# How can i sell my photos?



## tigidig4x (Oct 24, 2013)

Hi guys, im back again for your help.. Im curently an amateur photographer, i have bought my equipments, and i also know how to shoot my DSLR, and all i do is walk the streets, shoot festivals, shoot landscapes, some portraits, and many other more. I also covered an event in a hotel once for free. Now, i am not saying that i want to get paid everytime i shoot. I enjoy shooting whether i get paid or not, i am just after the outputs and i would just post them to my flickr. Having some beautiful outputs would really make me happy. Now, i want to take a step forward and become a freelance photographer but my question is, how would i start? If i shoot weddings i don't know where to start and get my clients.. So i am thinking if i could just take any pictures and sell them? I also shoot football games here locally in our area, and i really don't know how to earn in my work.. My father gave me some equipments and i just want to give him something even just a little back to his expenses at my gears.. It is also difficult for me since i dont have a friend photographer here in my place, and i shoot all by my self..

I live in the Philippines, im a college student, so please share with me your ways here? Thanks so much people. Also if you could judge and critique my shots if i could be a "freelance photographer", you could have a quick glance at my flickr on some of my shots.. Thank you again...

Flickr: Julius Wayne's Photostream


----------



## hamlet (Oct 24, 2013)

I don't know anything about the marketing yourself as a photographer, but i fixed peoples computers for free for a long time just for the fun of it. Sometimes they give me a bone and sometimes they gave me nothing. But either way they were happy with my service and recommended me to their friends and relatives. So the times that i did get paid, those people paid me big time when they were happy. So yeah, i'm pretty useless as a entrepreneur, but i was doing what i did and i made more than enough to support whatever hobby i was pursuing. But for me its always about having a good time because money will come on its own if you treat your clients like your friends and you do a good job. btw your pictures do look pretty good.


----------



## Steve5D (Oct 24, 2013)

tigidig4x said:


> ...and i shoot all by my self..



And you do that quite well, by the way. I really liked what I saw on you Flickr page.

This forum has, primarily, an American membership. Selling photos here in the States may well be very different that selling them in the Philippines. 

What part of the Philippines are you in? I was in Olangapo 30 years ago, and it was pretty much "anything goes" in terms of what was sold in the shops and bodegas along Magsaysay Drive. Had you been there back then, it would've been a "print 'em and sell 'em" scenario.

Coffee shops? Restaurants? Maybe you could hang some of your work in those and have them for sale. Hotel lobbies or gift shops?

Just tossing out ideas...


----------



## KmH (Oct 24, 2013)

It takes a lot of work to get a photography business started, and it takes a lot of work to then keep it going.
If fact 50% to 75% of your time will need to be spent doing business tasks, instead of doing photography tasks.

The first thing you need to start a business is a well researched, written business and marketing plan.

Business Plans For Dummies
Going Pro: How to Make the Leap from Aspiring to Professional Photographer
How to Start a Home-based Wedding Photography Business (Home-Based Business Series)
How to Start a Home-Based Photography Business, 6th (Home-Based Business Series)


----------



## vintagesnaps (Oct 24, 2013)

Your pictures are a great look at life there. Some seem to show that you are seeing things in an interesting way, like the one in the church with the reflections in the floor. I particularly like "Time Warp", the girl in B&W selling bracelets "Silent Vendor", the one of the hawk(?) looking down into the grass... 

I'm not sure either what would help as far as the business of selling your photos. I often use  American Society of Media Photographers  but their info is geared to photographers in the US I think so much of that may not be helpful to you. In my area it's similar to what Steve said, there are coffee shops etc. where artists can display their prints. There are also a lot of craft shows and art fairs in my area. 

You seem to have the ability, good luck with whatever you do with your photography.


----------



## tigidig4x (Oct 24, 2013)

hamlet said:


> I don't know anything about the marketing yourself as a photographer, but i fixed peoples computers for free for a long time just for the fun of it. Sometimes they give me a bone and sometimes they gave me nothing. But either way they were happy with my service and recommended me to their friends and relatives. So the times that i did get paid, those people paid me big time when they were happy. So yeah, i'm pretty useless as a entrepreneur, but i was doing what i did and i made more than enough to support whatever hobby i was pursuing. But for me its always about having a good time because money will come on its own if you treat your clients like your friends and you do a good job. btw your pictures do look pretty good.



hi friend. Thank you the reply, i just want to clear things out.. I do not want to get paid everytime i shoot. I mean, I truly love photography, but I have still not given the chance to do a shoot that I have a chance to get a pay. For example, i want to shoot weddings, *(whether its payed or not, its ok as long as i get an output)*I can't shoot one since, i don't know how to start, how to get my clients, not other wedding or portrait photographers, i don't know how do they get their clients and eventually started by themselves. I am also thinking that they have a friend who are also wedding photographers and they have been going with them to practice and start their own wedding photography. 

Thank you also for the compliment to my flickr page, compliments of other people makes me happier together with my outputs.. Thank you so much.


----------



## tigidig4x (Oct 24, 2013)

Steve5D said:


> tigidig4x said:
> 
> 
> > ...and i shoot all by my self..
> ...



Thank you for your reply, your compliment to my flickr photos, and the tossing of your ideas. Hehe, i really don't know the difference of selling photos in America compared here in my country. I live in Davao, and so far i can't see or hear anyone selling printed photos here except when i was grade 1 and many film photographers do it. But now? I never heard of them anymore, i always see wedding photographers, portrait, and landscape photographers. There was even one time when i was photowalking by myself, i passed by at one place here in Davao City, and i think they are shooting for a pre-nuptial, im so jealous that i wanted to pop in and also take some shots but i am afraid they would "shoo" me away. hahahaha So yeah, that is my story here that's why i shoot by myself i shoot everything as long as it is pleasing to my eyes.


----------



## tigidig4x (Oct 24, 2013)

KmH said:


> It takes a lot of work to get a photography business started, and it takes a lot of work to then keep it going.
> If fact 50% to 75% of your time will need to be spent doing business tasks, instead of doing photography tasks.
> 
> The first thing you need to start a business is a well researched, written business and marketing plan.
> ...




Thank you so much for your time to reply! but i think i still can't afford the e-books you recommended at me, but well see. =)



vintagesnaps said:


> Your pictures are a great look at life there. Some seem to show that you are seeing things in an interesting way, like the one in the church with the reflections in the floor. I particularly like "Time Warp", the girl in B&W selling bracelets "Silent Vendor", the one of the hawk(?) looking down into the grass...
> 
> I'm not sure either what would help as far as the business of selling your photos. I often use  American Society of Media Photographers  but their info is geared to photographers in the US I think so much of that may not be helpful to you. In my area it's similar to what Steve said, there are coffee shops etc. where artists can display their prints. There are also a lot of craft shows and art fairs in my area.
> 
> You seem to have the ability, good luck with whatever you do with your photography.



Thank you for all the compliments! It really makes me happy when my work is being admired by somebody.. The church reflection you saw is a very old church from Camiguin Islands here in the Philippines, i took it when we had a vacation in there...  Also, the hawk you called is called really an "Philippine Eagle".. 

Thank you again for your inputs, hopefully i could succeed as a better photographer.. Thank guys!


----------



## elmhurre (Oct 31, 2013)

Hi, I'm also from the Philippines, why don't you join any club here in the Philippines at least you can start a network of your own. You know sometimes when a photographer is loaded with schedule they refer some friends to do the work instead and that will open the opportunity for you.....There's a lot of Photography club here in the Philippines. goodluck


----------



## TheFantasticG (Oct 31, 2013)

KmH said:


> It takes a lot of work to get a photography business started, and it takes a lot of work to then keep it going.
> If fact 50% to 75% of your time will need to be spent doing business tasks, instead of doing photography tasks.
> 
> The first thing you need to start a business is a well researched, written business and marketing plan.
> ...



Read lots of links like that in the past. Funny thing is I need to start a photography business for all the tax breaks and tax write-offs...


----------



## KmH (Oct 31, 2013)

A lot of people that start a photography business and take business tax deductions get a notice from the IRS a few years later notifying them that those business deductions they took have been disallowed and please pay this bill.

Business or Hobby? Answer Has Implications for Deductions


----------



## TheFantasticG (Oct 31, 2013)

The trick is actually turning a profit once every few years.... Not like its a bad thing. I wouldn't mind making some prints then going to try to sell them at a flea market or something.  Besides, it's not like me and the IRS haven't tangled before. Oh, and I have a badass CPA which helps. Been on me for a few years now to start a photography business.... Or a business of any kind really.


----------

