Making your Photography Pay
Perhaps you would just like to see some of your work in print, perhaps you would like enough revenue to fund a growing range of lenses and for that new camera body when it comes out. Perhaps you would like your holidays to pay or perhaps you are thinking of a career change and looking more seriously at getting an income or larger income from photography.
On this page we want to give you a very brief overview of the many possibilities and suggest where you find additional information, not all of which are on this website.
We also look at some places that you can find larger income opportunities associated with photography, as some of you may like to mix and match, part of your income from photography and a wad of income from another venture, providing you with the funding to then do exactly what you like.
Limited edition fine art prints. Often considered the pinnacle of photography, but attainable by very many with a little help. Technically of course the images selected have to be very good, and as art images to put on a wall people have to find them desirable for some reason, and want to buy them. This is the market where quality and marketing counts. You can make money with either but more when applied together.
An opportunity currently exists in that a brand (limited edition publisher) is looking for a range of new material. So where do you find out more
The artists and photographers section of the GB Pictures team website
On the GB Pictures public website select the artists section from the initial menu and within the Cotswold Pictures section the pages for artists and photographers.
NEW brands are coming shortly opening up even more opportunities
Professional Photography. The major difference between the amateur and professional is that while the amateur can get a number of good images selected from many, the professional has to be able to reliably produce satisfactory results on every assignment. The technical training that we provide will allow you to reach this standard and move further ahead faster. See the various pages linked from the one to one training page. The minimum you want to look at is two days, HNK and Capture NX Editing with these you are up and running producing professional results, now, all you have to do is get the income. If you can spare more time consider one of our multi day suggestions.
Most who make a reasonable living from professional photography do so by having a number of strings to their bow, taking on a range of different work that allows them to get a better income overall. There are two reasons for this firstly time, in that you can use it more effectively and some income types are mostly at set times or seasons and secondly it is easier to rapidly build several small incomes than one large one. Selecting which of the very many areas appeals to you and is profitable is the key to this. Some areas may initially look profitable but when you take off costs and then look at margins others are often more profitable. We have a range of training suggestions that can help you, and you can mix and match these to get exactly what you want. See the business and professional training section.
By using training vouchers and buying them in batches you can save money and use them across Camera Images and Photography Skills Masterclasses.
Another option is our 18 month course, this is not rigidly fixed, so we can switch modules around so that you get up and running and earning an income fast if you want, based on your initial areas of interest. There are two versions of this, one with in the field support to help you through any tasks you don't feel you can handle to start.
Smaller, but regular incomes. Magazines, picture libraries, greeting cards ...... So many to choose from. Can be combined with limited edition work, and is not as critical. See the course index for a fast link to your chosen areas. If your budget is tight or you just are, then consider a 'short', you can find out a lot about a market in 3 hours. Now we have brought the business courses down in price to line up with all other course prices your budget will go far further anyway.
Weddings. After a few they loose there appeal, but they do help keep all those who want money from you happy, tax man, local council, wife, children, children's school, accountants.... and of course will leave enough over to invest a little into training to allow you to earn far more.
Portraits. Often overlooked, and equally misunderstood market. We have software now that can make people look more attractive, younger and even change the amount an eye is open or change the smile etc. It takes spots off teenagers, wrinkles off grannies, and gives the Hollywood treatment, even slimming, filling out or reorganising faces slightly, and more. You can work on a number of faces in the same photo, its quick and easy to learn to use, what's more its not expensive.
Larger, to really large incomes. For this we are going to cheat a little and start by mixing limited edition photography with marketing limited edition photographs and art via a franchise with no franchise fee. Running an area franchise could earn you £150,000 a year or more, but requires two people. The team franchise should bring you in well over £80,000 a year and the mini franchise part time probably half that. So let us suppose you take photographs that are published as limited edition works and sell both these and the work of others.
Where do you find out more. See the team website at www.gb-pictures.co.uk and the easiest start point may be to go to the downloads page and get and print each of the leaflets, its quicker than reading the entire website. Alternatively read the team section and then franchises.
If you like travelling around the area then also consider either the regional franchise, also from GB Pictures or the Money Tree Franchise from Franchise and JVC Development Ltd, a company set up by ABAN, the business angel network. ABAN was very involved in establishing the GB Pictures non profit company and whole project, it originally had a working title in development of the Money Tree Project, and the joint venture expansions are still being organised under this title. You can see more on the Money Tree Project at ABAN. The Money Tree franchises are all about telling others of the other franchise types, in effect showing people franchises that will give them a pleasant and good life. It moves on from this to market other franchises and club memberships. The GB Pictures regional franchises overlap with this, in that they also involve setting up local team franchises but also then supporting a brand, and receiving an override on all editions of the brand selling in the region. As a region is a large area this could produce a very large income. They expect some of the regional franchises to make over a million pounds a year, but most probably more like a quarter of this.
We are convinced this will take off, the products are much better than anything else around, technically more advanced and at about the same price as others. It's the first national franchise to take this area on and structured to offer many opportunities, most with very small up front costs. We have put in our limited edition range and this is now one of their brands, we are also involved in assisting the project to grow and selecting work to publish.
If you can't find information on an area of interest in relation to any of these franchises, then give us a call and we will send you a copy of the handouts that are relevant.
You also get trained by us for any of these roles, and at no cost to you, the brands sponsor this.
Where to go next
Section for <Beginners> <Enthusiasts > <Professionals > <Business > <Masterclasses>
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