Photography: a Hobby or a Business?

Even with high-end digital cameras and the very best photo editing software packages - some combinations of which can easily eclipse $10,000 - just to get started, many aspiring photographers don’t really understand what’s involved with getting a photography business up and running. And for the sake of this article, let’s talk about people providing family photography - pictures of families, children, pets, etc. Commercial photography is an entirely different beast and not really applicable to the points we’re making.

Because of the magic of technology and the fact that most people seem to like the idea of making money from taking pictures, we’ve seen a dramatic rise in the number of professional and pseudo-professional family photography services popping up around the country.

In many instances, young stay-at-home Moms are looking for ways to fill the creative and professional voids that were created when they left their careers to stay home with the kids. In addition to being drawn to the idea of professional photography, many young Moms quickly realize that there are numerous other Moms out there who are willing to pay to have someone take pictures of their families. Once this snowball starts rolling, it can pick up momentum pretty fast. The added impact of keeping up with the Joneses also cannot be underestimated and, before you know it, you’re seeing young families paying hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars for a CD containing a few dozen images of their newborn babies and toddlers.

Watching such scenarios unfold, or actually being a paying client of a photographer, can lead one to the conclusion that there is quite a bit of money to be made in photography. And, perhaps more importantly, it seems so easy to do. Take some pictures, clean them up in PhotoShop and bam, there’s a few hundred dollars - possibly much more - coming your way. All of it can be done from the comfort of your own home, presumably in the little bit of free time you can...