Need Motivation back
Discussion
So from the beggining, i used to work with a media company where i got to work frequently with cars and such being my dream job but long story short, work got really slow and the boss was avoiding paying me
i tried to do my own thing getting clients for car photography with my business on instagram “DuttonDuty”
but overtime i lost motivation losing that job was a big impact on me and i don’t want to let photography go
it’s even harder as i don’t have my own transportation
does anyone have any advice for in general what i should do or how i can do it, or even how to gain clients which was my biggest issue to try and do
i tried to do my own thing getting clients for car photography with my business on instagram “DuttonDuty”
but overtime i lost motivation losing that job was a big impact on me and i don’t want to let photography go
it’s even harder as i don’t have my own transportation
does anyone have any advice for in general what i should do or how i can do it, or even how to gain clients which was my biggest issue to try and do
thebraketester said:
The problem with automotive photography is that the amount of people willing to do stuff for nothing completely overshadows the amount of people willing to pay for the work.
Yep, and this may be the reason work got 'really slow' where the OP worked.I don't do cars, but I think that to make a living from them you have to be very good, or very good at sales/marketing, and preferably both. You'll need to decide who your client is - Dave Normal with a hot hatch and £50 or something higher? - then think what you can offer that nobody else does, and get a website. On top of all that you'll need to be positive and determined.
I think you need to approach your subject from a different angle.
If we look at the motorsport photographers whose work is timeless, such as Louis Klemantaski, they were ultimately “people” photographers. Admittedly social media has transformed this landscape, but those colour saturated Kodachromes of the drivers, mechanics, WAG’s, team owners, managers, suppliers & promoters is a window into the workings of a world long since passed.
A saturated Kodachrome of Graham Hill leaning on the pit wall, puffing on a fag while deep in conversation with Colin Chapman, transports me through time into the inner sanctum of a world long gone.
On a more modest level you need a USP, perhaps being that weird holdout guy capturing stuff on Velvia with your 35mm gear. Photographing the people in F2, F3, Goodwood, classic car motorsport etc becoming the “go to” guy for capturing the “ social history” of the less heavily covered categories & events.
If we look at the motorsport photographers whose work is timeless, such as Louis Klemantaski, they were ultimately “people” photographers. Admittedly social media has transformed this landscape, but those colour saturated Kodachromes of the drivers, mechanics, WAG’s, team owners, managers, suppliers & promoters is a window into the workings of a world long since passed.
A saturated Kodachrome of Graham Hill leaning on the pit wall, puffing on a fag while deep in conversation with Colin Chapman, transports me through time into the inner sanctum of a world long gone.
On a more modest level you need a USP, perhaps being that weird holdout guy capturing stuff on Velvia with your 35mm gear. Photographing the people in F2, F3, Goodwood, classic car motorsport etc becoming the “go to” guy for capturing the “ social history” of the less heavily covered categories & events.
Sadly, the late Galen Rowell…perhaps the most inspirational landscape photographer since Ansel Adams…all on 35mm gear:
https://www.rwongphoto.com/gallery/galen-rowell-ph...
https://www.rwongphoto.com/gallery/galen-rowell-ph...
My point is that vanilla photographs of cars don't really tell a story...and stories are what sell...hence the need for context & that means including motoring or motorsport people in car-rich environment.
Photographs of either landscapes or inanimate objects need to be unique, striking or particularly unusual to have commercial impact...but if you include people in your subject matter...then there may possibly be enhanced interest value.
In world where everyone with a mobile phone is a "photographer" it's very difficult to make photography commercially viable without both a network of well connected contacts & a skill for creating strikingly distinctive images.
Photographs of either landscapes or inanimate objects need to be unique, striking or particularly unusual to have commercial impact...but if you include people in your subject matter...then there may possibly be enhanced interest value.
In world where everyone with a mobile phone is a "photographer" it's very difficult to make photography commercially viable without both a network of well connected contacts & a skill for creating strikingly distinctive images.
duttonduty said:
does anyone have any advice for in general what i should do or how i can do it, or even how to gain clients which was my biggest issue to try and do
It would help if you allowed email contact from your profile, but in the absence of that...Step one; visit: https://www.mobiusphoto.co.uk
Step two; Marvel at how good looking at least two PHers are on the About section
Step three; go to the contact page, read the bit about joining the family and drop me a line if you think you fit the bill!
I've written all my adult life. It's my hobby. Nothing else comes close. I'm good at it; I know because a lot of editors have told me so.
However, I was chuffed, back in my 20s, if I got an acceptance rate of 25% for unsolicited copy. Even after pushing copy around to other magazines, after targeting, there was a less than 50% chance I'd not find anyone willing to recognise my genius. I enjoyed photography and illustrated a few of my articles. I saw that the acceptance rate hit 75%, and from then on I wrote with images in mind. I began to know the first names of editors. They occasionally spoke with me in person. How cool was that?
I asked one particular editor I met at a show why he like my copy. He said that I wrote in English, hit the wordage, always submitted before the deadline and included images the picture editor thought weren't too bad. When I became an editor, I realised it was high praise. All the effort I put into 'perfecting' a style was merely helpful.
I found it best to take photos for illustration of an article. Read a few magazines - don't stick to one genre - and see what's required. When I edited a magazine, one chap submitted an article on an obscure museum he'd visited. Lots of lovely cars but all pictures were taken from the front offside 3/4 view, from the same distance, and from the same height. There was no picture of the outside, of people, of memorabilia. What could have been a three-page article took up less than one. Tragic.
More articles are rejected through poor images or too few than poor English. Editors can edit the words, that's what they do. I preferred bullet points over having to wade through some of the stuff I received.
Submit twice as many images as required - the picture editor likes being needed. Do not embed them in Word. Don't lie and hint that you under-exposed a particular image for atmosphere when you actually forgot you were on manual. Editors forgive errors quicker than lies. Accept your copy, which you slaved over to bring to perfection, will be edited. You should also come to terms with the fact that if you turn your phone through 90 deg, very little will fall off.
You won't make a lot of money. However, despite it being my hobby, I rarely went pro bono. I've got limits. After a while, a short while, you will be able to claim expenses and this means that not only will your journeys cost you little, you can claim for equipment too. I've had a couple of years when I've claimed for more than I've earned. I could justify it.
Stock photos and AI do not remove all opportunities for photography. For an article on a particular event, you need to be there. So be there.
We are in a golden age for photography, with everyone and their aunt having a camera with them by way of their phone. However, quality images are, thankfully, rare. While a 24 meg image from as DLSR will not necessarily beat one from a phone, if it doesn't, you need to work on your photography.
However, I was chuffed, back in my 20s, if I got an acceptance rate of 25% for unsolicited copy. Even after pushing copy around to other magazines, after targeting, there was a less than 50% chance I'd not find anyone willing to recognise my genius. I enjoyed photography and illustrated a few of my articles. I saw that the acceptance rate hit 75%, and from then on I wrote with images in mind. I began to know the first names of editors. They occasionally spoke with me in person. How cool was that?
I asked one particular editor I met at a show why he like my copy. He said that I wrote in English, hit the wordage, always submitted before the deadline and included images the picture editor thought weren't too bad. When I became an editor, I realised it was high praise. All the effort I put into 'perfecting' a style was merely helpful.
I found it best to take photos for illustration of an article. Read a few magazines - don't stick to one genre - and see what's required. When I edited a magazine, one chap submitted an article on an obscure museum he'd visited. Lots of lovely cars but all pictures were taken from the front offside 3/4 view, from the same distance, and from the same height. There was no picture of the outside, of people, of memorabilia. What could have been a three-page article took up less than one. Tragic.
More articles are rejected through poor images or too few than poor English. Editors can edit the words, that's what they do. I preferred bullet points over having to wade through some of the stuff I received.
Submit twice as many images as required - the picture editor likes being needed. Do not embed them in Word. Don't lie and hint that you under-exposed a particular image for atmosphere when you actually forgot you were on manual. Editors forgive errors quicker than lies. Accept your copy, which you slaved over to bring to perfection, will be edited. You should also come to terms with the fact that if you turn your phone through 90 deg, very little will fall off.
You won't make a lot of money. However, despite it being my hobby, I rarely went pro bono. I've got limits. After a while, a short while, you will be able to claim expenses and this means that not only will your journeys cost you little, you can claim for equipment too. I've had a couple of years when I've claimed for more than I've earned. I could justify it.
Stock photos and AI do not remove all opportunities for photography. For an article on a particular event, you need to be there. So be there.
We are in a golden age for photography, with everyone and their aunt having a camera with them by way of their phone. However, quality images are, thankfully, rare. While a 24 meg image from as DLSR will not necessarily beat one from a phone, if it doesn't, you need to work on your photography.
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