Event photography as a career is very financially rewarding. An event photographer is one who is present at weddings, sports events, music performan...
Event photography as a career is very financially rewarding. An event photographer is one who is present at weddings, sports events, music performances, award ceremonies etc. to cover the occasion.
It is widely believed that event photography is a simple job, wherein all a person has to do is appear at the event and keep clicking photographs once in a while. However, this is not right at all. Many advanced courses are devoted to train people to become an event photographer and like any other highly skilled job, an event photographer should have some important qualities to excel at his job.
From the outside you may believe that as the photographer runs around just snapping that there is no process in their photography. At an event there is an aim in place that must be satisfied. Obtaining a large extended run of great top quality photographs needs skill and an extraordinary eye. Being quick off the mark is a must to capture all those unexpected shots.
Creativity is a must-have for an event photographer along with an innate quality to sense the tone of the event. As an example, the approach for wedding photography has to be completely different from corporate photography. Thus, the photographer should possess the quality of imaginatively capturing the mood of an event through his images.
Remember at an event you are there to take the photographs and not actually be part of the photographs. By that what is meant is that you should be able to do your work without upsetting the flow of the event. No one really should know you are there. When people do not think you are there, not only do you gain the best candid real shots you also do not disturb the event.
Event photography also calls for proper handling of various issues that a photographer might have to confront during the event. A clumsy and careless approach doesn’t quite work in event photography. The photographer should be prepared with his equipment and camera well in advance to the beginning of the event. Taking the job casually and appearing in an event without any preparation will jeopardize your chances of doing well in this profession.
It is obvious that an event photographer should know his art inside out. Knowledge about the technical features of photography equipment affects the outcome. He requires to know about the appropriate use of light and angles and he should be able to use the available resources to the maximum.
Offering a photography service also means that you are in business. You’re no longer an recreational photographer taking a few pics for friends you are a professional. Because you are in business you will need to enhance your non-photography skills such as your people and communication skills. Take the time to do communication and people management training courses because they will pay dividends for you especially if this is a weak spot for you. If your communication skills are low your business growth will be slow. Being able to be effective with people is a number 1 skill in this industry and field of photography. Books like ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ are also a must to read. Grow your individual communication skills today and observe your business grow tomorrow.
In a nutshell, event photography requires the practitioner’s dedication along with his enthusiasm for grasping different aspects of the profession. You also need to improve your alertness levels and adaptability to be able to do well in this field.
If you focus on event photography you can make quite a bit of money. It is a varied and widely sought after field of photography.
What to do
The key trick is in choosing your market slice. You must choose a slice of the market where people want to keep memories alive in print. It must also be an event that is hard to capture for a not professional so that they will need your services.
One idea is to go to kids sports events. Get permission from the coach to click pics for the parents watching and then start clicking away. If you turn up with a massive telephoto lens like the ones used for pro coverage of events, you will be taken seriously. Make sure you get all the kids doing great action shots and then hand out flyers to all the kids’ parents watching with your web address. If you can write down the parents email address so you can email them the URL of you site then upload the pics to your web site that day and email everyone. If you have a simple shopping cart set up you can make money in a few hours as people pop in to see the pics and buy them for $20 or more a pop.
You can do a similar thing with weddings. Take all the normal shots as part of the wedding coverage but then get your URL printed on the wedding invites and all the other wedding materials and also get an email list of all the wedding guests, offer the couple a nice 20% discount for doing this and then take lots of extra pics at the wedding of the guests doing all the things they do. Upload all the pics to your site and send the emails. You will then make a lot more money than the 20% discount it cost you because then 30 or 40 people will be also purchasing your pics at $20 or more a shot straight from your site. Also charging them more for higher resolution shots is a great bonus income as well.
The trick is to find a corner in the market place where you can excel by being the best photographer in the room, and offering an easy way for people to buy your photos.
Dog shows, fashion shows, horse shows, car shows, livestock competitions, rock shows, – the list goes on. Keep your eye out in the events section of your local paper to see what is happening. Always ask for permission to shoot pics and if you need to offer the people 10% of the income if feel you need to so you can get easy access.
One of the many ways you can make money as a photographer is to specialise on events. Christenings, weddings, and all sorts of other events where people create memories can be lucrative business. The great thing is that all you need is a stack of business cards, and a good camera.
Here’s how you can do it
Cover only events where it is hard for people to take the pics themselves and where they will want to keep their memories frozen in film.
One idea is to go to kids sports events. Get permission from the coach to click pics for the parents watching and then start clicking away. If you turn up with a huge telephoto lens like the ones used for pro coverage of events, you will be taken seriously. Make sure you get all the children doing great action shots and then hand out flyers to all the parents watching with you’re web address. If you can grab the parents email address so you can email them the URL of you site then upload the pics to your web site that day and email everyone. If you have a simple shopping cart set up you can make money in a few hours as people pop in to see the pics and buy them for $20 or more a pop.
You can do a similar thing with weddings. Take all the normal shots as part of the wedding coverage but then get your URL printed on the wedding invites and all the other wedding materials and also get an email list of all the wedding guests, offer the couple a nice 20% discount for doing this and then take lots of extra pics at the wedding of the guests doing all the things they do. Upload all the pics to your site and send the emails. You will then make a lot more money than the 20% discount it cost you because then 20 or 30 people will be also buying your pics at $20 or more a shot straight from your site. You can also charge a higher price for high resolution pics.
The trick is to find a niche where you can excel by being the best photographer in the room, and offering an easy way for people to buy your photos.
Dog shows, fashion shows, horse shows, car shows, livestock competitions, rock shows, – the list goes on. Keep your eye out in the events section of your local paper to see what is happening. Always ask for permission to shoot pics and if you need to offer the people 10% of the income if feel you need to so you can get easy access.
