Being A Baby Boomer Photographer, Even As A Part -Time Job Can Be RewardingBaby Boomer Photographer Being a Baby Boomer Photographer is a traditional strategy. I am sure that many boomers out there have a camera that they point and shoot all the time. Today with the advent of a digital camera, you can do more with it. I use a digital camera quite a bit to take pictures of condos and apartments, then posting them with realtor websites. 
Photographer and photography as a part-time job is almost a hobby. So, what can be better than turning your favorite hobby into a money making venture. What are some opportunities in photography/photographer?
Weddings I have taken many shots of an engagement ceremony, and they turned out pretty good. This is the latest activities I have done that is closest to actual weddings. Shots were taken initially with a flash unit, then later without it. Semi professional digital camera (DSLR) has a great feature, an ISO adjustment to compensate for the light sensitivity of the camera’s memory; this adjustment lets you make the camera sensitive enough to take photos in a low light or natural light situation with reasonable sharpness and contrast, albeit with some noises in the background but still acceptable. 
The ceremony was for a closed relative of mine and I was doing it for my personal satisfaction, although the host asked for the whole album and seemed to like it. There are plenty of part-time opportunities to take wedding photos for someone. From Daniel Griffith Photography's site (www.digg.com, topic: " Wedding Photographers, 02-29-08) featuring Daniel Griffith, a leading wedding photographer talks about how professional wedding photographers' assignment package can start from $3800. Parties Parties photos are a bit different from weddings photos. The emphasis is all on fun fun fun theme. There are a number of fun themes namely birthday, wedding anniversary, job promotion, graduation and retirement. Each of these themes requires different set-ups and preparations to take the shots. 
Photographing Parties Financial Outlook… Check out the starting price for a 2-hours session. (www.photographyplanet.net/People/Wedding/pages/pricelist.html) As you can see, this is a perfect part-time weekend job. There are many types of parties; birthday, wedding, promotion, graduation, etc. So you can choose just the types you would enjoy. Portrait I think shooting portrait is a little bit formal than parties. You have to be more sensitive here. You are trying to bring out the best side of a person or a group of persons. Here you would have an opportunity to make someone looks beautiful. Everybody has his best side and not necessary the front side. I had taken a half-day lesson from a professional photographer. It was very interesting and fun. He had a professional model (fully cloth) there and it was great to actually take a shot at a real live model. The instructor was giving tips on angles and directions to shoot. You learned something about lights and shadows of a person, learned how to pay attention to the background and not to be afraid to move very close to your subject. 
You should take a lesson from a professional portrait photographer; you will enjoy the session.Portrait Financial outlook… This is a traditional area. Shooting portrait has been around for the longest time. Take a look at how much you can charge per session here. From www.davidwilliams-heartworks.com/pricepage.html. There are quite a few types of portraits as well, from a person, a child, a family to a group of friends. Pets I personally love pets especially dogs. I firmly believe in the old sayings, “ A dog is a man best friend.” It is so true. Right now we have four dogs; two Golden Retrievers, a small Lassie and an Alsatian variation. My wife and I do take photos of our dogs from time to time. The Lassie is a bit modest and does not like to be photographed. All the other ones do not mind. Taking photographs of pets is a challenging activity. I would say it could be as difficult or more difficult than taking photographs of children. Pets Photos Financial Outlook… Shooting pets are not so bad per half hour session either. (from Shannon Range Photography Studio, Yorkville, IL). Stock (Micro) Photography This is where you have a free range of subjects you can shoot. Today, digital photographs of various subjects are needed for magazine articles, websites, posters, advertisers, etc. These folks do not have the time to take some of these photographs, for example, a photograph of a brown stone on President Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.; a photo of Prospect Park, Brooklyn; sections of A1A Beaches in South Florida. Micro Stock referred to digital photos with size of less than 50 megabytes, meaning you can use your (high) quality digital camera to shoot the photos. Micro Stock Photos Financial Outlook… You can find a number of shops on the web willing to buy these photos. Prices vary according to the quality of your shots, from few dollars and up. Take a look at www.microstockphoto.com. If you like to walk around and shoot at anything interesting, then this is something for you. Remember our assumption started from you are someone who likes photography. Return to Home-Page Baby Boomer Photographer
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