People ask me why I use Flickr all the time. Let’s answer the question proper. Pro Photographers: Has Flickr helped your career? If so, how?
Did you learn new techniques in the Strobist forum? Picked up some business tips in the Pro forums? Land jobs by publishing CC images?
What’s your flickr story?
It’s pretty worthless since it doesn’t really cover how to market yourself as well as most of the work on here is sub amature at best.
It’s a place to have a name, it’s a place to go to network a little, but it’s not a place to take really seriously.
[edit]
I shoot people, for landscapes and other things it may be different.
I pretty much agree with secret, and I don’t shoot people, it’s still the same.
Real world picture editors DO use Flickr. I got a £300 one-off usage of a photo, direct from here, and I think largely because I had it well tagged and it was easy to find the exact location via tags (it was a specific windfarm in Co Galway and New Scientist were running a lead story about that particular farm; I guess my tag—Derrybrien— was fairly unique).
Anyway, it came out of the blue and the money was very welcome. Financed my next lens
So I can happily say that Flickr has made me more money with one pic than iStock and Fotolia put together (I don’t work those galleries very hard).
Eh, I shoot fashion and it really hasn’t helped me in any way. There are a lot of sub level people who get a lot of attention and I can’t figure out why. But I guess it just reaffirms the saying “to each their own.” I mainly use flickr as another diversion for internet boredom. haha
Flickr is not meant to help with a photographer’s career, as it is not a marketing tool. It is simply a photo host.
I have had a couple of sales of it the same as Steve, that would have been from google search on the keywords.
I use it for my friends who also use it, and for a bit of fun. My clients go to my website.
How has Flickr help me?
Well - initially I saw a call for photographers by a c4 production company on one of the forums. I entered and got in the final of a C4 (uk tv programme) series - a little like the usa’s the shot.
I have learnt a lot from various forums,. I get welcome criticism on my stream which encourages me to stretch myself and learn new techniques. I have sold a few photographs to print magazines who found my work on here via google - People have seen my work on here, and commissioned me as a result.all in all encouraging me in my quest to go pro.
With out it, I would be working in a void. It has been a really good thing for me personally, though I can see why some people really dislike flickr.
I have been contacted by several ad agencies wanting to buy photos. They offered $125 per photo. I granted them use free of charge, because most of my shots are considered public domain. I work for the U.S. government, used government equipment and therefore the photos belong to the tax payers. I still wouldn’t call the possibility of making several hundred dollars over several years much of a career.
I have learnt a lot from the Strobist blog and Flickr group. I have actually learnt more on Flickr than I have studying my diploma of photography so far! There is also a lot of inspiration to be drawn from the other great photographers who post here, in my contacts and group streams.
My editing has improved from some tutorials people have posted and its almost always the first place I look if I have a technical problem. If I can’t find the answer on here, then I look elsewhere. Nine times out of ten I do get an answer on here. And yes the answer is almost always reliable and correct, mostly because the other contributors in my Groups are professionals who work NOW, they know whats going on in the industry TODAY.
So thankyou to all the other contributors on Strobist and other groups, you are helping other people all over the world to imporve their skills!
And the things I have learnt have improved the paid work that I do!
I know more stuff and I’ve met cool people =)
But I’m still broke =(
flickr has helped my career probably more than anything else. the networking has been fantastic not only for potential clients, but with other photographers. I’ve learned new techniques, made great friends, and gained the confidence the pursue my career as a photographer. if it weren’t for flickr, I’d have a long road of retail management ahead of me.
Not at all. At best it’s functioned like a workshop for getting feedback on images, or seeing what works and what doesn’t, though it’s unqualified feedback and doesn’t carry any real weight.
I got a one-off in the LATimes magazine out of Flickr, but that’s pretty much it.
I think Flickr can help your career in the sense that you can see what other people are doing and try to gain some new inspiration and maybe see some tips and tricks. It is not a marketing venue, really. Its think of it as more of a tool rather than a selling arena.
I’ve been doing photography as a hobby for 9 months. During that time I’ve been contacted to photograph a museum touring exhibit, received offers ( and payment ) for my pictures being in 5 books and 7 magazines ( as well as the cover of a map ), my pictures are being used by 2 groups of touring musicians as backdrops for their performance, several groups here in Detroit now have my pictures prominently displayed on their websites ( through this crediting my pictures were then used by 3 Public Broadcasting Stations, one in New York, one here in Detroit, and one in Chicago for a feature on the Heidelberg Project here in Detroit ). Not bad for a hobby I’ve been doing for 9 months. Flickr is a tool to use. In any media/entertainment form ( I used to be a musician ) , you wouldn’t solely rely on one method to get the word out, would you? Just like most things in this world, you get out of it what you put in. I work a great deal with the majority of the groups I belong to ( posting, commenting, attending events ) and have met quite a few of the members face-to-face. There are many different skill levels here on flickr ( those who say it is mostly amateur are certainly missing the great majority of pictures that I see ) to choose from. But photography certainly isn’t my day job. Any money I make is a bonus and unexpected. I shoot pictures for fun and to document the rapidly disappearing historic buildings here in Detroit and other cities.
Posting pics to Flickr got me onoging work for Nikon and almost got me the cover of the New Yorker. Not to mention the numerous licensing opportunities for small time stuff like local businesses. I shoot mostly urban and industrial abstracts, street photography, and construction/architectural.
Like the others said, its a great tool and anywhere you can present your work to a lot of eyes is a good place to have your work.
I also read the pro forums regulary for tips and answers to questions. It’s great to have that community to lean on.
I sold my first published photo through Flickr. An author found one of my photos here. As a result my name is on Amazon.com. The book is called Across The River. You can find my story on one of my threads.
I also use Flickr because it’s a great way of keeping one’s creative juices current. It’s almost like doodling except it’s in cyberspace.
Flickr is not meant to help with a photographer’s career, as it is not a marketing tool. >>>
I disagree totally.
I’m a full time pro in the UK, mainly PR / corporate and high-end weddings, and many Flickr images feature more prominently for keywords / keyword combinations in Google results and in particular Yahoo (by Association of course..) results than many of my own web pages.
I spend a lot of time on keywords / tags / and making an image page unique as possible so that the search engines find them easy .. and they do, and send prospective customers to me every week ……….
Also, working as a self emplyed photographer, networking is important to keep me sane, to interact and be able to comment of images from fellow pro’s and Flickr contacts is invaluable …
I no longer work in a feedback - black hole …….. from a newsroom full of colleagues and photographers 6 years ago, I went to a home office and it drove me nuts …
Flickr is the perfect antidote to that
No actual money made, but I learn a great deal from the forums and also from going on meetups and shooting with other flickrites.
Flickr and other websites have helped a lot in my self-education on photography. There’s not really any way for me to tell how much of the traffic coming from flickr to my website and my stock portoflios ends up making me a sale, but I like to think it helps.
Maybe flickr won’t help your pro photographer career, but it can be very useful for self-marketing in other professions?
Flickr has not helped my career to the point that I have quit my day job, I still work my as off in a software company, but it has landed me countless opportunities to be published, to work with local businesses, national publications and have my photography featured in books and other vehicles to earn money and gain a foothold in the business.
I’ve learned quite a bit from those who I have befriended and met through Flickr. I’ve networked w/ the folks I have met through the last four years and passed on recommendations for jobs I could not do myself to those folks I have met in various cities.
Though photo editors due sometimes use Flikr, usually to get an image on the cheap and royalty free, this is bad. How many six figure photographers do you see on Flikr? Getting $600 for an image and usage of that image is a complete ripoff. Even for a stock image that’s too cheap! A photographer needs to place a value on their time and not get so overwhelmed with the, “I’m getting published and paid,” thing. Getting paid is one thing, making a living is altogether different.
Photoboxr: Flickr helped me get over a million pageviews to my website in the space of two days, made me one of the most famous EDM nightlife photographers in the world, and helped me established some of my best business relationships.
Believe me, telling photographers to stay away from Flickr is VERY BAD ADVICE. It’s one of the best tools at my disposal. Any site that puts your photos in front of tens of thousands of people per month is a GOOD PLACE to post your photos.
I’ve had enough high profile photo editors tell me that they search for photos on Flickr to convince me that any photographer not using Flickr is missing the boat.
I use flickr a few different ways.
The forums are a good place to get information and share ideas with friends. I had a MUA wanting to get some pictures for her trade shows and portfolio. So I gathered a group of about 8 photographers from the HFG forum and we shot all day with her and her models.
I also have a personal account where I post all my family shots and I have my business account where all my wedding and engagment shots are posted. I then link those back to my blog so that I don’t take up space on my web hosting account. This give me 2 different sources for tags and helps bring in more business.
I too have been contact through Flickr for use of my pictures. One word of advise is do not give your pictures away for free. A lot of companies know that they can find some innocent photographer and ask for their permission to use their photos, rather than go through a stock agency. No contracts, no money! Not good business for me!
That’s about it.
Thanks
Alan Nielsen
http://www.ninelivephotography.ca