If you love nothing more than sharpening the focus of your SLR lens, why not use your photographic skills to supplement your income? Rather than working in a field, you have no passion for, combine your hobby with earning a few extra dollars, when you can actually enjoy your work. Here are just some of the various types of photography that you can use to make some extra cash in your spare time.
- Real Estate – Every property needs to be photographed from many angles for the listing and real estate agents hire professional photographers to create stunning images that show the best of the real estate. Of course, you will need the right lenses for the job, while videography is another service that real estate agents use, mainly for virtual property tours. Send an introductory email to all the major real estate agents in your area and see what kind of response you get.
- Glamour Photography – The market for glamour photography in Perth is huge and you need to hook up with a few aspiring models and put together a dynamic portfolio. Once you have some good shots in glamourous locations, send your portfolio to aspiring models and hopefully, you can help the models secure a few contracts. Like most sectors, the glamour photography takes time to infiltrate and it’s really all about networking. Get to know the agents and try to get invited to the best hi-so parties, as this is the best plan of attack; it’s more a question of who you know than what you know.
- Drone Work – Images and video footage can be worth a lot of money to film and documentary makers and you could easily set up your own website offering clips and stills for sale. It might not be easy to capture stunning shots of Sydney Harbour and the iconic Opera House, but this kind of content can be worth a lot of money. Click here for ways to improve your photography business, if you are already on the road to getting a name in the industry.
- Product Photography – Businesses need great images of their products and there’s a lot of money to be made in this sector. Of course, you’ll need the right equipment; a few lightboxes and some lights, with the best lenses and a few good filters. This is more technical than most photography fields and there’s a lot of free resources online to make you a better stills photographer. There are many sub-categories; food, clothing, jewellery, cars, indeed just about every product needs top images for promotional purposes.
- Paparazzi – If you love hanging with the celebs, why not spend some time following the A-Listers and with the right camera and lenses, you could make a lot of money selling your images to magazines. This is a risky sector, as there are no guarantees you’ll end up with shots that are worth money; ask the old timers and they’ll tell you it’s all about being in the right place at the right time and luck has a part to play. Imagine bumping into Naomi Campbell, who happens to be in a playful mood! Click-click-click and you have a real scoop!
- Wedding Photography – Sure, it’s a saturated market but if you have the skill sets, you could forge a reputation and never have to worry about bookings. People depend on wedding videographers to capture their special day and you’d need to learn all about video editing software in order to create stunning DVDs that you present to your clients. Other events also need to be covered and hooking up with corporations and covering their live events is a great way to get into the circle. Offer your services for free just once and see what they think of the finished set of images; be prepared to work for nothing, at least until you get a name.
- Media – Of course, media outlets are always looking for good photographers and if you are able to capture hi-res images of sporting events, this will stand you in good stead. Ideal if your interests lie with high-quality stills of special moments and if you happen to luck out and get a great shot of Ronaldo scoring the winning goal, these shots are valuable.
- Special Interests – It might be stamp collecting or remote aircraft; if you have a special interest, photography will be there somewhere. You could make ‘how to’ videos for fishing or golf, there are many ways that you can factor one hobby with another and keep your eyes open for opportunities, as they do come along.
Wherever your photographic interest lies, there are always business opportunities and unlike most people, you’ll love your work. Here is some Australian government information about freelancing, which might prove useful.
