N-Photo

It’s not just about photography

Any photography business is just that: a

combination of photography and business.

I n fac t, it ’s most l i kely t hat it w i l l be t he

busi ness pa r t of t he equat ion t hat w i l l

make or break your dream of making a

living from photography, rather than any

lack of photographic ability. The reality is

that most freelance photographers spend

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admin and doing other things, as they do

actually taking photographs. So, you need

to decide whether going full-time as a

photog rapher i s rea l ly for you, or whet her

you want your photography to stay as

a hobby (and maybe do some paid

photography on a part-time basis).

If you’re sure that going full-time is the

right thing for you, then you should start

w it h a busi ness pla n. You r ba n k or loc a l

busi ness enter pr i se bodies c a n help w it h

some of this, but it’s worth doing some

basic calculations before you start. Work

out how much money you need to make to

cover your living expenses. Then you’ll

need to add in the day-to-day costs of

running the business, such as travel,

marketing and even the cost of maintaining

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premises). There are also the start-up costs

such as buying kit, and the ongoing costs of

the insurance that you’ll need to cover your

kit, yourself and public liability (turn to

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there are tax and other business costs

t hat you’ l l need to accou nt for. Addi ng a l l of

these together will give you an idea of how

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year to make it a viable business.

With any new business, once you have

taken into account all of the costs and

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you should at least look to cover your basic

living expenses, and have a little left over.

An established photographer should be

able to ea r n a n average i ncome a f ter

expenses purely from photography. This

will depend on where you are based, but in

the UK this would be around £20-£30,000

per year, while in the United Sates it would

be i n t he reg ion of $30 -$45,0 0 0.

Ebb and flow

Unlike being employed by a company, you

won’t be guaranteed a steady income when

you start your own photography business.

You need to make sure that you are going to

be able to su r v ive t he lea n mont h s a s wel l

as those when you have cash coming in.

This is true of any business, but if you work

for commercial clients and companies you

w i l l a l so have to fac tor i n t he t i me it c a n

Make cash

with your Nikon

Going it alone

108 March 2016 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com

Ditching your day job to make a new career as

a full-time, self-employed photographer is a big

step, so here Chris Rutter takes a look at what

you’ll need in order to succeed

 M

a k i ng your l iv i ng f u l l-t i me f rom ta k i ng pic t ures is ma ny

photog raphers’ drea m, a nd it has to be sa id t hat on a good

day it can be one of the best jobs in the world, but the dream

can be a long way from reality. E stablish i ng yoursel f as a

photographer can take many years of hard work, although

if you already have contacts in a particular area and a good

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year. Even if you make a success of the business initially, this doesn’t mean

that you can rest on your laurels. Continuing to make a living, build a

successf ul busi ness a nd even ex pa nd w i l l ta ke plent y of ongoi ng ef for t a nd

work. Here we’ll take a look at the nuts and bolts of what you need to do to

make a go of becoming a full-time freelance photographer.

PRO ZONE MAKE CASH WITH YOUR NIKON