid obviously but it's good to rest between jobs).As far as travel, there can be a lot of driving, which is fine since you get paid for all the time it takes to travel anywhere. I've done some jobs where it was an almost 3 hour round trip and I was paid for every minute of it, and the actual job itself was just the basics of bedrooms, kitchen/living, bathrooms and the front of house photo.
School photographer hereOh yeah, you don't need me to confirm it but absolutely it sucks. But the facilitation involved in getting freelance clients is even worse for me.That said, I'm glad I get to take portraits and I get to be semi-creative sometimes. I don't like nature/landscape/still-life photography as much, the human body and face are the most interesting possible photos to take for me.I'm torn on the whole getting-to-work-with-kids thing. It keeps me young and can be very fun, but then of course, it can also be utterly infuriating, and you're always at the absolute bottom of the list of people the school cares about on any given day.Also, I rarely think about photography outside of work. I love it and respect it, but I want to be a filmmaker really, so I almost never find myself taking photos for fun. Only at those fleeting times I really want to get serious about improving.
It's been my job the past 15 or so years, over the past couple years though I've cut out the wedding work that I was becoming less and less fond of, and replaced it with more video work in the non-profit real estate / development space, and that's been going great. I'm procrastinating finishing an edit right now actually. But last year my income from videography crossed over to being more than my income from stills, so I'm chasing that growth because I think there's potential for a higher ceiling there. My stills work has gone from mainly corporate event capture, think conventions and conferences, to more headshots / portraiture and brand identity work, so more in the lifestyle space. I've been trying to level up my lighting capabilities and that's beginning to pay dividends.Number one thing is never get complacent, always focus on improving your skills and equipment. For a long time I didn't spend enough on my camera bodies, in part because I wasn't making that much, but I think it partially held me back because I was missing good shots because of poor autofocus and yadda yadda yadda. Getting a pro body meant there was no longer any excuse for blaming poor capture on bad technology. Now I have the best and only myself to blame. But legit the photos are better also and I have more time to focus on making good imagery.
I think having it as a job is diminishing my enjoyment. Instead of loading up my gear on the weekend to drive around and see what I find, now it's just what I do every weekday and I'm pretty sick of it.
>>4475868My job has lately been leaving me too exhausted and impatient to bring the camera out like I used to. I don't like feeling like I'm bringing the bag out of obligation, but I also can't use it if I don't have it with me.
>>4475869It's a bit of that too. I have a small bag that has just the camera, but even then I second guess grabbing it and think "Will I actually bother to take photos or will it just sit in the car again?" and leave it at home. My free time ends up only being used for shopping or maybe seeing friends (and even that is just to vaguely maintain a social circle). I kind of want to just find some other job and make photography my hobby again, or even just have it as an occasional job thing. Doing it full time hasn't been what I thought it would be.
>>4467257I did, & it got boring AF. Then I pressed all my contemporaries to see what disciplines they were interested in personally outside of work. Only one actualky did photography at all outside of work, and she just shoots & prints large format macro shots of flowers. Yawn. Everyone, and I mean EVERY ONE, said if you want to pursue photo as an art, don’t do it professionally bc it absolutely kills your passion when it’s your day job. I followed their advice & do not regret it at all.
>>4475928What did you do exactly? I'm starting to think I should drop it and get something normal. I've been trying to go out and do photos for fun lately, but I'm just not feeling it like I used to and it feels like a chore.
>>4467709The pictures look like CGI
>>4475963It's the poor use of HDR. Using HDR is standard in real estate photos, but not everyone implements it in a nice way.
>>4467709>that layoutwtf
>>4476430I imagine it's a blind wall to make the dinning party feel fancier/less distracted but it's done in a very small place it might as well break the harmony, doesn't help the fancy chandelier is in the kitchen spot either
>>4476430There are some real weird places around. Last week I photographed a place where downstairs just had two bedrooms and one bathroom but the upstairs was a bedroom, big bathroom, massive kitchen and massive living room. There was no reason for it either, it was a completely normal looking two story from outside and was just weirdly designed inside.
>>4467257I work in commercial photography for almost a year but ended up quitting and going back to a normie job. Like others have said, it starts to zap your enjoyment of photography. I probably only took my camera out for fun maybe 2 times during my entire tenure since I just didn't feel like going out and taking more photos after spending the whole work week taking photos.I think the only photography job that might be enjoyable is one that is very creative (cars, models etc) while anything like products, buildings, real estate etc would be more for someone that doesn't have much interest in photography to begin with.
