Comments on: The non-glamorous side of Photography

By: Clay

Clay — Sat, 09 May 2009 23:54:09 +0000

Some one threw you out on Twitter is how I ran across you and I did enjoy your post and the reply’s. All I would add is that in today’s world it seems like filling some Niche is how to make it. I recently met and saw the work of this gentleman who specializes in ancient rock art photos and he had some real neat stuff and he is selling them also-Yea for him. Wish I had a link to his stuff, sorry.
Keep up the good work.

By: Younes

Younes — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:31:29 +0000

Thanks Mark, I really appreciate the support. It can be discourageing at times not to know if people care about what I write. In the end though, I really enjoy the exercise, and if it can help even one person, it will be all worth it for me.

By: Younes

Younes — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:29:43 +0000

Victor, thank you for taking the time to leave your thoughts. I totally agree with you on the need to be able to stand out from the crowd of photographers. However, many aspiring photographers, have the false impression that professional photography is all about going to beautiful places and having fun making great imagery. The reality as you pointed out is much different. Hence it is important to determine, for oneself, whether we REALLY want to deal with the business aspect of photography (whether you enjoy it or not is another matter altogether) or if we should rather just enjoy making images “for fun”. Another implication of my post is that, in the hopes of “making it”, most of us try so hard that they get away from what first brought them to photography. I will be posting more on this subject in the upcoming days.

By: Mark Alan Meader

Mark Alan Meader — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:28:41 +0000

Don’t worry.. I’m sure there are more than a few readers out here. It’s just that your posts require more than the usual “wow.. beautiful!”, so that’s going to eliminate a lot of commentators, unfortunately. Your writing is thoughtful and relevant to anyone serious about this subject, so keep up the good work.
I think many people have a romantic view of working in some creative field, but that rapidly goes away when they face the reality of making a living at it, while others seem to master the business end quickly even though their work is never what I would consider all that good. To master both is a real and rare accomplishment.

By: Victor

Victor — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:54:24 +0000

I think that nowadays almost every creative work involves a business component. If a creator intends to sell his services than to succeed he should know some business concepts. There are many other people who could offer the same services, so one should compete with them to get an attention of clients. And only the strongest survive.

This principle applies to any kind of work. Business is everywhere: in science, in arts and crafts. It’s an inevitable component of any creative work. Times when artists were maintained by aristocracy has gone, now they need to find ways of making money on their own.

It’s not a business that pushes me away of photography, but inability to earn money as a landscape photographer. In country, where I live, there aren’t commercial landscape photographers, because of the low demand for landscape photos (compared to wedding photos).