The million dollar question among photographers is how they can make money doing what they love to do—taking photographs. In a seminar hosted at B&H, Jeff Cable delivers the ins and outs of the trade and shares with us the key points he uses to turn profit in a competition-rich industry. The seminar lasted just over an 1 1/2 hours and you can watch it in its entirety here:
Hopefully, you had time to watch the video all the way through. Just think of it as an investment in your business. Cable does an excellent job of sharing his sage advice and tips to improve your photography. In case you can’t schedule the entire video in at the moment, let’s go over a few highlights.
- Advertisement Advertise via Google. The rates are affordable and directly related to the number of people that will see your website. Google allows business to purchase the top spots for keyword searches in different areas. For example, Cable owns keywords such as bar mitzvah for the San Francisco area. What that means is that when someone in the bay area Googles “bar mitzvah,” Cable’s website pops up first. The other sources of advertisement Cable swears by is word of mouth. Make sure your clients are happy and they will refer their friends!
- Every person at an event is a potential client. This one is pretty self explanatory. Treat everyone you interact with at an event as a potential client.
- Stay in touch with clients even after an event. Sending out postcards or emails can assure repeat customers.
- Limit your editing until you have sold prints. In other words, edit a handful of your best shots first and leave it at that. Otherwise, you can waste hour after hour editing photos that won’t be sold.
- Shoot what you love. Shoot at events you will enjoy being at. Whether it be bat mitzvahs, sporting events, or weddings choose what appeals to you. If you are doing what you love your photographs will reflect.
How to Make Money on Event Photography
One last thing Cable stresses throughout the video is that you should always strive to surprise your client by over delivering. This means going the extra mile. Surprise them by giving them a free framed print and promising delivery of the photographs by the end of the next day.
For Further Training on Career Driven Photography
Check out Going Pro: How To Make Money From Your Photography by Kelly Kingman ($49); a comprehensive kit that has been put together for one purpose, to help you profit from your passion. Your goal might be just for some extra cash or perhaps a full-time career, either way this kit will kick start your professional career. If you’re not satisfied that it is helping your photography within 60 days just let them know and they will refund your money in full.
It is currently available here: Going Pro Photography Kit
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Hey, thanks for posting this. I run FrozenEvent to help photographers sell event photos. It’s great to see such an in depth look at the subject.
I think its a great way for photographers to enter the world of business, thanks again for the great video :-)