Top 5 Ways To Make Money With Photography
My dream job was to become a travel photographer. But becoming a travel photographer is hard. I remember when I started my photography journey, I admired all travel photographers like Elia Locardi, Trey Ratcliff or Brendan Van Son to cite a few.
Being able to combine 2 of my passions Travel and Photography and get paid for it would be the dream job!
However, this dream crumbled once I realised that this was not accessible to everyone.
Becoming a travel photographer is hard work. The competition in high with so many talented photographers around the world. And it requires you to have a unique photography style, a popular brand image, a strong niche down portfolio, an online presence and several publications.
If you are just getting started, that is a LOT of hard work!
I believe the quickest way nowadays would be to become a brand ambassador for either a travel brand or a photography brand.
But the requirements to become one can also be challenging. You necessarily need to have some kind of influence online and know how to leverage social media.
If that is not who you are, fear not, I was in your shoes when I got started, the good news is that there are other ways to make money with photography.
Here are the most common ways I use to make money with photography.
Blogging
I personally started with blogging and affiliate marketing.
I won’t bore you in this article as it is something I already wrote a full article about. If that is something you are interested to learn more about, you can click here.
I'd share my photography tips and knowledge in my articles but also recommend products I personally used to my readers to help them on their photography journey.
I can understand that blogging is not made for everyone and it takes a lot of work and patience before you start getting your first results.
However, if that is something you are interested in doing , I'd recommend you to take my 7 day blogging challenge to help you get started.
It is FREE!
Once you sign up you will receive daily challenges to complete to get you from the idea to the monetisation of your blog.
This bootcamp highlights the exact steps I took to be able to create this blog and be successful at it since 2016.
Sell digital products
Selling digital products online implies that you have a social media following or an email list of people interested in what you do. The most common digital products photographers sell online are:
It is up to you to find what you feel the most comfortable with at the start.
I personally started with an ebook, where I shared step by step how I have transitioned from a 9to5 corporate job to living the laptop lifestyle, followed by an online course about the art of mobile photography. I then created my Travel Lightroom presets pack and recently started to sell prints.
Sell coaching services
I have a marketing background from my professional career and have used those skills acquired to market my blog and services but also to coach other creative entrepreneurs build their online brands, market their products and services and transform their side hustles into full time jobs.
If you have any kind of expertise, sell it.
There are many entrepreneurs looking for experts to help them get the results they need in their businesses faster thanks to the help of a coach.
If you need help to set up your brand online and monetise your expertise, you can click here or on the button below to schedule a call with me free of charge. My promise to you is to give you the necessary tips to help you move the needle and get the results you want for your business.
Sell photography services
I believe this is the most common way to make money with photography.
I have worked with companies like
Huawei, Moment, Hohem, Feyue, Airbnb to cite a few and for local businesses based in the recent countries I have lived in.
You can have a look at my portfolio here.
This requires a lot of hustling, networking and marketing skills.
You really need to understand the business side of photography and how you can bring value to your clients by offering them your photography services.
Offering pretty photos are not enough nowadays. Everybody can take great quality photos with a smartphone.
It is really a matter of providing a unique selling proposition, add value and knock on as many doors as you can to find your ideal clients.
Workshops
I started offering workshops back in 2018. I have leveraged the Airbnb platform to run my workshops here in Dublin, Ireland.
The great thing about it, is that I did not need to take care of the promotion. All I had to do is describe the type of experience people interested would receive, set the price and hit publish.
Airbnb has taken care of the promotion for me ever since.
If you are interested to learn how to become an Airbnb host to promote your services in the city where you live, you can read my full step by step guide to become a airbnb host here.
And if you have any questions do not hesitate to join our private Facebook group and post your question there. You can click here on the image below to join.
Nowadays, no need to be the best photographer in the world or own the best gear.
To be honest, most of the photos I take nowadays are on a smartphones!
You just need to know how to leverage the free communication channels to increase your visibility online and attract more potential clients.
This is what I have done since 2016 using Instagram and it's been working ever since.
YouTube would be the second most interesting platform to leverage, if you feel comfortable in front of a camera, I'd encourage you to leverage it.
It is also a great source of passive income in the long run.
But my go to platform for self promotion remains Instagram. I have learned the ins and outs of this platform. This is why I created this ebook gathering 16 tips to help you grow your account as a content creator and business owner.
You can click here or on the image below if you are interested in learning the best ways to build a recognised brand using Instagram.
If you enjoyed reading this article, do not hesitate to like it, it actually makes a difference. And if you know anyone that would be interested, feel free to share the article with them.
What about you? what other ways of making money with photography do you use? Let us know in the comments below.