Hi CS guys.. I always had passion in landscape photography but is it possible to earn some money with it? If possible, what are the ways? Share? Thank in advance 
How to earn some money with Landscape Photograph
- Thread starter skybroodz
- Start date
It's not impossible, there are landscape photographers who sell single prints for MILLIONS of dollar (USD)..
Record-breaking price set for single-print sales at USD$4.3m - BBC News - Andreas Gursky's Rhein II sets photo record
Most recently shot image (2010) that sold for USD$1m - Peter Lik Photograph “One” Sells for $1 Million! | | Peter LikPeter Lik
Instead of just honing your skillset in landscape photography, you should also put enough attention in branding yourself if you are intending to make money out of your landscape images.. Rem, photography is visual art; and since it is visual, it is subjective. Therefore, shooting great pictures is not the most crucial key to earning from it, instead, the key is on how you brand yourself/your works and/or convincing buyers/art collectors to pay for it.
Record-breaking price set for single-print sales at USD$4.3m - BBC News - Andreas Gursky's Rhein II sets photo record
Most recently shot image (2010) that sold for USD$1m - Peter Lik Photograph “One” Sells for $1 Million! | | Peter LikPeter Lik
Instead of just honing your skillset in landscape photography, you should also put enough attention in branding yourself if you are intending to make money out of your landscape images.. Rem, photography is visual art; and since it is visual, it is subjective. Therefore, shooting great pictures is not the most crucial key to earning from it, instead, the key is on how you brand yourself/your works and/or convincing buyers/art collectors to pay for it.
I wanna share a true story.
One day I was walking down Orchard Road area when I saw an angmoh auntie with a manfrotto tripod, canon 5dmk2 and 24-70, she was shooting up the trees like she never see trees before. So I asked her WTF she's doing in my fine country, trying to shoot bird issit? She told me she not shooting bird, but she shooting trees and then went on to show me the lcd display on the back of the camera and explaining and taking another few shots, I see I wanna yawn. Coz the pictures look boring in composition, blown skies, underexposed tree trunks, things we see everyday. So I decided to go but she don't let me go, want to chit chat some more. Ask me to google her name. I googled and realized she is a hollywood actress and a fine art photographer. Those pictures probably auction for high dollars in some new york art gallery. You know, print them on canvass, frame it nicely, spotlight it, write up a fancy story, few thousand square feet high class showroom, advertising with all the art media, invite famous guests and famous friends, invite rich people, donate some of the proceeds to charity, etc.
Branding, plus a big name, plus the right buyers, VERSUS great picture but clubsnap hobbyists squabbling with each other.
Sounds like the way to go but short sighted people will only see the manfrotto tripod, canon 5dmk2, 24-70 and a movie face, BUT forgot the years and years and years of hard work to reach that level of name (or brand name) visibility SO AS TO leverage upon that big name.
Can sell stock but it can only be treated as low level passive income. There aren't many full time landscape photographer freelance and sustaining 100% from that source of income. I was watching a documentary about a wildlife and landscape photographer, from the 1990s. During the documentaries shows him flying in his own private plane, he said he bought a private plane so that he can access the more remote places in the mountains for better shots and higher sightings of wildlife. Buying a freaking plane so that you can take better photos? How much is a plane and how much can those photos sell? Its more of a self-funded interest, his already rich from other ways. Unless you are a full time staff from a media like Nat Geo, most landscapes and nature photographers are mainly hobbyists.
Many pro photographers are people photographers because the market is always there (still), most people buy pictures of themselves and their love ones, and their important events in life.
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I shoot landscape and it does not sell,Hi CS guys.. I always had passion in landscape photography but is it possible to earn some money with it? If possible, what are the ways? Share? Thank in advance
so I decided to shoot like a tourist and it sell much better..
and you can forget about shooting for stocks if you don't have patience and long term goal, it will take you a few years to earn your first $50.00.
Thank you guys for sharing..
@catchlight what do you mean by shoot like tourist and sell better ? Where did you sell your photo?
For me i had manage to sell 1 picture in flickr by an advertising agency. It is just 1 though..
I am just thinking.. How about selling it to post card company ? Or will there be hotel/resort looking for landscape photographer to shoot their building? Selling custom made shirt with your landscape picture ?
@catchlight what do you mean by shoot like tourist and sell better ? Where did you sell your photo?
For me i had manage to sell 1 picture in flickr by an advertising agency. It is just 1 though..
I am just thinking.. How about selling it to post card company ? Or will there be hotel/resort looking for landscape photographer to shoot their building? Selling custom made shirt with your landscape picture ?
He means to take photos of merlion & chinatown instead of grass, trees, mountains & fog.
You probably have to pay an agent or collaborate with an art gallery to get your works & name out. These people will also be advising on how marketable your works are or aren't, what the local fine art photography scene is like, "suggestions" on what to change, etc.
What price are you going to sell your photos at to a post card company/hotel? Do you expect to sell the photo's exclusive copyright as one flat fee, or royalties per item sold, or copyright by duration, etc? Consider how easy it is for them to get their hands on cheap or free photographs. So it has to be something competitive enough that it's even mildly attractive to them. I don't have a very high opinion that it's a workable method in this day & age. If your photos are good, then the agent or art gallery route is the preferred way.
Shirts... how many people do you see on the streets wearing a landscape printed shirt? I think you have better luck selling T-shirts with some provocative words in badly composed sentences at your local pasar malam.
Here is what I think.
If you have the images that is world class and something people will melt when looking at it. It is a good start.
Now, u need to have access to your audience... U know how to find your buyer?
If you have both, you can always be successful. U will be surprise the potential Singapore has to offer.
That's the 2 keys to get you the business.
Possible or not, it really depends on yourself.
U have passion for landscape? Really? How much time do u spend taking pictures of landscape in odd hours? (odd hours produce amazing shots).
If u are in photography for money... Sorry it is a wrong start.
Regards,
Hart
If you have the images that is world class and something people will melt when looking at it. It is a good start.
Now, u need to have access to your audience... U know how to find your buyer?
If you have both, you can always be successful. U will be surprise the potential Singapore has to offer.
That's the 2 keys to get you the business.
Possible or not, it really depends on yourself.
U have passion for landscape? Really? How much time do u spend taking pictures of landscape in odd hours? (odd hours produce amazing shots).
If u are in photography for money... Sorry it is a wrong start.
Regards,
Hart
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I started this thread is more like getting people to share what are the ways in making money is landscape photography. I don't intend to make a big buck out out of it.
yes, like bro foxtwo says, there are hundreds and thousands photos of grass, trees, mountains & fog. But only about less than one or two hundreds photos of Singapore Chinatown and Merlion in istockphoto.
anyway, stock image is not about selling nice looking photos, photo buyers are looking for contents to sell their products, services or ideas etc....
digging your favourite photos from your hard disc to sell in stock libraries is history, stock shooters are shooting what the photo buyers want nowadays.
how much can your photos sell? a simple way is to do a search in stock photo libraries, look for the photos which are similar to you are doing now, see how many downloads they have. btw, if the photos are 10years old and have 100 downloads, so average each year only have 10 downloads, than you have to ask yourself is it worth the efforts or not?
and also don't forget to see how fierce is the competition, if there already a few thousands photos of the same subject, stock libraries may reject new photos on the same topic.
oracle0711
Senior Member
Very practical advice in a practical society. Thanks for sharing and highlighting a fact that might set others from dreaming too much (not saying to have a dream is a bad thing).
Me, and many digital artists, advertising agencies, always have a need for landscape pics. But not any landscape pics but the right landscape pics. But just like life, you are going nowhere if you start abandoning it after 1-2 months.
If your pics are accepted by stock, it also means your pics are likely to get accepted else where.
MBS_Panorama View by 1000words.com.sg, on Flickr
If your pics are accepted by stock, it also means your pics are likely to get accepted else where.
MBS_Panorama View by 1000words.com.sg, on Flickr
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Totally agree on the plane part as resources talk! A local well=known film maker comes from a super rich family and himself is worth a couple of hundreds millions. Not taking away his film making skills, he has a headstart to get the best equipment which costs much more than still photography, ultra rich connections and media connections. Success formula already won before the filming.
Serenditipity can play a part to sell that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity shot. An example is this person happened to shoot the ill-fated lockerbie jumbo jet taking off and then crashing into the forest nearby. Heard the press agency paid a five-figure sum in US$ for this spectacular shot in terms of drama and not photography skills.
i think u should start by being a contributor photographer into some of the traveling magazine... then from there you can build up ur career for landscape... or simple make a landscape exhibition but must be simply stunning... some landscape will show the unique side of our nature... all the best
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