Becoming a freelance photographer and freelancing in general is one of the most important part of my life. And I can say I had a lot of interest in photography during my early university days. In fact, I volunteered as a photographer for events. Though, I’m not so embellished in using photography to make money, I know it is very possible.

For instance, look at Bellick, a freelance photographer. Me and Bellick volunteered for a school project as a photographer. While I was taking these aspects of my life as an invaluable interest, Bellick was adding up every kind of voluteering experience he had to his portfolio. 

Around his third year in school, I met him again, this time at the school art shopping fest, where he led the photography team, this time on a paid job. 

We spoke about our growth process, my gradual lost of interest in photography and how far he has made it out of photography. 

Guess what he did? He went into the gig market as photographer and started his freelancing own freelancing the virtual marketplace world. Check out this article to learn how to increase your income as a freelancer: The Role of Soft Skills in Securing High-Paying Freelance Gigs – 6 Importance

In this article we are going to discuss the process, tips and description of the lifestyle of a freelance photographer, putting the case of a friend in perspective and the growth process involved in the career. 

What is Freelance Photography?

Freelancing is the phenomenon covering how independent workers, creatives and experts in a particular field dive into the gig economy inorder to offer their services either on a contract basis or short term period.

Photography is the creative skill involved in taking enthusiastic, real life and attention grabbing pictures. It can be divided into different types including nature photography, lifestyle photography, animal photography and so on. 

So, looking at both definitions, we can coin out the meaning of freelance photography as the nomenclature given to a person that chooses a career in freelancing but get gigs online either on a short term basis or contract basis.  

What Does a Freelance Photographer Do

A freelance photographer is an independent photographer that shoots, sells, and create photos, while applying for clients visibility in the gig world. Some of their works include: 

• Perfects Photoshoots for  clients 
• Recommend photo angles and picture ideas for clients 
• Take products photos in the most customer appealing way
• Find clients interested in photography and lifestyle appealing pictures
• Schedule photography sessions 
• Find locations for a perfect photo etc.  

How to Become a Freelance Photographer 

1. Boost Your Photography Skills

The most important part about offering any service in the gig economy is the learning process. And if you can’t show off how good you are with your skills, then potential clients will  keep overlooking your abilities. 

The thing about photography is that virtually everybody can pick a camera or a even a phone and snap a picture. Then boom! They believe them are good enough to start taking pictures for clients. 

Of course they might be good enough, but in a professional settings, they are literally nothing, except if they have sharpened their skills to some extent. 

As a photographer, you should endeavour to not only learn the basics alone but also rely on courses, other photographers creativity, inpiring compositions, experience too before diving into freelance photography. 

2. Purchase the right equipment 

If you are going for freelance photography, then one of your identity should be a standard camera right? If not, there is no way you can prove to people that you offer this service. 

Aside from camera, there are lots of equipments to purchase including: 

• Tripods
• Lenses
• Digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera
• Computer
• Camera bag
• Memory cards and so on. 

If you can’t make a purchase of all this equipment at once, you can easily rent from other photographers when you get a client.  

3. Establish a network 

The reason a lot freelancers find it difficult to navigate through the freelancing marketing is bacuse of their inability to build an effective network. A network is a freelancer connection to group of people in their  line of work. 

Attend events and seminar as around your jobs. Put yourself out there for people interested in photography to talk to you. Do not be an introverted photography. Also, you can drop resources around photography. Or social media contents around photography that potential clients will be interested in. 

4. Build a Brand

See acting as a freelance photographer will take you a long way into finding a clients, however, inorder to retain a clients and build an identity around your service, then yoy need to build a brand. 

You can ask a graphics designer to work on a logo that identifies your brand with photography. Also, you can design business cards, posters and virtual cards for your business. 

Also, you should take your social media visibility and branding very important too. Post content on social media that dictates your services and establish a community of your target audience. 

5. Create a Website

From a survey Tomy Jamal, a website developer conducted of recent. Out of 100 photographers out there, looking for gigs online, only 27 has a website..

As a freelance photographer, an optimised website, with a little bit of SEO optimised contents will keep you on a standing rank on search engines. Also, if you have a website, you can upload your portfolio, proof of work, your certifications and your experience in the indutry. 

6. Promote Your Business 

Clients only hire people that  they can find. Hence, if you are not putting yourself Infront of potential clients every now and then, clients wouldn’t be able to find you not to talk of hiring you. 

Some of the methods to promote your bsujsns include:

• Proper branding
• Joining freelance marketplace
• Posting contents consistently on your social media pages
• Adequate and quality connections etc. 

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed everything you need to know about building a business in the freelance photography industry and generating passjve income from it. The industry is a little bit undermined but still deserves only photographers that can provide quality work. 

Regardless, as you continue your journey in the photography world, you are guaranteed to keep learning. Hence, overtime experience and this tips above can put your portfolio ahead of others.