Becoming a Freelance Photographer

Freelance photography is what many aspiring professionals see as their way to break into the business. In the age of digital photography, where everyone and their cousin has a camera capable of producing a spectacular shot, it's a tough thing to break into. There seems to be a lot of gray area as to what freelancing is, so I'll leave it as simply providing images on demand. Sometimes you can anticipate the demand, by shooting on speculation and offering the images after the fact. Other times, and often if you're not on staff but a regular contributer to a publication, you'll shoot on assignment and know of the demand before the event happens.

When it comes down to it, there are a few key points to remember if you want to be a freelance photographer.

First and foremost, you need to be consistent. If you're not shooting on a regular basis, you're likely not going to be adding the essential bulk to your portfolio that you need to be. It would reflect poorly on you if you were unable to produce specific images because you simply did not attend the event mentioned. You also need to stay active in submissions. It's easy for the buyer to forget about you when they're getting five times as many submissions from the other guy, and it's likely that you're going to make it out to capture something nobody else was able to.

You also need to be persistent. Just because the agency/paper/magazine/book doesn't need you now, they may need you later.

Keep an active updated portfolio, and have it available EVERYWHERE YOU GO. This is pretty easy now, since you can keep a collection of your best on a thumb drive, or on the web. Adjust your portfolio based on the gig you're trying to earn. A magazine that focuses on EMS/Police/Fire situations doesn't care that you took the cutest picture ever imagined of a sunset or your dog. Make sure you know your audience.

The way most staff photographers got to be there was by starting out freelance. I know of several entertainment and sports photographers (two different fields) who started out freelancing and worked their way onto staff. For photographers, staff is a label you earn as a freelancer that consistently gets assignments. For entertainment, the guy started out by going to every concert/show/play/big event in the area and just offering the shots to the publication if they needed any. Sure enough, they started publishing some. Then more as time went on. Eventually it became a working relationship because they liked his style. The same goes with the sports guy. Start out covering local and high school events. Work your way up.

A good tip is to save any proof you were published. Keep a copy of your image in print. These are called tear sheets. They're a great way to show possible work sources that you've done it before and know what you're doing.

Smaller publications are usually easier to break into, as they don't have the budget to hire enough photographers to cover everything on their plate.

To sum it all up, how can you become a freelance photographer? You need to work hard to get where you want to be. It's not going to happen overnight, and it's likely going to have a lot of bumps in the road on the way there. Just keep trying to sell yourself and your photos, and eventually (if your images are good enough) you'll be picked up.