# How are you making a living with photography in a small town?



## Photobe

Hi everyone!

For those of us in small town, where we don't have a lot of potential customers, what are some ways you're surviving in your market? Do you only do photography part-time? For those of you doing it full-time, how are you finding a steady stream of paying clients? 

Thanks for your advice!


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## table1349

Basic law of economics, supply and demand. Supply is you talent/product. Demand is you demographics. 

 If you don't have enough demand you have two choices.  Expand your options, IE part time photographer part time something else or expand you market of demand.  

Expanding you demand is somewhat limited due to geography and population density unless you are willing to change your geographical location.  Expanding you options would probably be easier although it would probably mean being a part time photographer.


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## astroNikon

Define small town ?

I've been through some small towns that have about 200 homes.
Out of 200, how many would want a photographer ?
What are the Supply/Demand statistics in rural vs suburbanite vs urban locations which I'm sure vary based upon financial class.

If you cannot make a living in your small town then you have to expand your reach, or as mentioned, find another source of income.  Many small towns have a gas station and small food/grain store or two, and maybe one flashing yellow light.

I don't do this as a profession though.


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## robbins.photo

Define small town.  Ok, a town in which all the streets going one way are  numbered and all the streets that go the other way are named after trees

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


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## dennybeall

There are some related tasks that may add a little income. It's mostly grunt work but can make some money. Things like scanning and digitizing family photos and old films and videos. Also, using Photoshop to restore old and damaged photos. Another item is creating slide shows from old photos for weddings and other life events.


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## sniper x

robbins.photo said:


> Define small town.  Ok, a town in which all the streets going one way are  numbered and all the streets that go the other way are named after trees
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


LOL! I'd have to agree with this! I'll say Albuquerque is a small town compared to where some live. I work in Albuquerque but live in a "Really small town" Called Tijeras New Mexico. We don't even have numbered streets! But a lot of our roads (most aren't paved) are named after trees. But all are the Spanish names of trees. I've already decided to not try to make money off of photography anymore. Some of the reasons have been discussed here to no end. But I do look into these threads to see if I am missing something....


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## pixmedic

I imagine few professional photographers make their living entirely in one town, regardless of its size.
in order to do that, if thats what you want, then you have to figure out what the demand is for photography and then charge accordingly...IE, charge enough money to make your living based solely on your towns photography demand.
perhaps the more likely option however, is to branch out into surrounding areas. travel as far as you need to in order to have enough clientele to meet your monetary needs.


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## beagle100

Photobe said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> For those of us in small town, where we don't have a lot of potential customers, what are some ways you're surviving in your market? Do you only do photography part-time? For those of you doing it full-time, how are you finding a steady stream of paying clients?
> 
> Thanks for your advice!



I live in a small town but don't know any photographers "doing it" full time.    But I know plenty of amateur photographers shooting various events, sports, portraits, etc.   for free


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## dennybeall

I live in a small town but don't know any photographers "doing it" full time.    But I know plenty of amateur photographers shooting various events said:
			
		

> I think beagle100 hit the nail on the head. That's the main problem with being able to make a living as a photographer. How do you get around that? The only way I can see is to be noticeably better and/or offer something that the pseudo-pros can't! Great lighting, drones and processing are a couple areas where you can make a difference.
> I also wonder about being able to offer, along with your photo coverage of the event, a service where you compile all the photos taken by the amateurs into a video or collage for the client???


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## kathykitty778

My town is too small to do this full time. But I do like the lack of competition


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## Photobe

I appreciate everyone's answer, thanks again for sharing your advice or thoughts. I've been asking around on some other forums and spoke with a number of photographers about this issue. I ended up writing an article with the advice I got and it's been published.


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## pixmedic

Photobe said:


> I appreciate everyone's answer, thanks again for sharing your advice or thoughts. I've been asking around on some other forums and spoke with a number of photographers about this issue. I ended up writing an article with the advice I got and it's been published.




so....
lemme get this straight....

you have a blog/newsletter offering advice on everything there is to know about being a photographer, but get your information by soliciting the answers from other people?
sounds kinda disingenuous to me.
nice clickbait though.


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## vintagesnaps

My thoughts exactly. The OP was seemingly asking for advice and did not make it clear what he was really doing. Feels like we just got used.


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## Photobe

I'm glad you made this point. 

I can definitely see how you can take this as being disingenuous because I run a newsletter that shares advice with photographers. You may see me as someone purporting to be a know-it-all with all the answers, and then here I am in your forum asking the same question I am answering. And I understand how you may have felt used if I didn’t make it clear WHY I was asking the question.

First, in the future I’ll be sure to preface the question if its for research. 

My newsletter is by design condensing the best advice on some of the toughest *marketing* issues new or established photographers face. I don’t pretend or intend  to share advice on photography techniques or everything there is to know about photography as there are much more qualified individuals and better resources out there for that. The marketing advice I share comes in the form of interviews, articles, or videos. For some content, other photographers are interviewed and in this case, I wrote an article. When you sign-up, I make it a point to tell you exactly the kind of information you're getting and that it all does not all come from me. My first email speaks to my background and experience as well.

When I write the content the advice comes from my own experience, background in small business marketing, and other advice I've read. But, I know that everyone has different markets, attitudes, goals, and approaches for their business. I almost always want to seek other perspectives when researching a question because *TADA* I don't know it all and someone may have another piece of insight or perspective based on their unique experiences and knowledge. I want to cover all the bases when answering a question so that my readers can save time by not having to research the answers themselves and they get a complete and comprehensive answer.

The value this newsletter provides is that the advice is proven, well researched, and comes from people who have had success with them. This precedent is nothing new. You'll notice that many of your favorite blogs, podcasts, and videos on photography feature interviews and guest posts from people who do not actually run that blog or podcast. The value is a medium where you can easily digest and consume the information to the questions you have in running a business in a style that you find entertaining or easy to learn from.

And finally, I'm well aware of the skepticism you have of anything claiming to have all the answers or people claiming to be experts. If anyone reading my material decides it isn't right for them, or for some reason they don't find me credible, _that's cool_. There are other places (such as this forum) that may be a better fit. But, I would challenge them to apply the advice shared and give it a try before discrediting it.


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## pixmedic

do you state anywhere in your article that it is a compilation of research and information gathered from other photographers, or do you let the reader assume that your the one with the expertise and knowledge?


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## table1349

Let me see if I understand your explanation.  You used for advice regarding an issue you have no knowledge of.  If you did you wouldn't need to ask the question.  Then with no knowledge of the subject to back you up, you decided what the "best" advice was and published a newsletter to advise others in a similar position.  

Per you: _"The value this newsletter provides is that the advice is proven, well researched, and comes from people who have had success with them."  _

This is a blatantly false statement since you can show it was well researched, proved or came from anyone who has had success with the advise provided.  

This pretty much explains the value of not only your article by your method of learning.


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## tecboy

I read the first couple of paragraphs.  The article doesn't make any sense.


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## Vtec44

Looks like a typical bait and switch spam, using the forum to generate interests, traffic, and SEO.


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## robbins.photo

Vtec44 said:


> Looks like a typical bait and switch spam, using the forum to generate interests, traffic, and SEO.



Which makes me very upset that I gave away that gem about how to define a small town without proper remuneration.  

But since I'm not a professional photographer if I had given advice visa-vie marketing and it had made it into the final product, how could that possible be considered well researched?

It certainly wouldn't be proven advice.  I would imagine given the "research" method being used here most of these articles aren't full of much more than internet bloviating anyway.  

For the OP, the folks here responded to your question out of a good natured attempt at helping a fellow photographer start a new business in a small town.  You took advantage of that trust to instead steal that advice and incorporate it into an article that you will now market for profit without making your true intentions or motivations clear.

Such deception is despicable.  I doubt you'll offer one but you really do owe these good folks an apology, and further you really should remove any article you've "written" using this methodology from your website.

Since you didn't make it clear to anyone that you were using there advice to publish articles on which you would profit, it's only ethical that you remove those articles and stop profiting from that deception.


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## terri

Photobe said:


> I'm glad you made this point.
> 
> I can definitely see how you can take this as being disingenuous because I run a newsletter that shares advice with photographers. You may see me as someone purporting to be a know-it-all with all the answers, and then here I am in your forum asking the same question I am answering. And I understand how you may have felt used if I didn’t make it clear WHY I was asking the question.
> 
> First, in the future I’ll be sure to preface the question if its for research.
> 
> My newsletter is by design condensing the best advice on some of the toughest *marketing* issues new or established photographers face. I don’t pretend or intend  to share advice on photography techniques or everything there is to know about photography as there are much more qualified individuals and better resources out there for that. The marketing advice I share comes in the form of interviews, articles, or videos. For some content, other photographers are interviewed and in this case, I wrote an article. When you sign-up, I make it a point to tell you exactly the kind of information you're getting and that it all does not all come from me. My first email speaks to my background and experience as well.
> 
> When I write the content the advice comes from my own experience, background in small business marketing, and other advice I've read. But, I know that everyone has different markets, attitudes, goals, and approaches for their business. I almost always want to seek other perspectives when researching a question because *TADA* I don't know it all and someone may have another piece of insight or perspective based on their unique experiences and knowledge. I want to cover all the bases when answering a question so that my readers can save time by not having to research the answers themselves and they get a complete and comprehensive answer.
> 
> The value this newsletter provides is that the advice is proven, well researched, and comes from people who have had success with them. This precedent is nothing new. You'll notice that many of your favorite blogs, podcasts, and videos on photography feature interviews and guest posts from people who do not actually run that blog or podcast. The value is a medium where you can easily digest and consume the information to the questions you have in running a business in a style that you find entertaining or easy to learn from.
> 
> And finally, I'm well aware of the skepticism you have of anything claiming to have all the answers or people claiming to be experts. If anyone reading my material decides it isn't right for them, or for some reason they don't find me credible, _that's cool_. There are other places (such as this forum) that may be a better fit. But, I would challenge them to apply the advice shared and give it a try before discrediting it.



    Blah, blah.    You deliberately misrepresented yourself in your first post as a newbie seeking advice.   This rambling explanation doesn't change that.  

Check out our Articles of Interest forum.  That is the way we share information with each other here.  Click bait schemes are not allowed, regardless of how slick they may be, and this one wasn't even very slick.


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## imagemaker46

I live in a city of around a million, 99% of my work is in other cities. I travel to where the work is.


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## randymckown

Before moving to Colorado last year, we operated a studio in Kansas City for a decade ... Not a small town ... But here's what's important to keep in mind. Some of our portrait clients drove up to two hours for their session. It really didn't matter what the towns population was because our town wasn't our target .. It was all towns. You create interesting products and unique customer experiences then market them to a larger audience and they will come to you.


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## BananaRepublic

Photobe said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> For those of us in small town, where we don't have a lot of potential customers, what are some ways you're surviving in your market? Do you only do photography part-time? For those of you doing it full-time, how are you finding a steady stream of paying clients?
> 
> Thanks for your advice!



Start off with a load of money


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## tecboy

Seriously, this op should be banned from this forum!  Before he will take advantage of other members.


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## terri

tecboy said:


> Seriously, this op should be banned from this forum!  Before he will take advantage of other members.


If you look at his profile, he's not been back since he first posted this.   I removed his link, and it seems many of us have taken turns calling him out.

It's not likely he'll return.


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## table1349

terri said:


> tecboy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, this op should be banned from this forum!  Before he will take advantage of other members.
> 
> 
> 
> If you look at his profile, he's not been back since he first posted this.   I removed his link, and it seems many of us have taken turns calling him out.
> 
> It's not likely he'll return.
Click to expand...

Yep, that pilgrim's left.


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