Career as a full time photographer in Australia?

[kiwi]

Yip, I'm sure many do well and are solidly booked, many many more will be on struggle street

All stats really do is provide trend analysis well

Still, interesting figures to speculate about

[farmer_rob]

...and how good you market yourself...

Really, that's the key - to Will (the OP) and to others: marketing of what you are selling. Those that market well will do OK. Those that don't won't. (I'm sure JM will disagree with me here if he's watching, but there's a fair argument about the quality of his marketing too.)

[kiwi]

80% business 20% photography huh

Hey, but, if you are good enough and smart enough you can succeed at anything, I truly believe that

[farmer_rob]

True. But you have to push your own barrow. Being good enough/smart enough encompasses good marketing, determination to succeed, willingness to overcome barriers. You can't just coast on natural ability.

[Scotty72]

Coca-cola spends more money on advertising than any other food manufacturer.

[arthurking83]

..... so say if you want to earn around $60,000 per annum as a freelancer, where would be a good starting point?


Thanks in advance!

Mars!

(sorry that's the EXTRA strong Coopers pale ale talking there )

seriously! it seems nowhere. This is the impossible dream. Maybe after many years of hard yakka, you can get yourself up to close to that point, but it'll take a hell-of-a-lot of marketing expertise.

There! see?.. that's the key.. as long as you;re good at marketing, you can make basically as much as you like.
But of course you don't believe me.. who is not involved in the industry, and most likely never will be(due to a lack of interest),.. but it makes sense.

McDonalds is the key to understanding how a successful marketing campaign can make you a billionaire. How many times have you ever heard anyone comment on how great their McDonalds experience was?(me personally.. zero!)
I've never heard anyone make any flattering comments about McDonalds meals. And yet they are the food reatiler with the highest gross earnings of any other company in Aus, and in the World.. and yet it seems that everyone hates the garbage!!

So.. produce crap, sell it to the mindless via the Shopping Network(if we have that in Aus) and that $2billion or $3.3billion slice of the Aussie economy is all yours

That'll be 20c plus GST for the confidential information I have provided tonight thanks

[CallumPhoto]

Where I live the only type of photographer that is in demand is weddings/portrait and domestic stuff in general. And you can make a very good living off it, you can also make a pretty weak living off it.

[ricktas]

Where I live the only type of photographer that is in demand is weddings/portrait and domestic stuff in general. And you can make a very good living off it, you can also make a pretty weak living off it.

so where is that / Sunshine Coast or ACT (as per your profile), Please go to the settings menu (top right corner of the site) and fix your location

[Will Zhao]

Mars!

(sorry that's the EXTRA strong Coopers pale ale talking there )

seriously! it seems nowhere. This is the impossible dream. Maybe after many years of hard yakka, you can get yourself up to close to that point, but it'll take a hell-of-a-lot of marketing expertise.

There! see?.. that's the key.. as long as you;re good at marketing, you can make basically as much as you like.
But of course you don't believe me.. who is not involved in the industry, and most likely never will be(due to a lack of interest),.. but it makes sense.

McDonalds is the key to understanding how a successful marketing campaign can make you a billionaire. How many times have you ever heard anyone comment on how great their McDonalds experience was?(me personally.. zero!)
I've never heard anyone make any flattering comments about McDonalds meals. And yet they are the food reatiler with the highest gross earnings of any other company in Aus, and in the World.. and yet it seems that everyone hates the garbage!!

So.. produce crap, sell it to the mindless via the Shopping Network(if we have that in Aus) and that $2billion or $3.3billion slice of the Aussie economy is all yours

That'll be 20c plus GST for the confidential information I have provided tonight thanks

Thanks for your input

Some of my family friends are engineers and they easily earn that much, my parents want me to be an engineer too but it's not exactly what I enjoy...

So marketing is the important bit, thanks a lot, I'll keep that in mind, although it'll take awhile to catch up

[campo]

Hey Guys
I know a pro wedding photographer (not me) who does 28 weddings a year (don't get many in winter out here) which is about capacity at a minimum of $3500 a wedding which is $98K a yr + he does other jobs and he takes about 6 weeks off every winter.
So maybe it depends on who you are - where you are - how good you are -and how good you market yourself.

bare in mind that out of that $3500 minimum, you need to take out things like GST, insurances, business expenses, products (eg prints/albums) etc etc...it's not as sweet as it seems.

If I was earning $100k per year from photography, I wouldn't be needing another job...

[kiwi]

I'm thinking the same, $98k gross income wouldn't feed or house my family per annum. That'll end up $40-$50k net income probably.

You're going to want to be pulling in $5000 a week.

[jeffde]

I'm thinking the same, $98k gross income wouldn't feed or house my family per annum. That'll end up $40-$50k net income probably.

You're going to want to be pulling in $5000 a week.

Thats only weddings - not privy to the other work he does.
Something to remember that in business a $100K turnover is not the same as a $100K wage - In business you can claim all of your business related expenses - car - equipment etc where you can't as a wage earner. - You just pay more TAX
I could comfortably live on a $150K turnover in a photography business (whilst my partner still works) (in Orange - granted rent, travel etc would be less than in the cities)
In my "other" job at present i spend all day analysing balance sheets and profit and losses of businessess all around NSW and many of them don't make a profit - but they still have a better house, car and lifestyle then i do as a wage earner...