What are Freelance Photographers?
What are freelance photographers? The United States Department of Labor defines them as photographers who are self-employed. They report that around one half of all photographers are considered freelance.
The professional photographer must have many skills to be successful. They need to have good eyesight, good hand-eye coordination, and a great deal of artistic ability. The artistic ability requirement is very important. Anyone can take photographs. Inexpensive portable cameras and the lowering price of digital camera have put photographer more in the reach of everyone than any time in the past. For a photo or a photographer to stand out in a field that is virtually flooded with amateurs, they must really shine. So, what are freelance photographers? They are obviously photographers with a great deal of artistic talent.
Many colleges offer courses in photography and even photojournalism, but these teach the technical skills involved in the craft. In many ways, artistic ability can not be taught. The photographer can, however, develop their talent by practice and experience. The freelance photographer demonstrates this practice and experience by the preparation of a portfolio. The portfolio is one of the most important elements of freelance photography. It shows both what the freelance photographer has done and can do.
Many freelance photographers specialize in one of the many types of photography. They maybe nature photographers, portrait photographers, fine arts photographers, or photojournalists. They might also do work under contract for an employer, but they are not employed full time or exclusively. This is the real definition of freelance photography. The United States Department of Labor reported 122,000 people employed as photographers in 2006 with one half of them listed as self employed or freelance.
The Labor Department report also points out that freelance photographers must have other skills besides the obvious ones in photography. These skills include financial management, record keeping, dealing with the public, and finding customers. The wide spread use of digital cameras and computer editing programs have made computer software skills another essential element of the freelance photographers resume.
The freelance photographer may be a portrait studio owner working comfortably indoors in their own studio or they may be a photojournalist braving the rigors and dangers of a war zone to capture history in a photograph. It is a wide and very varied field, but the common elements are independence and artistic ability that makes their photos stand out from among the millions of images taken daily.