Most freelance photographers, including Michelle Daly-DeSchryver, get their start in freelance photography in inauspicious ways. Daly-DeSchryver wanted to be a nature photographer, but when she started her career as a freelancer, she found it difficult to make a living taking pictures of animals and wild landscapes. She turned to more common ways of making money as a freelancer until she built a strong network for herself and refined her skills to the point she is at now. Here are three common ways freelance photographers start their career s:
Michelle Daly-DeSchryver dreams of starting her own nature magazine one day.
- Real estate. Real estate professionals need talented photographers to capture the beauty of their properties in order to sell them. Now that every serious real estate broker or agent has a website, they can post pictures of their available properties for customers to find. This is where freelancers like Michelle Daly-DeSchryver come in.
- Travel magazines. This is a dream job for many freelance photographers, but opportunities to travel or simply to document the place where they live for new visitors can actually be found in easier ways than you think. Michelle Daly-DeSchryver was able to intern at a travel magazine early in her career to build her skill.
- Nature photography. Professional photographers can usually find plenty of customers who love nature photography; the trouble is usually getting people to pay for your excellent shot of the rare desert thrush rather than another’s. Build your portfolio of nature shots to show your impressive skill and maybe even land your work in a nature magazine.
Michelle Daly-DeSchryver dreams of starting her own nature magazine one day.