Career in Photography

Photography is a highly competitive field. More than half of the professional photographers in the US are self-employed, which means that they are constantly looking for clients and trying to sell their pictures. However, there are many jobs a photographer can land that will help to create job stability. Photographers are needed at newspapers, magazines, weddings (and other events), in portrait studios, etc. Weekly hours and work environment is based on where a photographer works. Some will work the regular 40 hours a week, while others may work a lot more or a lot less. Photographers who are self-employed have the freedom to work as much or as little as they like, while photo journalists (for newspapers and magazines) have to wait until they can create a story from their pictures, which can take any amount of time.

Patience is certainly a necessary characteristic for most photographers because most will have to wait for certain conditions to capture the right picture and everyone will take bad pictures. Whether it comes to catching an action shot of firefighters rescuing a family for tomorrow's newspaper or a photograph of the sunset and landscape in Acadia National Park, the photographer needs to wait for the perfect moment; the perfect picture. This usually means taking many pictures from different angles, with different lenses, different films, and different lighting. This can be stressful if you are on a deadline, but certainly not impossible.

Photography is an art, but there are a lot of specifics about cameras, films, lighting, dimensions, and, especially now and increasingly in the future, digital photography and PhotoShop. There is a lot to learn and employers are looking for people really understand photography on all of its levels. Some excellent ways to get involved in the field while gaining your education are to read photography newsletters and magazines, join camera clubs, work in camera stores or photo studios, etc. Photography is a field with many opportunities for artistic, creative people who have an eye for capturing the world around them.

The work hours are long and irregular. Sometimes you even have to make yourself available on short notice. It's a high-pressure job with tight deadlines. But if you are self-employed photographers your work hours will be more flexible.

There are various categories of photographers:

Press photographer: You'll work for newspapers and shoot pictures of the day's events, that will accompany the article on the newspaper the next day. The photographs you shoot are also stored in archive. You could be working for magazines, newspapers and sometimes book publishers (for covers). It's a dare devil job where you often have to risk your life in attempting to take pictures of newsworthy events, people and places.

Photojournalist: This is slightly different from press photography as your photographs itself have to tell the whole story. This means they have to be more precise.

Technical/Industrial Photographer: You'll use specialised photographic instruments to photograph industrial equipments to be used in company brochures and other publication.
Scientific photographers: You'll specialise in areas like astronomic photography, astrophysics photography, photography of chemical and biological materials, specimen, etc. You will photograph laboratory experiments, etc.

Commercial Photographers: It involves taking pictures of merchandise, buildings, machinery, fashions, livestock, and groups of people to be used in advertisements, marketing reports, brochures, catalogs, and postcards. You will also be photographing events, marketing promotion operations, etc.

Fashion Photographer: You'll take attractive images of fashion products like designer clothes, accessories, etc.

Personal Photographer: This is the best part. Here you'll hobnob with the best faces in the fashion industry like models and film stars. You'll specialise in capturing images of people. You will also work in Fashion photography.

Nature And Wildlife Photographer: If you are green at heart, this is it. Here you'll capture animals in their natural habitat. Sub marine or under water photography is another branch of this stream.

Film Photographers: You will shoot feature films, advertising films, documentaries, etc.
Video Photographers: You will shoot moving films with a video camera. Your subjects can be anything from a marriage ceremony to a 16 mm film.

Forensic Photographers: Here you'll travel with the police to crime scenes to photograph evidence. Adventourous, isn't it?

Requirment
Some photographers specialize in special events such as wedding, awards ceremonies, etc.
For pursuing photography as a career you need:
/ A keen visual sense
/ A good understanding of shapes, colours, patterns, and hues
/ A perfect eye for observing everything around - life and nature.
/ An interest and ability to express life and nature in a visual art form
/ An excellent spatial perception - the ability to capture and understand objects
from different dimensions and locations.
/ A love for details - you will know what is missing in a given scene.

A successful career in photography doesn't call for a degree or diploma in the subject. All you need is a strong sense of aesthetics and creativity. And loads of focus. You should go the extra nine yards to make your work a satisfying experience for your clients.

But you will do better with a basic course in photography. Certain skills have to be learnt, and you will have to know the instruments and equipment. A formal training course will give you confidence and make you aware of the latest technologies. For film and video, you must have a formal training.

Job Opportunities
There are ample opportunities for a budding photographer.
You could work for an advertising agency, newspaper houses, magazine or a photo studio.
You can work for television channels, television software (what you call television serials) producers, film producers, web site.

There is immense scope for freelancing. There are agencies where your photographs can be syndicated and you can earn royalty in the process.

Other avenues for employment include scientific laboratories, research institutions and industries.

Money & Other Benefits
Though the initial investment (in terms of a sophisticated camera with all state-of-the-art accessories) is quite high, the return may go through the roof.

Beginners get Rs 7,500-12,500 a month. Experienced Photographer charge Rs 20,000-35,000 or more a month. In fact once you have established yourself you can command up to Rs 5,000 or more for a day of shooting and earn more than a lakh a month.

Fashion photographer charge Rs 5,000 a day at the minimum. The best in this field can command up to Rs 75,000 per shoot and more than 5 lakh a campaign.

Specialist photographers like wildlife photographers, under water photographers are paid on a project-to-project basis. These may go up to Rs 2-10 lakh or more per project.

Photojournalist and Press photographers get Rs 4,000-25,000 a month or more.
Assistant Film Photographers get Rs 50,000-100,000 a film. But when you are reputed, it's better not disclosing the figure as the taxmen will come chasing!

Well, those salaried in a company/newspaper house should not expect these astronomical figures. You will get about Rs 7,000-40,000 a month as your salary.

Career Prospects
Bombay is India's advertising capital and the other metros source photographers and filmmakers from Bombay. Your prospects depend more on your quality of work more than anything else. There is a demand for photographers but more often than not it is the good ones that capture a large share of this market. So try to develop your reputation real fast in this field. By latest there are huge demand for photographers in website.