Hello,
Many people on here buy and sell camera gear quite regularly and expensive gear at that. How many use their camera equipment as a hobby or do many/most of you use it to make money? Do many of you sell your photos as a sideline to help defray the cost of your equipment?
While I have had many compliments about my images I have never sold nor tried to sell any of them. It crossed my mind that perhaps many on here do use their photography as a sideline business as opposed to a full-time business so was curious about it. Thank you.
I enjoy photography a lot, but I have only paid for a small fraction of my equipment with what I've earned so far. I sell my photos on the side. It is definitely a hobby, not a job so far. Hopefully I can change that in the future.
While we may be splitting hairs with semantics here, I consider myself more of an "enthusiast" than a hobbyist. I absolutely LOVE photography and think of myself as taking it more seriously than a "hobbiest would." No doubt, some people who consider themselves hobbiest will dispute this, hotly. That being said...
I have been asked many times by people if I ever inteded to sell my images (especially when I shoot HS sports). However, I would never want to rob the pleasure and joy out of my photography by turning it into a job.
David Israel wrote:
While we may be splitting hairs with semantics here, I consider myself more of an "enthusiast" than a hobbyist. I absolutely LOVE photography and think of myself as taking it more seriously than a "hobbiest would." No doubt, some people who consider themselves hobbiest will dispute this, hotly. That being said...
I have been asked many times by people if I ever inteded to sell my images (especially when I shoot HS sports). However, I would never want to rob the pleasure and joy out of my photography by turning it into a job.
Dave
+1 - if you sell, then maybe it becomes a job and who would want to spoil the joy of a passion by making it a job. IMHO - YMMV
Hobbyist though some might say collector. I have been asked to sell some photos, and do some paid gigs but have always declined, if I was to take that step it wouldn't be for the same fun anymore.
Just another yuppie puppy twit with a cupboard full of expensive gear. I mostly walk around with my gear tucked in a 6 Million Dollar Home and try to look cool. If I was a pro I probably couldn't afford all these nice toys. By dumb luck I've managed to sell a few magazine and book covers, enough to fund a trip to Vegas and blow it all.
My Diamond Head Lighthouse photo is the cover of the Commemorative-Stamp-Yearbook-Postal-Service Book. They printed 500,000 copies so that was a lot of ink!
