RE: FN-FORUM: Photography

date posted 1st June 2004 14:22

Paul Summers wrote:
> So... She actaully just joined the police but I'm trying to
> convince her to look at taking her hobby a little further
> with a view to eventually being able to leave the police and
> do photography full time.
>
> What I'm asking is... Does anybody know where to start? Her
> photos really are of National Geographic quality and it's not
> just me being bias! First step would maybe to get some
> interest and hopefully sell some pics.

Just a few suggestions:

Submit a few of her weaker pictures to the stock image sites to get an
initial idea of their commercial potential.

Do her a website to showcase (and maybe even to sell direct) her work and
advertise her as a freelance photographer. Like a lot of freelance work
though, it can often be a very slow and difficult process to build a
significant reputation - especially so in photography.

Back in the day when I was in the photographic industry, the leading trade
magazine was the British Journal of Photography (http://www.bjphoto.co.uk/).
You could try submitting images on their website or to the publication to
raise awareness of her work.

Photography is a *very* competitive field. National Geographic's website
says:

"The National Geographic Society does not solicit images from photographers.
Most photographic work is assigned by editors to staff and freelance
photographers with years of experience in photojournalism."

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/imagesales/faq.html#submit

IMO she'd need to be prepared for many years of constant, shameless
self-promotion to make a decent living from photography :(

Richard Harfst

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