Jack,
Never in my 30+ years in this industry have I ever heard of anyone sitting back and having work come to them.
Exactly my point Joe.
You are correct that photographers need to market and promote. However....traditionally, doing events such as arts and craft shows, greeting cards and such tend to pay off very little, if anything. It has always been the realm of the advanced amateur and part time pro.
And that's pretty much where I am at now.
The reality of our industry is that the photographers time spent in marketing themselves is almost always better spent in contacting advertising agencies, companies that need product shots or magazines that hire on an ongoing basis, even if its not a staff position. The one off sale to someone looking for a print to hang on their wall, as nice as it is willusually not pay the bills on a consistent way. Again, thids is not necessarily the way things "should" work, its just the way they do.
Thank you for the advice Joe, and your point is well taken. However, I simply enjoy Nature Photography. I don't think I could stomach product photography (unless it was a product I believed in) or doing anything I didn't truly enjoy. Just so you know, I haven't worked for anyone else in more than a decade, and I don't plan on working for anyone else again. I do my own thing in my own way and already have a residual incomein place from 4 books I have already written. I don't think I could be happy taking photos and handing them to someone else to process. My photos are mine, I take photos of what I enjoy, and then I enjoy viewing and editing my photos every bit as much as I enjoyed taking them. Sure, I'd like to make money with my photography, but I won't starve if I don't. I take my photos because I love doing it, and I have just begun printing my images ~over a month ago, and now that I have a halfway decent handle on that I am really enjoying seeing them in print. I personally enjoy art shows, seeing other people's work, and I won't mind participating in them. I believe things work out to be the way they are planned to work, which is either by default or by design.
Welcome to what is probably the craziest industry in the world that most closely resembles a drug addiction. We have it in our blood and probably will never leave
Thank you Joe. I do appreciate your time and your insight.
I rather like to think my own photography is like
nutrition for me, not a drug. "Good for the soul," as it were. Healthy. And this is what I think Nature Photography is, was, and always will be.
However, I don't think the same can be said of other types of photography, particularly of models and such, given today's "heroin addict" look that seems to be so popular in the mags ... which makes your "drug" analogy rather poignant. (Whatever happened to the happy, healthy look in women?) I don't ever want this to be a drug for me, only healthy.
Anyway, I agree with you that photography is in our blood ... which is why I want to make sure that my subject matter is always wholesome, what I truly enjoy and love to do, and nothing else.
Jack
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