haring 1 Posted March 30, 2011 Do you think it is possible to make money with underwater photography? Is there any photographer who solely lives off from underwater photography? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yahsemtough 0 Posted March 30, 2011 It is possible to make money from underwater photography, it depends how much you and your family like to eat. LOL Very difficult these days from what I hear lately. You need to supplement it with photo courses and leading trips etc. Cheers Todd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
okuma 63 Posted March 31, 2011 About 12 years ago I was attending a lecture by Scott ....? , manager of Nikon underwater, and he answered this question with:" there are less than 10 people in the world now earning their living soley from underwater photo business, an I'm one of them" This was before the digital age where thousands of amateur shooters are now willing to give away their images for a few fleeting days of seeing their names in print. Nikon have since closed their underwater product line. Keep your day job! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Giles 1 Posted March 31, 2011 It is possible to make a living from anything .. you just need passion drive and talent .. probably in that order. Self Motivation and pushing yourself to keep going and keep selling will be key .. doubt it is easy .. but if you want to make a living from something you love to do of course it is possible. Remember it isn't going to be just about photography though and it will be lots of work. The key will be when to go full time and not have another stable income .. and when to quit the stable job to create more work. I am too lazy of course to even consider such a path! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
decosnapper 34 Posted March 31, 2011 It is possible to make a living from anything .. you just need passion drive and talent .. probably in that order. I would add 'Business acumen' to the front of that list, no matter what sector of the economy you are in and the rules applies equally to all; from selling fruit and veg on a market stall, plumbing, fixing cars or inventing the next Ipad competitor to running an investment bank. Photography isn't special, its just another business. Turning intellectual property into cash is not easy, but it is possible. However, to place all one's source of income in a single sector, particularly a volatile one such as publishing, does come with a high degree of risk to financial stability. Employee facing redundancy/layoff as a result of a decision to relocate the business they work for to a low cost country will understand this, and having been made redundant myself (a long time ago) there is much empathy. Spreading the risk is just one of many reasons why maintaining two disparate businesses in completely unrelated markets makes sense. If one sector crashes, life is not as comfortable but a level of income is maintained. If both crash at the same time........well it is not impossible, but if that happened society as a whole, including me, may well have bigger issues to worry about. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Bantin 101 Posted March 31, 2011 May I quote Rod Stewart in a recent interview about how to be a success in the music business? "You need some talent, a little bit of luck and the ability to do a great deal of hard work." No-one is going to pay you to swan about having fun! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
loftus 41 Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) My non-expert assessment of those who at least appear to be successful making a living with underwater photography is that their sources of income are quite diverse. Underwater photographs may be at the core of what they do, but they make money from many other things including trips and travel, websites like this one, advertising photography and journalism related to underwater photography and diving related goods and services. The actual photographs themselves may be the lowest direct source of income, but everything else as a whole can provide a reasonable living. It would seem, like anything else, one should create a diverse business plan that includes how you plan to promote yourself and provide the goods and services required, and then apply the above mentioned principles, step-by-step and in gradient fashion. A key thing in developing your plan is also to find out what your potential clients need and want, and working out how you can provide for them. Edited March 31, 2011 by loftus Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Bantin 101 Posted March 31, 2011 A key thing in developing your plan is also to find out what your potential clients need and want, and working out how you can provide for them. Spot on! The success of any business is 1) to identify your customer 2) identify your customer's needs and 3) provide a solution. Too many failed businesses start off with a solution and look for a problem to fit it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gina 9 Posted March 31, 2011 I can tell you a sure-fire way to become a millionaire as an underwater photographer - start with $2 million! -Gina 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scubamoose 0 Posted April 1, 2011 Yeah Gina That's indeed a bullet proof plan! But on a serious note - like mentioned allready, I allso belive that there are no UW photographer who would make a living only selling theyr photos. Courses, seminars, workshops etc etc are part of a professional UW photographers services. Cheers Karel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DerekB 2 Posted April 1, 2011 I believe it is possible to "live" off of underwater photography. But you need to have incredible marketing skills, networking and a service to back it up. I don't see how or why our profession would be any harder than say a wildlife photographer or landscape. The business side of things stay the the same. Networking and marketing! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davephdv 0 Posted April 1, 2011 Spot on! The success of any business is 1) to identify your customer 2) identify your customer's needs and 3) provide a solution. Too many failed businesses start off with a solution and look for a problem to fit it. You want to make a little money in UW photography? Start with a lot! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cal 5 Posted April 6, 2011 Hey Well, errr, my only income for the past 2 years has been underwater photography but then again, I subsist on a diet of instant noodles and cheap beer. I havent really made any money by selling photos. All the money ive made has been from commissions i.e. assignments. My number 1 tip: No matter how good your photos are , no one will pay you unless your 2x as good at marketing (......which im not, so i'm poor) Also, Ryan Pedlow and others make there livings 100% from underwater photography but its the tourism side of it rather than the commission side - Ryan has possibily the coolest life style in the world. Cal Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nicool 14 Posted October 21, 2019 Hi guys, 8 years later i would love to hear fresh views on the topic not that i expect UW photography to easily pay bills now but curious to know how the over-presence of social media (for instance) may have transformed underwater photographers’ bottom line 8 years ago we said the main income source was leading trip, workshops, doing trainings... what about social media? what about being a brand ambassador (not sure if that grants you more than free loan gear) :) Nicolas Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TimG 62 Posted October 21, 2019 8 minutes ago, Nicool said: Hi guys, 8 years later i would love to hear fresh views on the topic not that i expect UW photography to easily pay bills now but curious to know how the over-presence of social media (for instance) may have transformed underwater photographers’ bottom line 8 years ago we said the main income source was leading trip, workshops, doing trainings... what about social media? what about being a brand ambassador (not sure if that grants you more than free loan gear) Nicolas Hey Nicholas Good luck! I've sold over 2500 u/w image downloads via Shutterstock and maybe another 500 or so via other stock agencies. They sell quite well - daily - but the rewards are, how can I put it, "not generous". Probably pays for a couple of lenses a year. But that's stock libraries for you. Seems to me the impact of social media is to devalue photo imagery significantly. Why pay for images when you can dig around and probably find them for free? But, by contrast, the quality and innovativeness (is there such a word?) of the images is better and better. Massive respect to the likes of a number of the guys here on WP who make a living from it: I don't think things have changed and teaching, training and workshops are the core money makers led by the terrific images that these guys create. Brand Ambassador: yeah, some nice discounts, loans of gear..... But maybe as I'm probably entering the-dinosaur-generation I'm missing a pot of gold somewhere. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Walt Stearns 47 Posted October 21, 2019 Should you find a way to actually make a living off of selling underwater imagery - Keep it a secret! Because if you don't, then soon everyone else will have the the secret and it won't be a secret anymore and you will be back where you started. Inspiration and innovation is the mother of invention. Actually it’s just a mother. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nicool 14 Posted October 25, 2019 Should you find a way to actually make a living off of selling underwater imagery - Keep it a secret! Because if you don't, then soon everyone else will have the the secret and it won't be a secret anymore and you will be back where you started. Inspiration and innovation is the mother of invention. Actually it’s just a mother.Probably right, so there might be more photographers than we thought making money, but they kept it secret ;-)Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChrisRoss 150 Posted October 25, 2019 I don't think anything has changed, most people don't want to pay for imagery, love your images but sorry we have no budget -how about a credit for exposure?? . The primary skill needed is being shamelessly good at self promotion! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Walt Stearns 47 Posted October 25, 2019 2 hours ago, Nicool said: Probably right, so there might be more photographers than we thought making money, but they kept it secret ;-) Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk If one wants to know many might out there, a good place to start is scubashooters.net Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phxazcraig 35 Posted November 1, 2019 On 10/21/2019 at 2:28 AM, TimG said: Hey Nicholas Good luck! I've sold over 2500 u/w image downloads via Shutterstock and maybe another 500 or so via other stock agencies. They sell quite well - daily - but the rewards are, how can I put it, "not generous". Probably pays for a couple of lenses a year. What sort of images sell? Macro? Wide angle? Shots with divers? Shots without divers? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TimG 62 Posted November 1, 2019 Not macro! Maybe the occasional nudibranch. Not many sales of wreck photos. Nor "arty" pics. My best sales volume has come from a dolphin pod in clear water in the Red Sea (KLM amongst others are using it); and then well-posed single diver on a colourful reef. I did really well after one trip to the Red Sea - over 1000 sales from 129 images. Deep blue background, well-light colourful reef, single diver approaching with a torch. Occasionally wide-angle shots without a diver. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phxazcraig 35 Posted November 1, 2019 Kind of what I thought. Non-divers like macros but don't buy them to hang on a wall. Non-divers like the big stuff that is kinda boring - a turtle, a shark, maybe a diver near something colorful, perhaps a military wreck. They just don't understand or identify with the cool stuff. I did get a bit more used to using my wide lens on this last trip. (Forced myself after losing one of my strobes early on.) And what I realize in retrospect is that macro shots show a colorful subject, but wide angle tells a story. I had a great story planned out last summer in Maui when I was going to dive on the Corinthian at the same time my girlfriend was passing by in the Atlantis submarine. I told her to get some shots of me. She didn't take a single one, not being anything like a photographer, unlike my late wife. But I got some nice shots of the sub... PhxAZCraig Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
onokai 6 Posted February 1, 2020 Not like the 80's and 90s and into the 2000's for sure as Digital photos crashed the market. At one time you could sell images for $250 each for just about any use from calenderas to articles as thats what I did some of back then . Most of my fellow full timers gave it up after the shift ,or shifted to film making.Same was true for top side phothogs as well. Still can do product shoots but its slim pickings. I was not full timer then as I had another main job then and now.Now thats all ancient history now. Tours and classes and self publishing . And do not forget the You tubers Its passion deal for me not for $ rewards Find the demand and fill it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spitfire 2 Posted February 11, 2020 it is probably like in the rest of the industry in general… you can survive but hardly make any more than that… i personally know 1 guy who lives from photography in general, just under water wouldn't be enough though… Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
