I hope this won't sound like boasting, and I am trying to keep within the parameters of the thread by being informative as to how it might be possible to make some money with your camera.
I've been a published photographer for a very long time; in that I sold my first photo to a magazine in 1979 - and I've done a huge amount of work since then. But, I've hankered after being a regular (and regularly paid) travel photographer for as long as I can remember.
I've done a lot of work in this line; including 2 trips to the USA that resulted in 3, two page spreads for The Irish Times newspaper, a week photographing pubs and restaurants in Ireland for the Sunday Times travel magazine and 5 months in 2009 and 2010 travelling up one side of Ireland and down the other taking a total of 4600 images for a Dorling Kindersley guide book (Back Roads Ireland), which resulted in 300 of my photos in the book (about half the total published).
But, today, I had a phone call that could have seriously changed things for me on a regular basis. The marketing body that is responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas - a very large international corporate body - gave me a call. Actually it was a conference call, with me at one end of the line and 4 of their team at the other. At the end of the 40 minute call, I had secured 2 commissions worth over €995 a day (that will take more than a week to complete) plus "post production" (at €500 a day) plus expenses and plus licensing fees for any image use (and a buyout of my copyright could send the total bill into orbit).
The reason I mention it is because I tendered for photography work with that very same organisation in 2008 - and was not successful. But since then, I have contacted them on a regular basis and made sure that they knew about my work for other travel and tourism related companies, for example by sending them links to my web galleries of related imagery - such as THIS ONE and THIS ONE.
Eventually (and this is the exciting bit) they called me about 3 weeks ago and asked if I would like to be considered as one of their contributors! Would I? So, in that time, I sent them my fees rates, links to more galleries and my updated c.v. It all resulted in the call today to confirm the work - and they told me that I am now on a panel of specialized contributors and that there is no one else covering my area of Ireland!
OK, boasting over. There is a moral to this tale....decide where you eventually want to be with your photography. Set your target and go for it. And if you don't make it straightaway (in my case after 28 years) keep going! Persistence is the key to success in photography.
Stephen
I've been a published photographer for a very long time; in that I sold my first photo to a magazine in 1979 - and I've done a huge amount of work since then. But, I've hankered after being a regular (and regularly paid) travel photographer for as long as I can remember.
I've done a lot of work in this line; including 2 trips to the USA that resulted in 3, two page spreads for The Irish Times newspaper, a week photographing pubs and restaurants in Ireland for the Sunday Times travel magazine and 5 months in 2009 and 2010 travelling up one side of Ireland and down the other taking a total of 4600 images for a Dorling Kindersley guide book (Back Roads Ireland), which resulted in 300 of my photos in the book (about half the total published).
But, today, I had a phone call that could have seriously changed things for me on a regular basis. The marketing body that is responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas - a very large international corporate body - gave me a call. Actually it was a conference call, with me at one end of the line and 4 of their team at the other. At the end of the 40 minute call, I had secured 2 commissions worth over €995 a day (that will take more than a week to complete) plus "post production" (at €500 a day) plus expenses and plus licensing fees for any image use (and a buyout of my copyright could send the total bill into orbit).
The reason I mention it is because I tendered for photography work with that very same organisation in 2008 - and was not successful. But since then, I have contacted them on a regular basis and made sure that they knew about my work for other travel and tourism related companies, for example by sending them links to my web galleries of related imagery - such as THIS ONE and THIS ONE.
Eventually (and this is the exciting bit) they called me about 3 weeks ago and asked if I would like to be considered as one of their contributors! Would I? So, in that time, I sent them my fees rates, links to more galleries and my updated c.v. It all resulted in the call today to confirm the work - and they told me that I am now on a panel of specialized contributors and that there is no one else covering my area of Ireland!
OK, boasting over. There is a moral to this tale....decide where you eventually want to be with your photography. Set your target and go for it. And if you don't make it straightaway (in my case after 28 years) keep going! Persistence is the key to success in photography.
Stephen
no-doubt I will be asked again this year 
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