Gareth said:
are you sure this is what the tax department has to say on the matter.

Me thinks Niko was speaking somewhat tongue in cheek.
Gareth - I believe you are correct. Technically, if you make any income from any activity, and your income surpasses the threshold for paying taxes, you must report the income. We could try to become creative and say that we are merely bartering, but look at your tax return closely - you must also report income from bartering.
Of course, we can always rely on that favorite "truth" I hear all the time - "If you are paid in cash, it's not taxable." Never won a case using that line.... wonder why.

+1 to mike.. Very glad you have joined our little corner of cyberspace.. Your posts have been enlightening.

Hi,

I recommend shooting what you like shooting the most, and finding the market for it. You likely won't be good at doing much else. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't try things on for size, but if you abhor the idea of shooting children, you likely won't be much good at it. The same with news or weddings or portraiture in general.

Whatever path you take, the more you shoot, the better at you'll get at shooting anything.

Whatever 'it' is, get pretty good at it first, then get in it. The world doesn't need another crappy photographer. :-)

And don't undercut your competition. There's enough cheap joes muddling the field already.

Most of all, have fun.

My best,

Mike

I second staying away from weddings if you do not have much experience. If you screw-up a brides wedding photos, you'll have hell to pay. The only wedding I ever shot was my best friend from high school about 4 years ago. This was before I really got into photography, and he knew full well I really did not know what I was doing. He just wanted some photos, and could not afford a photographer.

If you live in, or near a big city, you may consider being an assistant for a photographer, that way you get experience with other types of photography, and get a sense of what goes into that picture of a char grilled steak you see in a magazine. You also get to meet the Art Directors of many major corporations, and magazines. It is not a glamorous job, but it can open doors for you to the big bucks.

NikoDoby said:
Not true Gareth. If you have a DSLR you can automatically charge people for any photos you take. As long as you don't have an expensive pro camera you don't have to pay taxes. That's why entry level DSLR are so popular. However the more expensive your camera the more you can charge. Nothing more to it than that :^)

are you sure this is what the tax department has to say on the matter. i have serious doubts this is true. you may like it to be true, and 90% of people may go along with it. but i did say legally and that means your photos are a source of income and should be declared as such.

it has nothing to do with what camera you own. making money is making money. of course the more money you make the more tax you have to pay, but that is not the point i am making.

I think it was Regulator and Niko who told me to start shooting for my college newspaper.

That's what I did. Sure entry position isn't really well payed. In may case it was $20 per published picture. You could shoot many assignments so that all added up nicely. But after a year I was promoted to a photography editor and now, I make the big bucks LOL!9 In comparison to $20 per picture that is)

Seriously, start shooting for your University's sports department or the newspaper. You get paid and you start building up experience or portfolio I suppose. Though college newspapers don't really offer many photographic opportunities.**

** But occasionally you get some cool assignment. I will have the chance to photograph Evo Morales, Bolivia's current president. he's speaking at our campus soon. how cool is that?

I think the best thing to do when you want to sell photos is, shoot what you love. It shows in the photos, the quality and the care you put into them will be far better than just shooting something purely for the sake of making money. Of course you could learn to enjoy shooting different things so, don't be afraid to try something new either.

Stay away from weddings if you don't have any experience. Start off with simple portraiture and build from there.

How do you feel about weddings? Some customers can be demanding, but this was how I got my start originally then word of mouth. Basically you want to get your work out there. Taking pictures of athletes as warprints mentioned is an excellent idea I think. University is a great way to find your niche. Maybe discuss this with the fine art or photography faculty on campus.

You could try doing baby pictures for friends and family.

Made a few bucks doing that, helped me fund some purchases.

Not true Gareth. If you have a DSLR you can automatically charge people for any photos you take. As long as you don't have an expensive pro camera you don't have to pay taxes. That's why entry level DSLR are so popular. However the more expensive your camera the more you can charge. Nothing more to it than that :^)

making money legally = registering as a business and paying tax

this may not be what you want. there is no easy money. being a photographer is hard work. the trade off is that you get to take photos.

warprints said:
A lot depends on your personality, and how good a photog you are. What kinds of photos are you interested in taking? I found that a lot of athletes would pay for good action photos of themselves taken during games.

Well, I love taking photograph of just about anything. I mostly took photo of still things including portraits, nature, animals and landscape. Action photograph is somewhat limited for me due to camera's performance (my lack of skill is also another problem ofcourse but my D80's buffer for continuous shooting and fps and other IQs also set me back). Athletes seem awesome subject! Is there any more things one can do for money?

A lot depends on your personality, and how good a photog you are. What kinds of photos are you interested in taking? I found that a lot of athletes would pay for good action photos of themselves taken during games.

I've been using dslr for around two years and now I want to see what I can do to make some money off of it. I have D80 (but I'm currently thinking of upgrading to D300s or D7000), 70-200 VR I, 16-85vr, 35mm F1.8, tripod, and sb-600. I'm not professional photographer and I'm a college student. So I want to know what kind of things I can do that would pay me but at the same time, I could do it for part-time. Any advice?