How can i start to persue photography as a career?

Tim: How can i start to persue photography as a career?
O.K, so I’m only 15, but I like photography and would like to peruse it as a career someday. I have a decent digital camera, It’s a 5mp camera with a 4x optical zoom and a pretty decent lens. It’s just a point a shoot, but I didn’t have $ 700 to spend on an slr. I’ve read a book that taught me about aperture and iso and stuff. Anyway, can photography be a potential career? What could I do, if it made decent money I would like shooting weddings and events and stuff (I like candid photography best) but am willing to explore other options. Know, since I’m only 15 I know I wont be making any money for awhile but what can I do now to prepare for later? I mean like practising my photography. Oh yeah, I am decent at editing my photos and have Paint Shop Pro. So, yeah, what can I do know and what should I do later?

P.S
You don’t have to tell me that your not going to be able to do photography full time starting out, I know that photography would have to be a side job.

Answers and Views:

Answer by MissAshlynn
Photography can definitely be a career, but be sure you have another job to fall back on. A friend of mine had done photography with a wedding planning company until they replaced her for someone who would work cheaper. (Not saying this would happen, but in those cases you’d be out of a job for at least a few weeks.)

To practice, maybe take a few classes if your high school offers some, or if there is a junior college nearby that will take you for summer schooling. Or, look up some of the great shots online and study angles, perception, and lighting. Learn what makes a picture stand out.

If you are also dedicated to wanting to do photography, try taking some Photoshop classes. Paint Shop Pro is a great program, but Photoshop has more options for photo editing.

Answer by jigglers
yes, photography can be a potential career. you can do point and shoot in the meantime but i would definitely recommend investing in an SLR at some point because nothing beats SLRs when it comes to aperture and exposure. i would recommend taking random shots of everything under the sun (people, landmarks in your area)…you can’t imagine how many everyday items can become works of art under a lens. then keep a portfolio of your best work. offer to take pictures at your family and friends’ events. sooner or later, your friends and acquaintances of your family and friends will see your work and will want you to take their pictures. good luck.

Answer by star_kd
Well what you could do is read the most you can about it, books, websites, TV shows… There’s plenty of good information out there! Also there are classes you can take after high school dedicated entirely to become a photograph. Practicing is good to develop your eye, to know what’s best, which angle, which light…. Explore, Be creative, take lotsa pics and keep some in a “portfolio“ If you like it alot, if it’s a passion Go for it!

Answer by Woohooo_coolgirl
This definitely could be a career. Of course you need a fall back. What you need to do to start out is to just get known. If you are an unknown photographer, you won’t really have much of a job.

Answer by Grin Reeper
I have been a pro shooter for 8 years and its def a career. There are photographers that bring in millions each year. Now that not me but there are those who demand hi fees.

Right now i would join a photography forum or 2
They are great. I belong to one and they help me and i help them. People from all ages and talents are there… Great place to start to get a real grasp as to what photographers are up to these days… Most use Photoshop, i use photoshop and paintshop… they are both invaluable

good luck and have fun… <–that is KEY!!!

Answer by Mauri J
I started out like you with just a point and shoot. I have a daughter that plays sports and I would just take pics of all the girls and the parents would always brag about how much better my shots were than theirs were and they wanted copies of everything I took of their kids. I eventually upgraded to a Canon G-II film camera (for better action shots) and kept on taking pictures. Now, I am the official team photographer, family photographer and I have friends and family referring other people to me for their kids photos and weddings. Just stay with it and if you’re good enough, ppl will start asking you if you’re free for such and such date to take their pictures. Good luck!

Answer by d5canon
I started my commercia photography business over 40 years ago. I have managed to make a fairly good living out of it over the years and enjoyed all the nice benefits of being self employed. You can also do this and I have a few tips for you to get started.

It sounds to me like you are interested and have a not very flexible, but decent picture taking camera. If you don’t already have one, your next step should be a decent quality color ink jet printer (the HP series printers that use the 02 series ink cartridges will make nice color prints and can be had at a fairly resaonable cost).

Take a ton of pictures. Be very criticle of your work and start to print up a portfolio of only your best photos. Show your portfolio to anyone who seems interested in seeing it.

Enter every amateur photo contest you can find and don’t be disapointed if you don’t win them all, just keep trying.

At age 15, I assume you are probably in High School. Get on you yearbook photo staff and School Newspaper staff if you can, and work hard at it. Take any technical photography courses or classes you can find. Stay away from most artsy courses as those courses are nice but will never prepare you to make an actual living in photography. Do not take courses that are not primarily devoted to digital photography. Film photography is now basicly obsolite and all photography will soon be digital.

Don’t waste your time with college courses in photography. The few college educated photographers I have hired have to be totally retrained to be able to cope with customer needs and income producing time schedules.

Take any income producing opportunities that come yoiur way. Do weddings for your friends, models composits, portrates, babys, etc. if they are offered to you and do not work for free. Caution though… do not do anything you don’t feel you can do well. If you take photos for money and they do not represent your best efforts, your failures will come back to haunt you. If you are not confident in taking the needed picthres, don’t take the job. No one will fault you for saying that you can’t do this job, but if you try and fail at a job, people will remember.

Hope these tips will help you to get started. Good luck to you. If you can become a successful photographer, you cay make a nice living diong it and be happy in a profession you love.

d5canon