Paying for your addiction

[bwolford]

I found a way to pay for my addiction.

The point of sharing these is not to get you to go buy these photos. I doubt any of you have kids in these organization :) I wanted to make a point that with a little creativity, marginal talent, and some willing customers, you might actually be able to pay for your habit. Unlike Crack, photography can pay.

http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/GoodStuffEnterprises/TBTMeets

http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/GoodStuffEnterprises/FHSMarchingPatriots

http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/GoodStuffEnterprises/2005LilSpiritCamp

Interstingly enough the daughter of a friend of mine is getting married. He's telling me the fees for photography will be $3000 plus and his daughter's preferred photographers are all booked 6-9 months in advance. I'm in the wrong business. I just don't have the guts to step up to taking pictures at someone's wedding because if I screw up memories could be lost forever... Besides you can't do it with amature equipment... Good to know, thought, that there is something I can do in retirement.

Anyway, I'd like to hear if you of you are finding ways to make your PET habit pay off!

Brice

P.S. I am using MANY tips I learned on these forums to edit these pictures rapidly and minimize my time doing this... That alone pays for the PET subscription.

[ThomasT]

I agree with you on that one unless you know you can get a job doing this its a hobby thank god I am have my film paid for and all that because I am doing a job for my church I do photography for the RCIA program and your right if you screw it up memories are lost.....A chance you might have to take, that is one of the reasons why you don't give it up you keep trying and get better at it.. I was talking with a professional editor of kiteboarding magazine and he says it takes alot of skill and a lot of classes but if you keep at it you will get the job they are always in desprate needs of a photographer, but with my equipment I can't do that much because even with the 300 mm lense I have right now isn't enough I have seen some photographers come out with 700 to 1000mm lenses that took them there whole LIFE to get! It's crazy but I mean I want to make a career out of it because I do it for the love of computers and the love of photography its kind of is a peace between all the crap that has been going on in my life.... especially because my dad died on March 2, 2004....I have to find something to do or I go crazy and when I take pictures it makes me feel that I am with peace like before when that happened.....

Just my two sense.

Thomas

[kerriann85]

Nice Brice!
Thanks to my PET experience and feeding my addiction all summer I was brave enough to apply for and get a job with a Photography studio as a retoucher. (Using the camera will kick in at a wedding in October too.)

Sadly I now have little time left for just playing. And I decided not to pursure taking pictures to try and sell to the community theatre, but I will continue to shoot and hopefully sell slideshows for the local University theatre.

[bwolford]

Good stuff. Thomas and Kerri, you two certainly are fine examples of what can happen if you stick with it. I know what you mean about losing time to play because I am on the road 4 days a week and have a full work day the 5th. My play and challenge time is 1/5 what it was just a few weeks ago.

Well, it's encouraging to hear your comments. Now I have a retirement plan. If I can stick with this, start doing some portraiture that's not quite as memory critical, to build confidence, then I could have a retirement plan... That gives me 15 years to practice. :shock:

Brice

[Jill]

Very interesting thread!

Brice,

Would you explain how you did that at Shutterfly??

I hope some more comments come in on this subject. I'd love to be able to make money doing something I love.

Thanks!

[Jodi Frye]

BVrice, Congrats and Best of Luck !!! ...meant in an honest way ;)

[bwolford]

Jill,

www.shutterfly.com

Look for Pro Galleries.

Jodi, Thanks!

Brice

[bwolford]

I erased and email from someone who sent me a PM about gear and suggestions... One BIG suggestion I left out is shoot RAW. It makes image adjustment and correction 10Xs easier.

Brice