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Is It Still Possible To Make A Few Bucks $$ With Your Film Photography ?

DF

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There was this women who used our darkroom, to make prints (fiber of course) for some historical society that put on shows with various themes, be it social - political - sports - etc. They'd give her the negatives, after signing a contract promising a certain quantity of prints to go on display, then get paid.
Anyone else making money - or have any ideas?
I have thousands of good Kodachromes & E6's that could be of use somewhere - but don't know.
 
How to make $1,000,000US in photography: Start with $2,000,000.
 
I do not and have never gotten in to this to make money. Whenever I do have a show, I do sell some prints. That money always seems to go back into this wonderful hobby. Quite frankly, after my last show in Japan 2015, I wanted to get away from all that. One day I'll probably show again...
 
As long as the category is a few bucks, yes -- print sales through two galleries and giving workshops (eventually). Not a living, but since it is my life, it makes buying platinum and palladium, matboard and frames, film and gasoline (and or electricity for the ebike) a lot easier!
 
You need a YouTube channel and a half million subscribers, like that Fro guy in NYC. No money in stock photos, or so I hear, unless you own the agency.
 
There is little money in photography today. And even less in film photography. I attended a talk by Albert Watson just htis morning and he mentioned how some magazine offered him a job but the budget was only $950 for crew and expenses. I don't think he could open the studio door or get into his car for that litle.
 
After a regular shoot with a client (not many at all the past year) I'll pull out some wacky camera (to the client) and shoot off a few frames. They love it.

Pull out a press camera and everyone stops and gives it their best. They'll remember you and it sets you apart from the pack. No client ever asked me about my DSLR but if I get repeat work they'll ask about the Crown Graphic or the TLR that I brought last time.
 
It is hard to make money with photography when every GWC* is giving it away on television and on the internet.




* Guy With Camera or Gal With Camera
 

That's a great unique selling point you have and one way to be remembered by the client.


Sirius Glass said:
It is hard to make money with photography when every GWC* is giving it away on television and on the internet.

* Guy With Camera or Gal With Camera
Click to expand...

I agree. I think the day of knowing how to take a good photo is gone. I know of wedding video guys that are offering the coffee table album, with just images grabs from their video. So certain fields of photography will only make little or no money as the client doesn't value the product.

There is a studio in Dublin, Ireland, that specialise in wet plate photography.
http://www.theanaloguestudio.ie/
 
Sirius Glass said:
It is hard to make money with photography when every GWC* is giving it away on television and on the internet.
* Guy With Camera or Gal With Camera
Click to expand...

Yes it certainly might explain why the budget offered to Albert Watson was little short of insulting. In fact almost deliberately so A bit like the builder's quote when he has more work than he can handle. It makes you reject him rather than the less palatable to him course of rejecting the offer of work

pentaxuser
 

A few other tricks work. I don't run a normal business model that just about every other photographer I've dealt with uses. 2021 people don't care for prints. I charge more upfront but it's a single payment and done. I don't nickle and dime clients and try to squeeze every bit out of a job. So far it's worked. The only extra I charge is if I do film specifically, I'll charge a bit more and cost of film and processing.
 
I really think making money from film photography in a business (Wedding, PR, school photos) sense died the year digital cameras became good enough for 8x10 prints. No one really cares (in theory) about what gear or medium you use for something like a photobook or print series, so I argue you could still do well in that realm given you have luck on your side. There's definitely money in a modern photofinishing industry if you have the capacity to scan film at a high resolution, and also process it.
 
Max Freedman said:
No one really cares (in theory) about what gear or medium you use for something like a photobook or print series, so I argue you could still do well in that realm given you have luck on your side.
Click to expand...

I agree on the first statement. Concerning the second all commercial photographers from the film era I know in person tell me that today film photography is no longer economical to them. But I have also been old told of them sitting at the computer as long as they once spent in the darkroom.
Concerning commercial clients I hear of urges of having photos in house at once, even for projects to be published weeks later, or even to have visual access during the taking.

Photo artists using film I know in person I can tell at one hand.
 
I know one professional photographer - he uses film for personal projects but digital for all his assignment and freelance stuff. I know one dedicated wet-plate photographer - and he has no source of income other than his photography. But he has to hustle and also turn over camera equipment (you know, buy collections of stuff and sell it off). I know a guy who primarily uses an 8x10 camera and has just recently published a book of photos but he's a college professor - that's what pays his bills.
Wedding photography has been seriously undercut by the cousin/sister/brother/uncle with a DSLR. Now, it'll be even more undercut since all the guests have cell-phones with extra-swell cameras --- or that is what I would claim except it seems to me the value of a photograph is fading in the estimation of the population. The expression "kids these days" --- have to use it. Kids these day, they think of photos as disposable, something you doodle on and send to a friend and let it then vanish. They don't need more photo storage than their phone offers because they don't keep the photos. And almost no one looks at photos anywhere other than on their phone.
The majority of people have forgotten about film cameras over the past 20 years. ("You can still buy film??") In the process, they've also mostly forgotten about prints. ("Well, except for the big one of the wife and the kids on the beach in white shirts and rolled up pants, bare feet and wide gaping grins with the light blown out and the colour tone cooled. That's art.")
 
yes, its super easy to make $$ at photography but you have to be willing to go the extra step
seeing you have a vintage archive, sell bits and pieces of your archive
to places like Applebees, Dunking donuts or Krabby O Monday's. as decor..
find at local gift shops sell them as throw back post cards + mugs gotta be cheep though, super cheep
remember café press ? find someone like them - you can't do your own printing ...
these days big cash is big in memes + NFTs. that's where the $$ is .. gotta be a seller though, then KA-chnig!
that primate at the zoo who took the selfie is super rich now cause he made a splash ... the cranky cat too ..

if you aren't into the modern way of photography you could always do an open ended master's class
on you tube or do a zoom workshop on .. making money at photography...
make it like a 1980s infomercial, you'll need a yacht people in speedos and bikinis, you might be able to
get a zoom background like that which will save you in production costs..
you might need to book an interview with a maxx headroom, I think he's the gate keeper for all these things.
 
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Find yourself a 'niche' - I am a retired architect so mine is obviously architecture - and learn everything you can about it. The internet resources are there and these days with all the COVID restrictions many of us have more free time than we know what to do with. Then adapt your photography to suit this new area.

Do NOT fall into the trap so many amateur photographers do, of going out on weekend to shoot 'Sunday snaps' (as my stock photo agent said, derisively) and expect to sell those. Nobody does. 99.whatever% end up on free sites like Flickr for the (too many) less-than-ethical publishers, editors and art directors to look at and replicate or (as often happens) 'borrow' with a few modifications to then use as their own work. This happens (a lot!).

#14 said it well when he wrote, anyone/everyone with a good phone can now compete with you for photo work and fast money. Keep this in mind and try to avoid getting too deeply into quick-bucks shooting. I did weddings for six years when I was in high school and university but I hated those events and it was a great day for me when I could finally give the game away. That was in 1972 and I still cringe when asked to take a DSLR to a wedding for 'happysnaps'.

Don't expect riches to flow into your coffers from the first day. With luck, you may make pocket money during your first year. Time and effort expended will (maybe) bring rewards, if you are good at what you shoot and do your study and homework correctly.

This advice will not suit those who want the fast and easy way, but we now live in a new era (about to be post-COVID, we hope) and everything has changed. We must tighten our belts and go with it. Which may mean fewer cameras to play with, less gear purchasing, and 'rationalising' which in my case for the past year has meant disposing of about half my equipment. I was not sorry to see it go as it has been filling up cabinets and photo boxes anyway.

The way ahead in photography is to move forward, not stay in neutral or go in reverse. It has always been this way, but for many of us the sad events of the past year have reinforced this.
 
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Niche is the word for this. Make it a side biz too, that way you can be picky about clients if need be.
 
I know two working professional photographers. My wife just published a coloring book made from her dance photo archive featuring famous dancers etc. that falls into the "some money" category. Otherwise, after the digital transition, no one wanted to pay because, they could find someone to do it for free. This backfired with some of the more famous companies, who realized the photos they were getting just sucked, so right before the pandemic business was picking up. Another bridged the film digital transition 15 years ago by marketing wedding packages for high-end clients only, like 20-30 k per event. That worked very well.
 
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