Wanting to escape

I've just joined this forum - so I hope I'm posting in the right group. It seems that a lot of people here are quite serious amateurs and maybe even some pros. I've been taking photos for years and love it and would like to get into professional photography. I'm not worried where I start (product photography, portraits, even weddings!) but I'd just like to quit the day job (office work) :-(
Any advice for this?

Hi Emily - welcome to the site. Before anyone else says it: Google. There is plenty of advice around, try a google "becoming a professional photographer" as well as this site of course (at the moment I'm having problems with the search functionality).

One good way to see if your photos are up to standard is to upload them onto one of the many stock photography sites (my current favourite is www.totallyphotos.com cos I just made a sale!) and see if they sell. If you make some sales, it's a good way to judge whether you will be able to give up the office job.

Hi Emily - welcome. You might want to check out this thread in the Help Forum, it's along the same lines. I can understand about the office grind...

Thanks for the advice.
I've gone ahead and uploaded my first photo to http://www.totallyphotos.com ... this could be the start of my escape (but I won't start clearing my desk right now) :)

Emily.

I just wanted to say thanks for the recommendation - I actually sold two shots last week on Totallyphotos (and seeing I've only uploaded 8 that seems pretty good to someone new to the game!).
Still in the office, but making my first sales is great!

Thanks again :-) :-)
Emily.

That's great! I don't want to discourage you, but it's a tough business. I've done some commercial work and sold some prints, but far from enough to see turning this into something full time. Actually I've decided against trying for that, but you can get there eventually. Some people here are full time photographers, and can give you more advice about this.

Keep shooting, talking to people and following up with work you've submitted. About six weeks ago I submitted a shot for consideration as a magazine cover, and I've talked to them a couple of times since then. I know they're busy and won't pester them, but at the same time I'm sure they have a lot of great cover shots they can use and I want to keep my name out there. If I hadn't have followed up, I might not have a chance of it being used.

One way to start is to find a job working as a photographer. This could be journalism, stock work, catalog/commercial printing, being an assistant photographer(lot of work, not always much behind the camera time), and various other options. This way you might find out if you really like the daily tasks associated with doing this full time. Also this is better than trying to do it "all" right away.

There's a lot of non-camera work, including people skills, traveling, and of course the business end as well. A lot of photography is a volume business. The more you do and sell the better!

Making a few good photos, versus making lots of saleable photos is very different. Best wishes, if some of us here can help, we will, and post some photos for us!

Congratulations Emily! I know the feeling of making your first sale.

As the others have said it's a long and difficult road and I guess the important thing is to just enjoy the journey.

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Emily

I've just joined this forum - so I hope I'm posting in the right group. It seems that a lot of people here are quite serious amateurs and maybe even some pros. I've been taking photos for years and love it and would like to get into professional photography. I'm not worried where I start (product photography, portraits, even weddings!) but I'd just like to quit the day job (office work) :-(
Any advice for this?

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I would second the suggestion to read the thraed pointed out by "another view." So many people truly believe that forming a business is something within their grasp; for most, it isn't. The gap between being an amateur and a pro is considerable. That is why most businesses fail in less than a year. You've sold a few things, great! But so have I. A few things don't make a living! You literally need thousands of photos that make money, not just a few..

Being a pro is all about the business, only a small percentage is about the photography. As an amateur, you are free to do what you want. As a pro, you are at slaving away doing what your customers want. For every David Muench there are thousands of nameless grinders. Make sure you aren't replacing one daily grind for another thanks to an overly romantic view of photography.

Yes, it is tough sitting in an office all day. I know, I went from a 6-figure salary to scraping along paycheck-to-paycheck as a science teacher because I got so sick of the daily grind, But it was very difficult even when I didn't have all the business work to do as well. Your experience, if you go through with it, will be much more difficult.

Good luck regardless of what you choose to do.