Newspapers, magazines, and the internet abound with get rich schemes involving digital photography but what I’m about to tell you about isn’t one of them. The majority of them are scams. The only person(s) getting rich from them is the author(s) of the books or website that they are peddling for $100 or more. You wont get rich from the opportunity that I’m about to share with you but you can make good money doing it if you’re willing to work at it. I know this for a fact because I have done it myself and made an extra $150 to $200 a day working an 8 hour day.
Believe it or not, there are hundreds of national companies looking for dependable freelance photographers to shoot local pictures for them. It doesn’t matter whether you live in a major metropolis or a tiny country hamlet, they have need of your services photographing homes, businesses, cars, boats, airplanes, etc. Most of these companies allow you to choose the area you want to cover and then pay you mileage on anything over 25 miles from your base of operations. Once you prove your dependability these companies will supply you with all the work you can handle. I worked as an independent contractor for one firm out of Western New York, doing residential interiors and exteriors and on a really good day I pulled down $400 for a 10 or 12 hour day.
Getting started with these companies is relatively easy. There are no previous experience required, There are no employment checks or background checks. All you need to qualify for one of these position is a quality DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera, a computer with high speed internet access, and a dependable vehicle. Each company has there own requirements as to the number and types of shots that you will shoot but all that is explained in great detail in their photographer’s manual that you will be able to download as a pdf file.
I stumbled across this opportunity quite by chance while surfing the internet. The material that the company provided me was quite good, but many of the techniques that allowed me to really from taking these photos I discovered on my own but there is a very good photography manual that will help get ahead in this type of photography. This book not only explains the best techniques to use but lists over 100 companies seeking freelancers and gives lists of contact people to email or call for work.
Actually, I found this type of photography actually work well with my stock photography because I spent a lot of time on road driving through areas that I would never have thought of visiting before and found some excellent subjects for my stock photo portfolio.
There is one non-photographic gadget that you should consider investing in if you take up this kind of assignments and that’s a GPS System for your vehicle. Time is money and a GPS System will plot the quickest route to any destination you plug into it, they will plot an alternate route for you if there’s problems with the primary route, show you the locations of gas stations restaurants, etc. I bought a Tom-Tom when I first started doing this type of work and now I wouldn’t think of going anywhere without it. The Tom-Tom gives me driving distances which helps me fill in my travel log for collecting mileage and it gives me a running ETA (Estimate Time of Arrival) at next destination.
