Comments on: The Type of Photography Our Readers Do…. [POLL RESULTS]

By: Hotjoe

Hotjoe — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:24:18 +0000

Yes, i do not see wedding photography as a poll. I do about three wedding assignments in a year.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:49:12 +0000

Yep, still life/product photography are missing. That would include a lot–from studio fine art, to commercial product photos, to food photography … Interesting poll–I’d like to see more!

By: Art

Art — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:45:51 +0000

I would think that ‘still life’ would also be a category.

By: Cheeze439

Cheeze439 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:50:37 +0000

Ed, at a guess I’d say it’s supposed to be interpreted as: 55% of everyone polled take Portrait Shots, 65% of everyone polled take landscape shots, 38% of those polled take macro shots, and so on. So it’s not “What percentage of photos taken by everyone fall into what catergory” but “What percentage of you take the following shots”. Do you see what I mean, hope I explained it properly.

By: Jason Collin Photography

Jason Collin Photography — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:55:50 +0000

Guess I’m surprised to not see a wedding category. It’s included in portraits?

I personally do about 5 of the listed categories on a regular basis.

By: Ed Hamlin

Ed Hamlin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:05:40 +0000

I am curious, not trying to be picky, but I guess I am, the percentages add up to more that 100%. I mean it is easy to sse that most people will shoot portraits and landscape, always seems to be very popular. what were the raw numbers in terms of thousands?

By: Rob Wood

Rob Wood — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:54:14 +0000

The chart omits some “bread and butter” categories for earning money as a photographer. They may note be sexy or exciting, but they help to pay the bills:

1) Corporate and small business shoots (events, parties, awards banquets, retreats, seminars, website photos). Just as an example, in the past two months I have arranged for two, day-long shoots for a local photographer who specializes in corporate and business photography. Our clients (I’m a web designer/developer as my primary occupation) almost never have decent photos of their staff, principals, buildings, etc., without which we can’t build a personable site – especially for service-oriented companies.

2) Small-circulation hobby magazines and trade journals. These days, small publications are increasingly reaching out to freelancers to get coverage of events such as trade shows, conventions, conferences, competitions, etc. If you can string a few sentences together into a comprehensible paragraph, you can often at least get your travel expenses and incidental expenditures covered, plus a few hundred dollars on top. While this won’t make you rich, it gives you invaluable experience as a photographer. Good photographers who are also good writers are a rare commodity.

3) Reunions (family, military units, fraternities, school). Same deal as 2) above. Get your expenses paid and cover the reunion. You’ll be shooting interior shots, exteriors (when people go on field trips), portrait shots, group shoots, artificially lit, flash lit, naturally lit, morning, afternoon and evening shots, etc. All good experience, better than anything you can dream up on your own, because you are shooting for someone else, and you have to get it right.

Anyway, just a few things I know about from experience.

By: airbrushjohn

airbrushjohn — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:02:45 +0000

its hard for me to focus on one type of photography, i shoot sports, all kinds, from kids to drag racing to stunt riding, drifting, tennis, what ever! i love portrait work, specially when you have a subject that co-operates, i enjoy macro, i haven’t shoot much but landscapes are cool. i can’t really categorize photography for me, i love it all!

By: hal mooney

hal mooney — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:22:10 +0000

I would have liked to see a bit more differentiation – wedding separate from “portrait”, Real estate separate from “architecture”.
I would like to know more about what percentage of us are deriving income from their photography, and which fields are “ripe unto harvest”, so to speak. I like photographing landscapes, but Life and National Geographic aren’t buying much of it these days.
I understand that many who read and post here are amateurs, and intend to stay that way, but many of us are professionals, of one sort or another, and it’s interesting to see how others are doing things.

By: Annette

Annette — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:27:42 +0000

Just from the few comments I’m surprised how many of you don’t seem to know about smaller music venues. Almost all smaller venues allow cameras of any type, and bands are generally THRILLED to use your photos if they can.

For arena shows, I’d rather have my point and shoot anyway if I’m not in the camera pit – they’re not room for all the gear, and you would have to use multiple lenses/have multiple lenses to get the shots you’d want with a dSLR.