Get Snapping

I recently attended an excellent work shop run by Simon Whaley (pictured above) about how you can make money by taking even the most basic photographs. Magazines such as TAB and That's Life pay good money for just a photograph with very few words, so it's a great market to get into as well as producing pictures to accompany a full length article.

I have had some success in this area and on some occasions have been paid more for the photograph than I have the article.  I have a decent camera, though not an expensive SLR, it does have a few features on it that can produce a decent looking photograph.  I took the photo above of Simon photographing a random otter on Aberdovey beach last November.  It was a pure chance encounter of what is usually a very elusive creature and thank goodness we both had our cameras with us.  This has made me realise that it is a good idea to always have a camera to hand even if it is a phone one as you never know when these opportunities are going to present themselves.

Simon's workshop really made me want to try even harder. I love photography but have not pushed myself to develop my skills. For years I have been using the automatic setting on my camera instead of playing around and changing the various settings to get different effects.  His book Photography for Writers is an excellent tool to get anyone started on making money from a simple snapshot.

So, now I have read it cover to cover,  I have set myself a challenge that I am going to try and send a photograph to somewhere every week and see what happens.