You Don't Need 10,000 Followers to Make Money From Photography
One of the biggest traps for new photographers is believing that they need a huge social media following before they can build a photography business.
You don't.
You need customers.
And customers don't necessarily care how many people follow you.
They care about whether you can solve their problem.
A small food business might need beautiful photographs for its menu.
A jewellery maker might need product photographs for an online store.
A restaurant might need a month's worth of social media content.
A small skincare company might need images for a product launch.
None of those businesses necessarily need you to have 50,000 Instagram followers.
They need you to deliver good work reliably.
Start with the customer, not yourself
Instead of asking:
“How do I get more followers?”
Try asking:
“Who do I want to photograph?”
If your answer is restaurants, create a restaurant photography portfolio.
If you want to photograph products, photograph products.
If you want to work with small businesses, make your portfolio look like the kind of work those businesses need.
This sounds obvious.
But it's surprisingly common for photographers to build portfolios that demonstrate everything they can photograph rather than showing what they actually want to be hired for.
You don't need permission to create your portfolio
You don't have to wait for a client.
Create your own projects.
Buy a product from a local business.
Photograph your favourite coffee.
Style a mock skincare campaign.
Create a pretend product launch.
Photograph your own possessions.
The purpose isn't to pretend you've worked with brands you haven't.
It's to demonstrate your ability.
Your portfolio is proof of what you can create.
Then start talking to people
Once you've decided who your ideal customer is, find them.
Look locally.
Search Instagram.
Visit small businesses.
Join business groups.
Network with designers, social media managers and marketing agencies.
And don't make your entire pitch about photography.
Talk about their problem.
Instead of:
“Hi, I'm a photographer and I'd love to work with you.”
Try something more useful:
“I noticed you're launching several new products this month. I create product photography for small businesses that need a consistent image library for their website and social media.”
That's a completely different conversation.
You aren't asking someone to buy photography.
You're showing them how photography can help their business.
And that's where a hobby starts becoming a business.
