Pet photography ?

Do you think that a pet photographer would have any business at all, because i really like photography , and i really like to photograph my cat and other animals . I have to choose a career pathway at my high school , and i want to go into the photography section .


Here's my flickr account if you haven't all ready seen it :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13606906@N0...


Thank you for answering !

Kims answer is very very good.

The field of pet photography is specialist - the market is small. If you goto the rich areas like hollywood then theres a market. It's good you are going for a field that not everyone does - like weddings/portraits.

Pet shooting is likely to take awhile to get going, start now (you have I know). Keep learning and improving, you might find another area of the art you like.

If you start as a freelancer and do whatever work you can get then build the pet side till it takes over. Many will be negitive, some do it to caution you, some are jealous, some tried but quit, some just think it's to hard. If you really want something it will happen. Keep all options open, don't burn any bridges.

Study marketing and goal setting,

you go girl (from the oprah show)

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Sorry but no. Money is in the commercial stuff :)

maybe you could be a pet photographer on the side.. but if you live somewhere like Chicago or Los Angelos you'd have more buisness.

Everyone has a camera and they take pictures of their pet.

I think it would be difficult to find someone who would pay you to take a picture of their pet.

I think it would depend on how well you marketed yourself. Reading up on some marketing books from the library wouldn't be a bad idea. Maybe you could look up a professional photographer in your yellow pages too and get together with him and ask what he does. He may be able to answer more of your questions about it.

Submit them to a site like this. It's free and they will give you 50% if you are an exclusive photographer. http://www.fotolia.com/partner/169859

See if they sell. Places like PetMed's buy photos from these stock sites.

I personally think the photos are very nice. Start by taking pictures of friend's pets and then move out to the public once you get some college experience. I think you have great potential!

Edit:
For the people that say they don't think people would pay for their pet's photos, that is not true. I would. I did a grad project in High school and was paid for pictures of people with their horses. It can be done.

The answer is yes...but it's a tiny market.

Only the top 5% of the economic scale will want this service.

If you want to have a steady paycheque, do weddings.

Hope this helps.

Dream bigger than that, girl! Be a nature photographer. If you're good enough, we might some day be seeing your photos in National Geographic.

Go for it Annafur, You have the skill and enthusiasm to make it in what ever area you choose. Your passion for photography and animals will make you excell.

One word of advice though, don't focus down too quickly, keep a broad view of your photography, you need to have the general knowledge and background before you can specialise in one area.

I'm not a photographer, I'm a painter, but the career progression is still similar.