# How to Become Contributing Photographer



## Dennissphoto

Hi, my name is Dennis and I am a photographer in Atlanta, GA. A few weeks ago I learned about a photographer who works from home as a stock photographer. In addition to that he is a contributing photographer for companies such as Gap and Old Navy. He is not a in house photographer, but he is sent cloths, he shoots a model wearing the cloths, sends the photos back to the company and gets a big check in the mail. How are you able to set up somthing like this, were you can become a contributing photographer for large companies, because that is somthing I am really interested in.


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## 2WheelPhoto

Welcome to the forum


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## KmH

Dennissphoto said:


> A few weeks ago I learned about a photographer who works from home as a stock photographer. In addition to that he is a contributing photographer for companies such as Gap and Old Navy. He is not a in house photographer, but he is sent cloths, he shoots a model wearing the cloths, sends the photos back to the company and gets a big check in the mail.


Ask that guy, and how much is 'a big check'?

If he is doing stock directly for a variety of companies, most of his 'big check' is likely from use licensing fees.

He is in a field that is highly competitive, likely had a well established A+ reputation, and likely did a ton of groundwork promoting and advertising himself to his current clients.

A lot of 'overnight' successes, actually take years of diligent effort to become successful.


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## Big Mike

Like most anything else...it has a lot to do with who you know.


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## Tony S

Have a friend who makes the decisions working for the company you want to work for.  This is usually how someone gets into it unless they have mad mad skills and experience.


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## vfotog

Dennissphoto said:


> Hi, my name is Dennis and I am a photographer in Atlanta, GA. A few weeks ago I learned about a photographer who works from home as a stock photographer. In addition to that he is a contributing photographer for companies such as Gap and Old Navy. He is not a in house photographer, but he is sent cloths, he shoots a model wearing the cloths, sends the photos back to the company and gets a big check in the mail. How are you able to set up somthing like this, were you can become a contributing photographer for large companies, because that is somthing I am really interested in.




and you heard about this where? big companies often have in-house fotogs. they may not shoot exclusively, but may do other things too like post, etc. anyone that gives out big checks obviously has a budget. and paying for all those models that Gap and Old Navy use would be coming out of that big check. since shooting brand name fashion wouldn't be usable for stock images, this photog would have to have a lot of time to shoot the commercial fashion stuff and the stock and do the post and.....   the OP was a prank post, right?


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## imagemaker46

I have my doubts about anything the Op has mentioned.  If the Op is a professional photographer then he should have a better understanding of the business and that recently learning about a guy that gets big pay cheques from a high end company for clothes/model shoots is likely not a reality. I'm pretty sure that these companies would require that the photos be flawless, would require makeup, hair, and a creative director that is putting the shoots together.

Perhaps I am wrong, just suspicious of this scenario.


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