Any professional photographers here? ?s about earning money from a photo based site

[Arkitech]

I'm an amateur photographer and I'm hoping to make a transition into the professional world. Basically my photography idea is also based upon my love for music (I also DJ). My goal is to build up a gallery/portfolio of up and coming and under the radar musicians. In turn I'd like to merge the photography and music into both an online and a physical gallery.

I've been able to establish some contacts and I'm also pursuing a music license to legally stream music from my website. I'm also working to secure locations who would host my photographs and allow me to DJ my gallery events. My questions however are on how to generate income from my website. I also need to learn how to basically build and host a site for next to nothing as my budget is practically non-existent.

Also is it possible to take a high quality photo (uncompressed) and expand it to near the size of a medium format image without losing image quality?

 

[Farmer]

Hmm, it's a hard thing to do, especially if you want to be an "artist." Just my experience:

Me and a couple of my friends are serious amateur photographers (DSLR, not medium or large format), but it's really hard to turn into a business. My friend has thought about doing weddings, but I feel you need to do a few pro bono in order to build a reputation.

I've personally thought about doing product photos/macros, since I already do that for stuff I sell, I might as well do it for other people and maybe get paid.

It's a lot of effort, especially if you're full time something else, and especially if you want to approach it as art (as you seem to indicate) rather than as a business.

Also is it possible to take a high quality photo (uncompressed) and expand it to near the size of a medium format image without losing image quality?

Haha I wish. That would quickly put Mamiya out of business.

16MP will be 16MP. It's up to you how big a pixel is, but at a certain point, it starts looking bad.

 

[Arkitech]

Hmm, it's a hard thing to do, especially if you want to be an "artist." Just my experience:

Me and a couple of my friends are serious amateur photographers (DSLR, not medium or large format), but it's really hard to turn into a business. My friend has thought about doing weddings, but I feel you need to do a few pro bono in order to build a reputation.

I've personally thought about doing product photos/macros, since I already do that for stuff I sell, I might as well do it for other people and maybe get paid.

It's a lot of effort, especially if you're full time something else, and especially if you want to approach it as art (as you seem to indicate) rather than as a business.



Haha I wish. That would quickly put Mamiya out of business.

16MP will be 16MP. It's up to you how big a pixel is, but at a certain point, it starts looking bad.

hmm I guess this is going to take a lot of thought and effort. You're right in that my approach is from more of the artistic side of photography. I was thinking of maybe trying to do headshots and promotional photography for DJs, musicians, etc.. to earn a little extra on the side. And hopefully if enough people see my work I might be able to frame and sell some of my work.

Wish I knew why digital medium format cameras are so insanely expensive. In the meantime I'll probably add one of these to my inventory. http://www.amazon.com/Holga-144120-1.../dp/B000AL8JKW

 

[BoomerD]

I suspect that Fuzzybabybunny will be offended that you don't consider him to be a "professional photographer."