Damned If You Do; Damned If You Don't

My photography hobby is a great one, but I've wanted it to pay for itself, or at least help offset the costs. Generally speaking, I have a lower-end DSLR, but it is adequate for most of my needs. Obviously, I'd like to have a better camera, but I figure that's in the future. I'm happy with my Canon 400D (otherwise known as a Canon EOS Rebel XTi).

One thing that is in the back of my mind is that eventually, this camera will need to be replaced. When that time comes, I'd like to upgrade to a better camera. So I'm looking for ways to get this hobby to pay for itself, or at least make a little bit of money that I can set aside for photographic expenditures in the future (lenses, or even a second camera). A second camera would be nice, but I'll definitely need to buy a camera when this one wears out. And it will wear out.

To date, I've made no money (zero) with the hobby. It has had it's health benefits, as far as it has gotten me out walking more, which is a good healthy thing to do. However, that isn't going to buy a new camera when the time comes.

I photograph whatever I am interested in. I've done some nature shots, landscapes, architectural, wildlife, cars, and sports. Most of my photography has been shooting hockey. I was the official photographer for the Tulsa Rampage junior hockey team this last season, but they are a charity and so this was a non-compensated position. I also shoot the Tulsa Oilers hockey team, representing Pro Hockey News with media credentials (which gets me into the games for free). I've even written a little bit in addition to the photography.

All along, I've gotten static from some of the other photographers because in the past, they had gotten paid for their efforts, but with the tighter economy, the teams weren't paying for their services, and instead were getting "free stuff" from a few of us that were shooting for the fun of it. However, how long can you shoot for the fun of it, if you're not getting enough to pay for your equipment.

So I've felt the need to be paid. I've felt pressure to be paid. However, when I finally got around to setting up a site to allow me to sell some of my photos, I was immediately challenged (on facebook) for not paying the CHL licensing fee. This guy claimed that he (and others) had paid and he felt that I should as well. When I asked who to contact about the licensing fee and how much it was, he clammed up. This makes me doubt if he was ever really licensed to sell CHL-related hockey photos. Either way, I felt like they were blasting me for doing free hockey photography, and then when I set about selling my work, they blasted me again. I felt like it was "damned if you do, and damned if you don't".

Regardless of the external pressures to not give my photographic services away, I still feel the need to be paid. So how do I go about getting this hobby to pay for itself? How do I get paid?

I covered a Muay Thai mixed martial arts fighting event recently, and noticed that the official photographer was doing something a little bit different from what I'd envisioned for selling my photos. Rather than selling individual photos, he was selling a DVD with all of his photos from that event on them. He was pricing the DVD at $25, which seemed like a cheap deal for all those photos, but it was more money than I'm getting now. I e-mailed him about it and he said that most people were just wanting to get the free photos for their websites and/or facebook pages, and that selling individual photos was more trouble than it was worth, and that although he only sells a couple of DVDs per event, that it's more money than he was getting otherwise, and he still has the option of selling larges prints for anyone that might want them.

I thought it was a good idea. I'm not sure yet how it might work for me, but I know that during hockey season, the parents, grand parents, aunts and uncles of all those junior hockey players want photos and seem to be willing to pay for them. I should've taken advantage of this last season, but I didn't do that. I'm set up for next season, and am figuring that I might consider that DVD option along with individual prints. Either way, it's more money than I'm getting now.

I've always avoided wedding photography in the past, although I've done a couple of weddings. Generally speaking, weddings are high pressure because you have to get it right. You can't shoot it again "tomorrow" if things don't go right. At least with digital photography, you have a clue at the time of the shoot, whereas in the past with film photography, it was a shot in the dark as to whether you were going to have good results.
As much as I don't like wedding photography, I think that I'm going to pursue it in the near future, as this might be a way to get some money. If I do a wedding per month, that might be enough to pay for the hobby.