22 – Local Freelance Work – Wedding and Portrait Photographer

If you like photography, and you have a good camera and other equipment, you can become a freelance wedding and portrait photographer. You don’t need a studio, or the same equipment, if you do most of your photography out of doors, or even a home base to become a freelance wedding and portrait photographer. The reason is you go to their location, so you’ll be using nature (most of the time) as your backdrop.

To get started with this type of photography:

Make It Legal

Be sure that you understand what it takes to be legal in your area. You probably need a business license in order to get a business bank account. You’ll need to make sure you have both so that you can get paid plus keep your business and personal finances separate. Also, if you’re a legally registered business, your customers will trust you more.

Get Your Financials and Payment Processing in Order

Figure out how you’re going to take payment from customers as well as how you’re going to track your income and expenses. A good program to use for a small freelance business is Wave.com, Quickbooks.com, or Go Daddy Bookkeeping offered via Godaddy.com.

Ensure You Have the Right Equipment and Tools

Don’t try to become a wedding or portrait photographer with your iPhone. Ensure that you have a good camera that offers you the ability to produce high-quality photos that your customers can use as they need – from printing on a large canvas, to publishing in the paper and magazines, to sharing digitally.

Know Where You’ll Develop Your Pictures

Scout out different places to get your photos developed. You may even want to use more than one place so that you’re already a customer if one place goes out of business. Test out a few companies to find out how fast they produce and how good their customer service is.

Consider Sending Some Clients Digital Options Only

Some of your clients may not even want printed options, if you can offer cheaper packages that include only your digital photos, even unedited ones, some of your customers will really enjoy that option. You can meet them at their events, and on their locations, snap all the pictures, and then simply upload all of them to your customers for their personal use.

Build a Photography Portfolio Website

If you want to sell your services, you have to demonstrate your skills with a good website that will act as your portfolio. You can use a simple set up like self-hosted WordPress to upload images that you’ve taken with watermarks to prevent theft. Describe each picture and, of course, get permission from your customers when they sign your contract to post a few of theirs as examples.

Create a Brochure and Business Cards to Hand Out for Your Photography Business

The only way to get hired is to let more people know about you. Hand out brochures and business cards to everyone you meet. Leave them at churches, in real-estate offices, daycare centers, and schools. Many organizations and groups also sell advertisements for their newsletters. This is a good way to get on their radar. You can also offer free photoshoots and only charge someone when they buy a photo.

Incentivize Your Friends and Customers to Spread the News

When you first start out, you may need to rely on friends, relatives, and customers to help you spread the news fast. Give them each a few business cards with their name on the back. If they send you a customer, you can give them a percentage of sales, or you can give them free photo shoots of their own.

Don’t wait until you think your skills are perfect for getting started in your wedding and portrait photography business. As you work, you’ll become better at it, but all someone needs to hire you is an example of your work and for you to deliver something at least as good as your example for you to succeed. As you learn more, you’ll be able to start wowing your customers with your beautiful skills capturing their special moments.