freelance Photography advise?

[Tallyhoo]

Hello,

I'm in the process of waving tarrar to my current job to become a freelance photographer for weddings ,special gatherings

But as i'm just starting off i need to get some experiance ,i need to know which area is right for me , so i can start organiseing to set up my own business.

i would like some advise from anyone who knows a photographer or a photographic business and their experiance of starting a business.
i would be willing to volunteer my services to build up my photographic portfollio and knowledge as i'm in land piggy at the moment

[Eagle]

I don't want to discourage you but it's a terribly cut-throat world, freelance photography - especially wedding photography. I work in PR but I wouldn't go freelance if they paid me... err, lots x10!

Your best approach is to target a chosen niche, develop a certain style and excel at it.

My personal preference/niche is commercial/product photogaphy but, again, I'd be loathe to tackle it freelance.

[LisaB]

The first thing you would need to do is build up your portfolio. We are in the wedding business providing stationery, and it is a very competitive market. So you have to be good at what you do!

We use a forum www.hitched.co.uk to advertise our services, and have noticed recently a couple of photographers offering their services for free in order to build up their portfolio, and reportage photography seems to be very popular at the minute. A lot of these new photographers then seem to go on to get a lot of extra work from hitched, through recommendations. So if you were wanting to go into the wedding business, maybe try there to get some clients to build up your portfolio. Be careful though, they don't like you advertising your product, so maybe you could get some flaming, especially from other photographers. But there will always be people who want to take you up on your offer, and Hitched is a great place to get Name and Praised on ... especially if you are good at what you do!

[emmalr]

My father was a wedding photographer for thirty odd years. He had a fantastic portfolio and had a great reputation. Although he does it now on the odd occasion as a favour to other photographers he gave up because the work was just drying up. Thanks to digital cameras a lot of people get family and friends to take the pictures. We even know some amateur photographers who are charging £100 for the day. Their work isn't great but people are just not willing to pay 'the old school' prices of £500+

I dont want to sound negative about the idea but it will be tough.

Have you thought about freelance commercial photography instead? Take a look at yout local papers and magazines. See what they are running stories on and go out and shoot some portfolio peices. Send them in to the picture editor with your CV. I know someone who started working freelance as a train photographer for his local hobby magazine. He now freelances for The Sun, Newcastle United and several Spanish papers.

There are also opportunities in the stock photography market. Look at www.gettyimages.co.uk You can make a lot of money in those markets.

Hope this helps,

Emma.

[Eagle]

^ Lol. Colleagues of mine have often asked - Would you do my wedding phots for me?

Sure thing, I reply - £1200 ok for you?

Weddings are a real hassle!