Why do people think it's so easy to earn from photography??

[Simon_84]

is a very saturated market now...unless you wanna lowball yourself by charging cheap fees in order to get a assignment.

for me having a real job is what that matters most.

 

[ckuang]

but isn't it the same for many industries? I find a ton of pple who think it's easy to make money from wedding planning, real estate, web design, music etc, etc just because they have fancy software or some fancy gadget. i don't think it's just photography.

 

[limwhow]

For me, i would not want to turn my hobby into a business... Hobby is free and easy... At own time and will... Once it turn business, where you have to rely on it for your next meal, you will lose that interest as a hobby...

In time to come, you realise that you are much happier being keeping it as a hobby...

it depends.

any business/job is most of the time, a means to an end. i don't think many people love their jobs, but they are willing to do it because of what they achieve by doing their job, and that's really fine as long as they take pride in what they do and remain responsible.

it is not impossible to turn a hobby into a job, and still retain the passion. my argument would be that if you lose your passion, it means it wasn't that great to begin with.

maintaining a balance is not hard, neither is it easy. but it can be done, if you want to do it.

Certainly one can do his best to maintain a balance. But, allow me to say this, when it really boils down to money for the basic support for the family, for your children's textbook fees, tuition fees etc., then it becomes only human nature to keep pushing this hobby-business to a higher rung of existence. With more desire comes more suffering.

Somehow, my personal preference is to keep at one's own job, no matter how much one may complain about it, and then find some escape from real mundane life in one's hobby.
My humble opinion here lah.

 

[limwhow]

The real money is in front of the camera: modelling.

I ditto that in terms of the $$$.
But still, the models don't necessarily have an easy job.
They work just as hard as any other professions, and they have to be as disciplined as any others, and have to possess as good an attitude as any others, lest they be labelled as diva-like and given a bad reputation.
Same for all other job mah... no?

 

[HeiPiGu]

Certainly one can do his best to maintain a balance. But, allow me to say this, when it really boils down to money for the basic support for the family, for your children's textbook fees, tuition fees etc., then it becomes only human nature to keep pushing this hobby-business to a higher rung of existence. With more desire comes more suffering.

Somehow, my personal preference is to keep at one's own job, no matter how much one may complain about it, and then find some escape from real mundane life in one's hobby.
My humble opinion here lah.

Chase your dreams when you're young. If got older and has more commitments, your dreams will become your hobbies.

 

[limwhow]

Chase your dreams when you're young. If got older and has more commitments, your dreams will become your hobbies.

Well, you know, if a person can achieve the remarkable feat of having his dream as his hobby as he comes of a certain age, I would say that this person is very very fortunate.
How many of our youth dreams have simply fallen off the main track into the longkang?
... sigh... right?
We all chase. And chase we did. Even at a particular stage of our lives, we are still chasing. The only difference is, we chase for different reasons during each stage.

1. When we were teenagers, we want to be school photographer so that I can walk around in school with a camera and act important. The girls will take note of me.
2. When we were in the army, we want to be shooters for the Army magazine so that our lives can be more relaxed.
3. When were were in our early twenties, we shoot everything because everything was exciting, especially beautiful girls.
4. When we were in our late twenties and early thirties, we shoot EVERY DAY because our babies were born and were having all those memorable funny moments.
5. When we were in our mid to late thirties, we forgot totally about shooting. Why? Damn stressed and family to feed, and work like crazy. Too busy.
6. In our early forties? Most stressful stage of a men's life... pressure from left, right, centre, up, down, front and back. What reason do we shoot for now? Haha... to escape the realities of life.

 

[FLiNcHY]

it's really quite easy what..


shoot one wedding 5k already. Actual hard labour is only the approximately 8 hrs of shooting on the actual day. And even then, it's not really labor because weddings are super fun affairs filled with laughter and joy, you get to meet new people, eat good food, meet hot well dressed girls.

After that, it's editing on the computer for like 20-40 hrs depending on how professional you are. I normally fully edit about 500 images from RAW files, so it takes quite long but recently I've switched to film, so editing times are being cut down drastically.

But it's all done at my own pace, in the comfort of my room. Own time own target.

Album design also done at my own pace, in the same comfort of my room.

Compare this job with other jobs where people work in office environments doing jobs they hate, with bad incompetent colleagues, bad bosses, underpaid jobs, 10-15 days of leave a year.


As a wedding photographer, I am my own boss. I can take any amount of leave i want.

Well it doesn't hurt that people love my work, and the jobs keep flowing in from referrals.

5k is not even near the top end of the spectrum. When i get to 10k a wedding, i can easily regulate my clients by only doing like 30 weddings a year.

Where does that leave me? A shitload of time to tour, travel, do my own thing.


Life is good

 

[limwhow]

it's really quite easy what..

....


As a wedding photographer, I am my own boss. I can take any amount of leave i want.

Well it doesn't hurt that people love my work, and the jobs keep flowing in from referrals.

5k is not even near the top end of the spectrum. When i get to 10k a wedding, i can easily regulate my clients by only doing like 30 weddings a year.

Where does that leave me? A shitload of time to tour, travel, do my own thing.


Life is good

Hwwaaaahhhh! FLINcHY, you are an established Wedding Photog doing your own high end niche. I believe you must have come through paths of uneven roads to reach where you are here. I am sure those pro photog in your industry must be working like crazy to arrived at your stage. Many unseen, unknown, unheard-of would have dropped off the race, in order to have one pro photog be up there at the throne.
Just enjoy the shitload of time for yourself and reap the reward of your hardwork through the previous years.
Now give back to society lor... share with your juniors the secrets of your success, and conribute to humanitarian causes locally.
Then Life is even better.

My humble opinion.

 

[shaoken]

It had never crossed my mind that it's easy to earn from photography.

Photographers are everywhere.. :sweat:
I'm quite sure, in every estate, there is a photographer, either hobbylist, freelance or professional in the photography industry.