| Re: Breaking in
Good Morning.
Let's continue on with the getting started question. As I said, you should be researching what other established wildlife or wedding or portrait photographers are doing. I know nothing significant about any of these disciplines but if I wanted to open a wildlife photography business the first thing I'd do is grab my Yellow Pages and see how many, if any, photographers are listed that cover this subject matter. I did just that and quickly scanned the photographer pages and while there are hundreds of portrait and wedding photographers there are no (zero) wildlife photographers listed. I live in an area that has more than a million residents so it gives me a clue as to how much competition I will encounter when I start. If I wanted to be a wedding photographer I know that I will have a LOT of competition and becoming a success in this specialty will be tough. In an area with a lot of competition I might think about becoming a photo assistant for a while so I can learn what works and what doesn't in this particular business before I take the leap. There are many reasons why doing this would be a plus for you.
If I wanted to do wildlife, I may not have any local competition at all here in northern California but it could be different for you. This could be a good sign or maybe it's a sign that I won't have a lot of customers or it could mean that I have to look beyond my local community to find not only customers but competition.
The next step for me is to see if there are any photographers in a similar or related profession. I drew a blank so my next step is to start researching the web.
As I expected, the web produces a goldmine of information. Doing a simple Google search of “wildlife photographer” returns 5.5 million pages. That’s a bit more than I want to look through so I decided to narrow the search by looking for “wildlife photographer san jose” just to see what is available around me. Doing that brought the list down to 500,000. Try doing a Google search for “wildlife photographer edmonton” to see what you get. The web is a great place for research.
One of the things I’m going to be looking for is other photographer sites in the same business that I want to go into. On those sites I want to see if they list prices for their products and what sizes they are selling. Are they selling just prints or are they including digital images? This gives me some idea of what I can charge for my work and what kinds of products are popular. I am also looking at other parts of their sites to see if I can get a clue as to where and how I can sell my photos.
Two things you mentioned were “Where do I sell my images?” and “How much should I charge?” While my normal sarcastic answers would be “Wherever you can” and “As much as you can” a web search will help you figure this out. Ironically, you have to be ready to recognize opportunities when the present themselves. For example, on the Wildlife segment of Pro Photo Community I just happened to see a short thread about people trying to sell their photos. It turns out that Post Cards may be a avenue to look at and you might be able to put something up in various zoos. As I was walking out of my local electronics superstore yesterday I happened to notice that were selling playing cards from National Geographic and someone had to supply the photos of wildlife that were on the cards. If you keep your eyes and ears open you will find all kinds of opportunities!
Now, the first instinct for people entering business is to find out what their competition is charging and then set their prices lower. The idea being that setting your prices lower will draw people away from your competitors to you. Do you really want customers that will leave you simply for a smidgen lower price? Find out what the highest price others charge and then come in a small ($1) below that or charge a higher price. You can always come down, if you need too, but it’s really hard to raise your prices. You must be different from your competitors but price is NOT the way to do it. Be different by a focus or a product line or specialize in a particular subject matter. A specialist will always be allowed to charge more than a generalist.
I hope this helps.  | 
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