Freelance
Photography: How to Begin Your Career
by Colin Hartness
http://www.asaphotography.com
Photography is a vast world. There are many different types
of photography and many different kinds of people that enjoy it. Its a
hobby that be relatively inexpensive or one that you can invest a lot of money
on. Photos are so special because they give us memories of times and places and
events in our lives. We can hold onto these memories forever with a photograph.
As much as people love photos, many people
love taking them even more. Whether its a mother who takes photos at
every of her childrens moments in life (first smile, first step, first
spaghetti meal) or maybe its the father who never forgets his camera for
a football or basketball game, or maybe its the young girl who loves
nature hikes with her camera; these people are not exceptions. They all have an
eye for those special moments and they all appreciate the cameras ability
to capture that moment and freeze it in time forever.
What is Freelance Photography?
What if you love photography so much you
wish you could do it for a living? I mean, you actually get paid for your
photographs! But you work solely for yourself, selling each photo or series of
photos individually. You dont have a boss. You work sometimes on
assignment and you may sell to magazines. That is freelance photography.
Freelance photography may be your entire
career or it may start out as something you do in your spare time but begin
making money from it. Its just like freelance writing in this sense that
many people turn it into a career and enjoy the freedom of working essentially
for themselves on their own time and making money doing something they love
doing anyway.
How to Build a Portfolio
To start getting jobs as a freelance
photographer, you need a portfolio. A portfolio will show samples of your work.
Even if you have never had photographs published or publicly displayed, you can
start a portfolio of your best work and then add onto it if you win photography
contests or start receiving paid work.
How to Get Jobs
As we mentioned, building a portfolio is the
first step in submitting your work for pay but when it comes right down to it,
its the quality of the photo that will determine if you get paid for it.
Some people have more of a natural talent for taking great pictures than others
but it is a skill that anyone can learn. There are schools dedicated to the art
of photography and you can even get a degree in it. If you are just getting
started, you can look into classes provided by your local community center or
community college. Some cities have photography groups that meet to share
photos and tips. There are also many groups online dedicated to photography and
freelance photography.
You need to view as many famous photographs
as possible. Take a look at what is getting published and compare it to your
own photos. This allows you to compare and learn from others work. It
takes more than just point and shoot to get a great photo. You need to learn
about focus, lighting, colors and backgrounds and much more.
Once you start learning about photography
and creating a portfolio, you can start submitting your photos to contests and
magazines. Get a list of photography markets and start submitting to ones that
accept your type of photos. Dont expect to make it to the big times right
away. Few people actually achieve this but you can start small and eventually
make your way into a nice living from freelance photography.
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Looking for information about Photography?
Go to: http://www.asaphotography.com
'ASA Photography' is published by Colin Hartness -
An excellent resource for Photography!
Check out more Photography articles at:
http://www.asaphotography.com/archive
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