[Leica] Making a living as a photographer

[foto at marcdufour.net (Marc Dufour)]

The matter isn't photography. Nor Photography. 
No more than Plant Orchids, Play Football or Make Camembert.
The matter is about consider oneself as a pro or as an amateur.
A professional has a better gear and depends on commissions. 
An amateur has worse gear, and photograph for pure enjoyment.
As a graphic designer, I've commissioned photographs to some pros, and
learnt a lot working with them. 
But I don't envy them. Quite the opposite. 
They shared their knowledge, but I am the one who enjoy with it, later.
I've not to photograph wedding after wedding, week after week, nor
basketball games, fashion shows, political meetings, air traffic controllers
strikes, kitchen furniture, celebrities, etc.
When I take my camera, it's just to enjoy photography. Pure pleasure. 
And, sometimes, I even can use the result in my job as a graphic designer;-)
When something you love turns into a job, it stops being fun after a while,
for a vast majority, in most professions. It's true you can expect some
satisfaction, time to time. But only a few privileged pros can say
otherwise.
An amateur has no more pressure than his own demand.
The matter isn't about photography.
It's about job or pleasure.
Cheers,
Marc


-----Mensaje original-----
De: lug-bounces+foto=marcdufour.net en leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+foto=marcdufour.net en leica-users.org] En nombre de
tedgrant en shaw.ca
Enviado el: domingo, 05 de diciembre de 2010 23:11
Para: Leica Users Group
Asunto: Re: [Leica] Making a living as a photographer

Well he sounds like a whiner! Oh and shooting for Hollywood and a nice 
payment?

How be I tell you I was hired to shoot the promo photography for the John 
Travalto movie "URBAN COWBOY!" Oh yeah and on the 5 day shoot? I was paid 
$9000.oo plus expenses! Damn life is tough being an independent shooter. :-)

Yep didn't get those every month or so. WHY?

Well hell man I was shooting on other projects that paid better. :-)

So maybe you and your buddy Ken missed the boat some how!! ;-) :-)

cheers,
ted

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lawrence Zeitlin" <lrzeitlin en gmail.com>
To: "Leica LUG" <lug en leica-users.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 11:10 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Making a living as a photographer


> After I wrote my little polemic, I came across this article by Ken 
> Rockwell.
> He says it better than I could.
> Larry Z
> - - - - - -
>
> *Professional Photography*
>
> Ken Rockwell
>
> Would you like to photograph anything you want, anywhere you want, anytime
> you want, any way you want, with a great professional camera system? Would
> you love to travel to luxury destinations and photograph whatever, 
> whenever
> you want?
>
> *The only way to do this is to keep your real job and do photography on 
> your
> own time.*
>
> If you want to photograph professionally you'll make less money, have to
> shoot the boring stuff in crappy
> locations<http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/crappylocations.htm>for
> which you're hired, shoot it the way the client wants, and probably
> have
> to shoot everything as if it's some big emergency every time. You'll
> probably only be able to afford beat up old gear that's "good enough."
>
> Making a buck in photography is a lot tougher than keeping a real job. The
> photo jobs and locations that pay the most are the most boring. Think 
> you're
> going to have people hiring you as a travel photographer? Guess again.
>
> It's *exactly* like golf or surfing. Golf is fun, and it's almost 
> impossible
> to get people to pay you to do it. Only one guy in ten million makes lots 
> of
> money in surfing, photography or acting. Everyone else who makes the money
> does it in something allied to the field, like making or selling product 
> or
> the dream.
>
> We all know the few actors who pull in $20 million per movie. Did you know
> the average annual income of the many SAG <http://www.sag.org/> (Screen
> Actors' Guild) members, the majority of whom we've never heard, is 
> something
> more like $20,000? The SAG website's FAQ page offers this advice on how to
> become a performer: *"Develop another career to supplement your
> income."*People pay photographers less than actors.
>
> A person who studied stage lighting in college and worked in Hollywood
> discovered that almost no one makes it in the fun job of lighting. The
> people who make more money more regularly are those who become lighting
> salesmen.
>
> Who makes more: an actor, or an agent who earns 10% from each of the 20
> clients they represent?
>
> If you want to make money in photography, it's probably not by doing
> photography.
>
> You can become a super star photographer, but it's all in your
> self-promotion and luck. If you want it hard enough you can do it. In
> America you can do anything you can imagine, however if you want to make
> money and have fun making photos there are easier ways to live.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information 


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