How do I become a full-time photographer?

Question

Zippia Team · Accepted Answer

To become a full-time photographer takes strategy, passion, and hard work. With the right steps, you can move from an amateur photographer to a full-time photographer in no time. To become a full-time photographer, you need to find your market, build your brand, and keep your nose in the grindstone.

Here are the steps you can follow to become a full-time photographer:

Find your niche. For a skilled photographer who wants to take that business to the next level, it's important to figure out what area of photography you'd like to specialize in (e.g., wedding, media, environmental). While you may be interested in a lot of areas, to make it easy on yourself, focus your energy on just one or two genres.
Build your brand. Any successful full-time photographer will tell you that they are always looking to build their brand. It is one of the best ways to draw attention to your work and help people to remember it. Do your research and get a feel for what other professional photographers that you admire are doing.
Be industrious. To be a full-time photographer is essentially the same as running your own business. What you put into it is what you get out of it. This may mean much of your time is spent traveling, marketing, making new contacts, editing, solving annoying gear-related technical problems, answering emails, updating websites, and so on.