0How To Be A Successful Stock Photographer?
There are two kinds of photographers:
(a) Service photographers: Service photographers sell their time. They first find a buyer of photographs, convince them of their photography talent and solicit assignments.
(b) Stock photographers: Stock photographers license photographs. They first shoot pictures of what they like and then try to find a buyer for those photographs. A stock photographer can market his photographs by two methods:
(i) Photo Library: A photo library is a place where thousands of photographs taken by hundreds of photographers are kept. It is like a book library. If a photographer chooses a photo library to keep his work then he can concentrate on the creative and artistic aspect of taking photographs and leave the marketing to the photo library. Every time a picture is licensed, the photographer gets a royalty payment.
(ii) Himself: But if a photographer wants to market his photographs himself, then he must answer the following:
What, Where, When & Why. If the photographer answers these honestly, he will know how to succeed in his photography career.
The answers to the following will be different for each one of you, so each one has to answer himself:
1. What: You must decide what you are selling: news, portraits, fashion, industry, still life, function, fine art.
2. Where: You must decide where you want to sell: newspapers, magazines, companies, homes, offices, industries, greeting card manufacturers, calendar manufacturers, art galleries, hotels.
3. When: You must decide when you want sell: daily, weekly(every saturday), every performance (theatre, circus), holidays, wedding season, greeting card season, calendar season, one location (tourist centre,shopping mall, zoo, wedding halls, convention centres) etc.
4. Why: You must decide why you want to sell: for name or money.
I assure you that if you take a few moments to answer these questions, you will know how to be a successful stock photographer.
