Where do you look for freelance Jobs?

[Jeng7475]

I have been doing several commericial shoots lately and way under charging. I just had my first magazine shoot the other day and the below picture will be on the cover of the magazine. I also do the photography for our local firestation so my portfolio is really kicking lately.

Where do I start looking for freelance commerical jobs and what is a normal charge for these???

Here is my magazine cover(the story is modern day farmer)

[brad]

I don't have any good advice for finding them.. (wish I did LOL).. but here are a couple links to get you started...

http://www.ephotozine.com/freelance/
http://photographersindex.com/stockprice.htm

[ajl3photo]

Also might want to pick up a copy of the 20008 Photographer's Market book! That has a lot of information about freelance and stock!

[CaptainTom]

off the top of my head.

all the advertising agencies in your work area, and those big ones that might some day need work in your area.

PR firms

Any corporate headquarters in your area, large or small... they need annual reports, etc.

Any company that is building new offices or building in your area.

All newspapers.

All other photographers, be it wedding, portrait ,, etc. If they know you are commercial they will point people your way.

Local banks don't usually work with the major ad companies. Contact them and find out who does their print material. contact that company.

Any commercial printers in your area.

There are a bunch more, but basically you need to contact, and keep contacting anyone who has ever used or might need to use a photographer in the future. If you keep contacting them until they tell you to stop, you will start getting jobs, and then you will have more influence to get more leads, etc.

Realtors

If you want to do commercial photography you've got to market yourself to EVERYONE, no exceptions.

[brad]

Tom, I know you do this kind of work pretty regular... how to you market to them? Postcards? Personal visits with portfolios? What kind of work do they buy?

[CaptainTom]

Originally Posted by brad

Tom, I know you do this kind of work pretty regular... how to you market to them? Postcards? Personal visits with portfolios? What kind of work do they buy?

Postcards and emails mostly. Lots of phone calls at first to get names of responsible parties. Once I've established a relationship with one entity, I'll ask them for information about other companies/people, etc. I'll then go to that new lead and reference my client and they usually open the door to talk.
I give my business card everytime I stop at fast food at the drive thru......
Sometimes I think people have referred me to someone else just to get rid of me. Works for them, and works for me.

What do I end up shooting ? two years ago I had a great gig with an auto insurance company in Dallas that sent me to auto races around the country to photograph their sponsored race car....
I do corporate events/parties, etc.
Advertising campaigns.
Corporate openings.
Ballet schools.
brochure shots of products/people
lots of local shots for corporate web sites.
Magazine article photos. Business Press, Fort Worth Magazine, etc.

I also do weddings, engagements, bridals, proms, quincenerras, and anything else that has a pay check at the end of the road.

When things are slow I take aircraft photos. I showed some to some aquaintences and now I 've been contracted to go to Idaho in July to photograph at a fly-in.

As business builds in one area, I'll pull back on my marketing in other areas.

Here's an example of some of the web based shooting. Not all of these images are mine, but about half of them are. Even the red arrow....
http://www.meridianbanktexas.com/

After all this, I am still broke. but that's something that Brad can relate to....

[Graydon]

Tom - thanks for answering that question. Good info and something I wish I'd read about 6 months ago.

[Comanche]

Thanx for the ideas, Tom. I'm getting bored with only shooting HS sports for the newspaper and would love to do something different.

[Jeng7475]

thanks for all the answers.. i know where and what I need to do now

[toverman]

This is great information. Guess I'll have to ramp up my marketing while Tom goes out of state to ride around in planes.

Jennifer, I had a question about your magazine photo. This isn't a criticism, but do you know if your pic will publish as a horizontal? Just asking because many (most) covers are vertical, but I didn't know the format of this particular one.

[CaptainTom]

If you want to aspire to do top of the line commercial photography, take a look at this Dallas photogs website.

www.prophotography.com

[ndsimm]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

If you want to aspire to do top of the line commercial photography, take a look at this Dallas photogs website.

www.prophotography.com

now THAT'S who I wanna be like!!
He does some great work!!