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When do you get money from photography at the first time? As assistant, sell photo, or any others? How long does it happen since you get into the area of photography. To myself, I still didn't earn any from it and I only get into it for one years.

Any replies are appreciated.

welcome to the forum clay. it would be great if you could add a meaningful location to your profile.
i do remember the first time, it was when my eldest son was in daycare, we had to take images to school of us with him. some parents saw the images and asked me to take some of thier families...word spread. that was the beginning !

1970 saw me sell my first photo but I did not get into it full time until the early 1990’s when I used a Kodak/Nikon 450 to produce a catalogue of over 300 pages. Since then I have sold thousands of photos through my work as a graphic designer.

My first time being paid would have been 4 years ago this march. An old school friend asked me to photograph their wedding for them and they offered to pay $500. Since then without advertising i've been getting loads of work photographing weddings around my local region. However, prices and product has changed drastically with packages introduced over the 4 year period. Get out there, get some work under your belt and shoot for the stars.

I've been seriously into photography for over thirty years and I still don't expect to make any money out of it. I'm official photographer for several Blues Festivals and don't get paid for any of them though one does provide accommodation. It depends what you want out of photography. If you want to make money out of it, that generally involves some method of stroking peoples egos, which doesn't appeal to me personally. If you want to be a fine art landscape or wildlife photographer, there's very little prospect of making money out of it, even covering your costs. Exhibitions are usually a money sink.

The first time I made money from photography was around 1981 when a friend asked me to take photographs of his band. I generally have a cargo cult attitude to remuneration (not just from photography). You do what you want to do and what you have to do and stuff happens. I got sent around Australia taking photographs of lighthouses but I didn't even have to apply for that. I recently won a trip for two to New York in a photographic competition and didn't even know there was a prize.

Personally, I think making money and photography are usually two separate things. If you find an efficient way to make money you can do what you like in photography. If you have a social outlet where people will seek your images or if you explore a particular branch of photography and discover a market in it, all well and good. But you should know what you want before you get tied up in commercial obligations that will actually return little. When people ask me at a gig for a photograph I usually say no because the transaction costs of chasing after them and doing a few prints for them (or probably finding they are no longer interested) are too high for me. Many and quite possible most commercial photographers start from a love of photography but it becomes work and they often lose interest in photography outside the workplace.

Strangely enough, I remember my first real photography job (a wedding I did for free for a friend) but I don't remember my first paid job. I think it may have been some restaurant type photos I did for a dodgy company. My first paid job working for myself was shooting junior soccer. This was over 35 years ago. My last paid job was over 20 years ago, I must say I don't have much to show for the 15 years of paid work but I've got a lot more out of it in terms of knowledge and pleasure.

Rooz wrote:welcome to the forum clay. it would be great if you could add a meaningful location to your profile.
i do remember the first time, it was when my eldest son was in daycare, we had to take images to school of us with him. some parents saw the images and asked me to take some of thier families...word spread. that was the beginning !

I have added the location. Works are the best tool for promotion.

sirhc55 wrote:1970 saw me sell my first photo but I did not get into it full time until the early 1990’s when I used a Kodak/Nikon 450 to produce a catalogue of over 300 pages. Since then I have sold thousands of photos through my work as a graphic designer.

1970, Ops, my father and mother still not married that time.