Landscape photographers: How do you make your living?

<p>Okay so I love landscape photography and would love to be able to make this my profession. I am taking classes at a community college and majoring in photography. I know how hard it is to make a living doing landscape photography and I was just wondering how you, as a landscape photographer, make your living? Any advice would be great. I do know alot about photoshop and was thinking about trying to do some graphic design work and using that some how to help make a living, but I'm not sure. Any advice you have would be great!</p>

<p>Hi Alaine, I do make some money from landscape photography but not enough to give me the kind of experience you are looking for. I can tell you what I have heard from some full-time guys I know though. Just what I have been told though ok.</p>

<p>1) Canada - forget gallery sales. US - gallery sales are possible but difficult. Popular matters, find out what is popular. Good is not really the issue. You can also go to shows and sell your work personally. Lots of rejection but there are good days.</p>

<p>2) Post-cards/calendars can sell but distribution is the big issue. You need to develop a distribution network to make cards/calenders really sell.</p>

<p>3) Workshops - name matters a lot. US much easier than Canada. Get a newsletter going, get people to sign-up for it and send it to them every month to advertise workshops, etc. If you are not a name photographer there is some potential in being more like a travel agent. You set-up the trip, book everything and host the participants. You take a cut.</p>

<p>4) Stock - I have heard this used to be lucrative but is getting less so now.</p>

<p>5) Books - hard to do well. Mostly about getting your name out there.</p>

<p>6) Magazines - some money but not reliable unless you establish an ongoing relationship with a magazine. Hard to do, especially early on.</p>

<p>7) Photoshop - you can teach photoshop in many different environments. Lord knows there are going to be a lot of people that really need it. This has promise for the future. There are also a lot of people doing photoshop for other people. Mostly boring, basic image prep I have been told.</p>

<p>The general conclusion I come to from listening to my friends is that you have to be a really good self-promoter and marketer of you and your work. I know a few guys that are really not very good photographers (no names) that do well. They are constantly promoting, selling, interacting, etc. I think the other thing I see in the guys that do well is that they are not afraid to work really, really hard. Even the guys that don't spend much time in the field need to work very hard to develop their business.</p>

<p>I'm sure some full-time pros can write in and help you out much more than I can. But this is what I have been told.</p>

<p>Cheers, JJ</p>

<p>I'm retired, but I was a biologist for a state agency for 24 years. I guess the knowledge of biology/ecology affected my experiences in landscape photography. I'm glad I didn't have to do photography to support myself; I could do whatever kind of photography whenever I wanted. Fortunately, that's still the case today. I am passionate about landscape photography.</p>

<p>My .02, having some friends who do this professionally. You have got to work, really, really hard. You need to spend a tremendous amount of time in the field shooting, both to be at interesting locations and to be there when the light is good. Think 200+ days in the field at sunrise/sunset shooting. You've got to be a tremendous self promoter and marketer, getting your name out there, pushing different aspects of your work, all the stuff that Jeremy listed. You've got to have some talent. You've got to have a little luck. :-)</p>

<p>Most of the successful landscape photographers that I know of are people who would be spending time out in the field shooting pictures regardless of whether it made them money. It's their passion and diligence that have enabled them to make it into a profession.</p>

<p>The flip side of the coin is that a lot of the landscape photographers I know (including some really, really good ones) have a day job that pays the bills.</p>

<p>Short answer is: by doing more things than just landscape photography: Writing, other types of photography: commercial, etc., or maybe work for a magazine or two or twelve.</p>

<p>...how you, as a landscape photographer, make your living?"</p>

<p>I'm unclear on the question. How do I make money? Or how do I make money with my landscape photography? Or how do I make money with photography and still have enough time to do my passion of landscape photography?<br>

I'm a wildlife photographer so I don't have an answer and I'm not going to tell you what my friends do because I don't know how deep the pockets of their family are. No successful landscape photographer will ever tell you that they are/were subsidized by a rich uncle.<br>

But I can give you a little advise. Follow your passion! Don't sit in an office teaching photoshop if your passion is being outdoors photographing landscapes. You might as well study to be a dentist, make lots of money, and take a month or two twice a year shooting landscapes. No pressure to come back with what the clients wants, no deadlines to meet, just pure enjoyment.</p>

<p>Okay, so you will ignore that and become a photographer. Commit, commit, commit. Do nothing else to make money. Eat , sleep, and drink, photography. Don't look for short cuts to the top, they are all distractions. Make a plan. A business plan. Write it down. Change it when needed. Let it evolve. Start by making a list of all the things in photography that you love to do. If you hate taking pictures of people, like I do, don't do weddings to make a buck. You will regret every shoot and your work will show it. Avoid starting something to make a buck that you can't get out of to do your passion.<br>

Prioritize your list, then research each item for potential income. How much of it is out there? Is there a demand for more? Landscape images are a dime a dozen. Okay, .20 on istock. Develop a style. Make it so unique that no one else is doing it. Don't shoot what everyone else shoots except to learn how, don't show them, just keep them as tools to improve your work. Think about the big picture. It's not about you. Do you have a message? Are you interested in saving the environment? Would you like to see a new high rise being built in your favorite location? </p>

<p>No matter what you do, be prepared for the work. Photography is very rewarding especially if it is your passion. Making money with photography is like any other business. Mostly business, very little photography.<br>

Oh, one more bit of advice. Always introduce yourself, My name is ____ and I'm a photographer specializing in...<br>

Start now. It is the quickest way to becoming a phtographer.<br>

Good luck in your pursuit of happiness, Jim</p>

<p>I have no idea, but Mike Moats wrote a blog post about how he does it: <a href="http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/so-you-want-to-be-a-nature-photographer/">http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/so-you-want-to-be-a-nature-photographer/</a></p>

<p>If you look around, there a number of similar articles/posts by various other photographers. Good luck!</p>

<p>Maybe double-major in business and marketing as well as photography? Mike Moats, for example, was a businessman before he was a pro photographer. He knows and loves running a business. The dentist idea is actually pretty good if you have some desire to do it. Also, a California Highway Patrol officer makes decent money and gets 2 months off every year. What I love about nature photography has nothing to do with running a business. I work part-time and have enough time and energy (and just barely enough income) to do what I like to do, which is get outdoors and do nature photography.</p>

<p>You might also start looking regularly at Photo.net's business forum at http://www.photo.net/business-photography-forum/.</p>

<p>Prosfessional-level landscape photography has become much more attainable for non-professionals in the last few years. In the past, the equipment and technical skill required was largely beyond what most hobbyists can do. I think this has changed. You will find top-level work done by hobbyists, and it is easy for them to sell their work without having to generate a profit (they may still consider themselves professional but pay their bills from their retirement). I suspect that most of the big names in for-profit landscape photography have established themselves prior to the digital revolution. I think you are better off training for a job that allows you to do landscape photography without the need to do it for profit. A job with lots of vacation is good, and a job located where you have easy access to good landscape photography is even better. A job where you have to travel a lot may not be the best choice because the last thing you want to do then during your off-time is to travel.</p>

<p>With my equipment people often ask me if I am a professional. My answer is No, you have to work way too hard to make a living at it. I do photography because I enjoy it. Having to make a living with it would take the enjoyment out of it for me. You need to decide what is important for you in choosing whether to make photography a vocation or an avocation. Besides if I made money from it I would have to pay higher rates on my camera floater policy; although, I am not sure at what level the insurance company would consider one a professional for rate setting purposes.</p>

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<p>I think you are better off training for a job that allows you to do landscape photography without the need to do it for profit. </p>

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<p> Have to agree with most people here. Unless you're majoring in business, you're better off figuring out what aspects of landscapes, or nature draw you to it the most, see what you can do to to put yourself in that environment, and keep your camera with you wherever you go. I make enough money in the summer fire season to travel in the fall or spring seasons, but I've yet to see anything to beat the scenes and situations that I encounter when I'm at work. Photos are merely my record of that fact. </p>

<p>Like anything, if you want to make money from something you love doing than you got to have the whole package to be successful. Even people who are crap at what they do make it successful because they know the right people and they can sell themselves, basically most people blag it. You are the product, now sell yourself to the customer. You need to be good at marketing, unique, know how to talk to people and be good at business. You're actual talent is the final bit to the puzzle. I know it sucks, but that's how it is. Have you ever asked yourself why so much shit sells, why Paris Hilton had her own album, even though she has no talent!</p>