If you are gonna survive as a freelance photographer, you better have some other sort of skill on top of that if you plan on eating and paying the bills. Especially in Santa Barbara where you will constantly be undercut by some hungry Brooks Institute photography student looking to cut his or her teeth. Well, lucky for me, I spent about ten years honing my skills in the aspects of traditional and digital imaging for a number of pro photo labs before going it alone. Those are skills that I use when I'm not lucky enough to be getting paid by clicking the shutter.
Since I've ventured out into the freelance world I've filled gaps by assisting other photographers on catalog and shoots, custom color printing in the darkroom, tutoring folks in Photoshop, retouching photos, and... done a lot of film scanning. I've had the pleasure of doing many of the scans for the last two books that motorsports photographer, Jesse Alexander has put out. Now, I am currently doing all of the black and white film scans for pro surfer/photographer, Joe Curren's latest book effort. I'll post more on this when I have new information.
It's a shame I'm not getting paid for looking through the lens these days, but in this economy, I'm feeling pretty damn lucky. On top of that, I'm getting to work on some pretty sweet projects.
1 comment:
That is solid honesty Larry. Tough for newbies to hear but this is the way it is when things get tight. As much as teaching distracts me from my freelance I am a little lucky to have the opportunity and to have picked up those needed skills.
I once heard a photographer say that during a recession, it is important to do anything needed that allows you to remain a photographer. Scanning, teaching, - who cares. It is still photography related. The gigs and the clients are coming man.
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