Expert: Don Wood - 9/16/2006

Question
Hi, I am working on a novel with my heroine being a photographer. She is going to be capturing pictures of wildlife and I was wondering if you could help me. I will gladly mention you in my acknowledgements section for anything that you can tell me.

What i would like to know is can you start your own photography business online and send them to any customers who are interested or how do most photographers go about selling their photos? I hope that makes and will hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you,

Nicole

Answer
I think that most photographers are on the web to capture attention. If customers contact them, that's a plus. IE, the web is being used as an advertising medium. Then after the pictures have been taken, they may upload them to a particular page on their web which they have not disclosed to anybody but the customer. Then the customer may order what he wants from the shoot. I think that most wild-life photographers use the stock photo agencies or they may use an agent to sell the pictures. With the stock photo agencies, they accumulate the pictures you've taken, they may show them along with other pictures in that particular genre, landscapes, sunsets, etc. If your picture is chosen by their client, they would get a percentage of what you earn. They would probably bill the client and send a check to you on a certain schedule. The check might be garnered from several clients over the month, or bi-monthly, quarterly, or annually. You might querry the stock photography agencies for their policies of submission and reimbursement. Google for Stock Photography. You might be surprised.
A good agent may have several different photographer he represents. If he has a client wanting a particular type of picture, he might tell the photog that seems to be good in shooting that one particular picture category what the client wants. But if what you shoot isn't what the client wanted you don't earn your money.
In either situation, stock photography or agent-based photography, it depends upon your skill, reputation, luck, and persistance whether you will be able to succeed in your career.
Good luck with your novel. If I can answer further questions, please ask. This is kind of a generic answer to a question asked by someone not very experienced in the photographic field. Of course, any success the person receives will be enhanced by the amount of learning, education the photographer has gone through before starting the business. Getting an MBA would not be unheardof. Whatever training you get will benefit you in life.
Don