Freelance photographers work on their own instead of serving as employees of a business or nonprofit organization. Typically they work for a variety of clients.
Freelancers establish a point of operation where mail and phone calls may be collected and acknowledged wherever they may be working. In many cases, the freelancers' spouses act as business managers, and home is their base of operation. Sometimes both husband and wife are photographers, and they share correspondence and bookkeeping details. A telephone answering device or answering service is essential to the freelancer. E mail is also helpful.
Most freelancers are "loners" and are on the go most of the time that is, if they are in the top income bracket and their work and names have become prominent enough to make businesses, agencies, photo editors, and syndicates want their photographic services.
Some freelance photographers have their own darkrooms and spend time at the home base doing their own processing and printing, while others arrange with a studio to do their finishing.
Most successful freelancers arrange with custom laboratories to handle all their processing and printing. Even while the photographer is away on another assignment, instructions are sent in with the film to be processed, contact printed, and delivered to the client. The client studies the contact sheets and indicates how the picture is to be cropped in the enlargement for the intended picture story or advertising layout.
Equipment needed by freelancers who cover assignments anywhere in the United States and out of the country can amount to a sizable investment, although they have to travel with the least possible amount of weight while on the road. Two or three 35mm camera bodies with wide angle, normal, and long focal length lenses, a 4 x 5 view camera with assorted lenses, as well as a 120 size camera are a must in order to be prepared to handle a greater percentage of the jobs. Electronic flash equipment also is necessary.
There are many sources listing photo markets in which you may want to list your availability to do assignments. These same sources also can be consulted to sell your stock photos. A half day spent in the reference department of your nearest large library making a list of the current market publications and companies that purchase outside photography will be profitable.
One of the better sources of photography sales possibilities is:
Working Press of the Nation National Register Publishing 121 Chanlon Road, New Providence, NJ 07974
It includes a freelance guide to more than 4,000 of the nation's leading house magazines, listing magazine titles, editors, company names, and addresses, as well as photographic subjects and stock photography agencies.
Another book of interest to the beginner in freelance or stock photography sales is:
Photographer's Market Writer's Digest Books 1507 Dana Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45207
This book is updated each year with comprehensive listings of the photographic needs in a variety of categories and markets. Sell and Re Sell Your Photos, by Rohn Engh, also is available from Writer's Digest Books. It provides sage advice on pricing, film, copyrights, taxes, record keeping, and other aspects of selling your photos nationwide by mail.
Stock picture agencies are always looking for fresh sources of quality photos. However, this is not a "get rich quick" type of photography. Unless you have a quite unusual and visually different photograph that will sell immediately, you should be prepared to furnish several hundred photographs, or slides, and possibly wait a year or more for any sales to develop. It is, however, a good source of extra income from photography, and should be seriously considered by many individuals.
There are several hundred stock agencies all over the United States and Canada. Most handle color and black and white pictures of a wide variety of photographic subjects including people, business, scenic, architecture, and cities, while others specialize in topics such as sports, nature, agriculture, glamour, food, news, or history.
Making contacts with the art directors and photo editors of advertising agencies, photo syndicates, newspapers, and magazines is a move in the right direction. After the freelance photographer has established several accounts, he or she can become selective or specialize in a specific type of photography.
DARKROOM/LABORATORY
Jerry L. Cornelius of Cornelius Photography in Tulsa, Oklahoma, suggested that a commercial photographer should have darkroom equipment in the studio for fast service.
"The normal commercial customer cannot wait for work to be farmed out to a lab," said Cornelius. However, if at the start of your business venture you do not wish to process your own film and enlarge your own prints, you may want to contact one of the professional processing labs in your area and establish a good working rapport with the staff there. You can handle rush jobs even without your own darkroom if you have good connections at the lab.
If you do plan to furnish your own processing and finishing, then equipment such as washers, dryers, enlargers, and contact printers will be essential to give fast delivery of prints to your customers. Automatic processors for film and prints will be a must.
