Making Money as a Photographer


Photographers have a plethora of different ways to sell themselves, their services, and their products. Focusing on one way of selling your stuff and being extraordinarily good at it is better than spreading yourself too thin. I haven’t really settled on one method that’s good for me yet.

Some photographers strictly sell their services — shooter for hire. Some make a living by printing their photos on just about any surface they can and selling them via galleries and websites like Etsy. You can put a photo on almost anything these days, from plain prints to calendars to blankets to coffee mugs to coffee tables. Others shoot stock, self-publish photobooks, or license images for use on commercial products.

Recently I purchased some GelaSkins for my new iPod Touch and BlackBerry (see photo below). GelaSkins are these great sticky protectors that prevent the surfaces of your gear from getting all dinged up. While I was perusing the gallery on the GelaSkins site, it struck me that there was an opportunity here. All the designs I looked at were either drawings or paintings — but absolutely no photography anywhere. Of course I’m biased, but I, for one, would love to see Andreea’s porcelain skin adorning the back of iPhones everywhere. How cool would Peggy’s Cove look on the back of your laptop?

Sadly, the FAQ and other sections of the GelaSkins website don’t reveal their method of artist selection, so it remains to be seen if they’ll ever add photography to their impressive selection of designs. Fingers crossed!

P.S. GelaSkins are made in Canada and their regular shipping was crazy fast (less than 24 hours from email notification to delivery of product!) since I live reasonably close.

, , , , , ,

  1. #1 by Chris Moran on March 4, 2009 - 4:04 am

    Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.

    Chris Moran

  2. #2 by Sol on March 4, 2009 - 11:43 am

    Hey Ryan!
    Thanks for the shout out! We only have a couple of photography-based pieces at the moment, but we’re working on our custom upload feature right now! Agreed – that will be a great opportunity for photographers to showcase their art. Check back with our website or newsletter for updates. Thanks Ryan!
    The GelaCrew

  3. #3 by Christine on March 8, 2009 - 1:36 pm

    Hey!! Why not contact them and see if they would be up for using photography in their products. Maybe you might just be the photographer they would be looking for. Always worth a chance right?

  4. #4 by j on March 14, 2009 - 12:53 am

    all looked great, and led me to go on and buy a laptop skin.

(will not be published)