IamA amateur photographer and made it ten times to the frontpage with my photos here on Reddit, but did not earn ONE single dollar with my art. :) AMA!

Why would you expect to make any money from your being on the front page of Reddit?

I have put in almost all my shots a link to my portfolio where you can buy the shot as print. Most of the shots making it to the frontpage had more than 100k views (and >30k upvotes). I thought that people who like the shot might think of buying it as a wallpaper or canvas. But nothing happens. Instead a lot of people asked to have my photos for free or even reposted them cropped for mobile. :( Guess this is the truth. Have to accept it.

Aye that a bit shit if you are linking stuff and people are still asking you for handout. Suprised no one has not asked for canvases to be honest you have some lovely work. I guess most are just saving it as a desktop wallpaper etc. What are your average prices? All the best in the future.

Hehe. As said: Thought the same.

Just got to keep putting yourself out their I guess. Eventually the right people will see and appreciate what you are doing.

I will just keep on going with my photos and posting them here. In the end I am also happy when people are enjoying my shots. Guess that's the essence of what art should be: People should take a second look on what they see and think about it.

Start taking pictures of things that people spend money on... like their kids.

Uaaghhh. I hate working for "others".

But isn’t Reddit karma of 100K+ and reddit gold enough to satisfy all your hopes and dreams?

Tried this morning in front of the cashier to get my stuff for free showing my 100k+ karma and reddit gold. Did not work. So I bet hopes and dreams are still not satisfied.

Have you actually taken any steps to trying to monetise your work?

Of course. I have started to build a website at https://www.weinheim.photos It's just a small portfolio page where you can buy prints. In addition I promoted this page on Facebook. Quite disappointed from the results. But I have to admit I have not spent SO MUCH time into monetising. I rather spend my time in my photos :P

My understanding is that you need to heavily market yourself to make money of your photography. Of course any decent artist didn't get into art to do marketing and sales, so you're not alone. Your photos are awesome and I've actually seen a few of them on the front page myself. But I had no idea they were all from the same person - you. Do you have an Instagram? Facebook isn't really the best place to market yourself as a photographer in my opinion. Instagram happens to be the best place, especially if your feed has a consistent look and quality. 500px seems to be mostly frequented by other photographers.

Anyway sorry for the undue commentary but I really dig your work and I wish you the best in the future!

I am on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/HatCat_Photography

The thing is nowadays that Social Media is less about the art than more about the person. As you can see on my logo (even though it is not so cool) I am hiding a lot myself, because I want to put my work first. Other artists are doing it the other way around. Promoting lifestyle with art. For me (having a family and son) it is not possible to travel 20 times a year visiting all the trendy spots in the world to go for an "epic scale" shot.

Thought people would be interested in my work rather than my person. But obviously people are focusing the other way around :)

People like stories. Artists usually get famous because of their story, not just their work. I agree it's dumb, but it is the way people are wired. When they connect with the artist, they connect with the work. When that happens, people start opening their wallets much more.

I prefer to tell stories with my photos. Not my person. I won't change this habit. That's me. Period. If I can't make money with my work. I won't. That's fine.

Ok, but then you should realize that you’re making a conscious choice and stop bitching about how you didn’t get paid for Reddit posts.

??? Did I bitch? I am just saying that I did not earn money. A lot of people are writing me PMs and asking how much I earn because of the amount of views i get here in on Reddit. 0 is the answer. Without bitching.

This whole AMA is passive aggressive as fuck. Reddit is a free platform. People probably posted your pics cuz they thought they were cool. That’s how the internet works. It’s not our fault you’ve done a shitty job monetizing, so stop being pissy about it.

lol?? Where am I pissed about it? I am just stating the fact that being "popular" does not mean you can earn money with it. That's it. The only guy being "aggressive" is you trying to push yourself more into "importance" than anyone else here in this thread.

Do you prefer curly fries or regular?

Low Carb. No fries.

What is your marketing strategy?

This is a good question. I am doing this just as something that's running next to my work. Thought it would be possible to earn some bucks just by having it run, but no chance. Even though I accumulated a lot of social media followers, it does not make any difference. My idea is to concentrate in the future on the local region here and go for traditional things like having flyers and or ads in the local newspapers where people can buy prints. Not sure if this will be sufficient. What would YOU recommend?

What would your old self tell a young starting photographer/film maker in a few words?

Copying is nothing bad - even though a lot of people are telling. Look at photos/art you like and try to copy them making them on your own. You will learn a lot. And in the end envelope your own style.

What is a versatile yet affordable camera you recommend for beginners?

I am preferring small cameras for beginners. Because beginners should take photos as much as possible and small cameras ease the process a lot. IMHO I would buy a used Sony a6000 or Fuji xt20. I am not a fan of big DSLrs. Don't waste your money for "new" cams. A used cam is totally fine. Go for ONE kit lens and get a good prime lens in addition (23mm/35mm for the versatility). Buy them used, too.

I've considered upgrading my Canon eos 650D to a Sony a6000 for quite some time. But I've heard that it has issues with overheating, particularly when recording video.

Hmmm...in the beginning I heard the same that it is overheating under edge conditions. Few friends of me have the a6000 and are quite happy with it. Same sensor is also running fine in Fuji Cams.

How do you sell you photos? I'm not nearly as good as you but I've made around $200 this year selling stock photography. Your photos could definitely be used in that way. Keywording and model releases suck, but it's cool to see your photos in the wild. I've seen my work on magazine covers and on a ton of travel websites. Sometimes you get a big payout for a high profile download. https://submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=4360021

Actually I have been accepted from GettyImages with my shots and uploaded a lot. But not sold anything at this point. :(

I've been accepted from GettyImages too and have eared maybe $5 Most people buying from them skipped to shutterstock because it's cheaper. You don't see as much money but you'll certainly get more downloads.

Hmm...guess I need to have a closer look! Thanks for this!!!

Do you play video games? If so, what game(s)?

I play. In earlier times I was quite successful playing q3 and even earning money with it during youth. Few years ago i was heavily invested in Dota2 (5k mmr), but quit it due to real life stuff ;)

I prefer indie games more than the AAA stuff even though the favorite games of all time are the Souls games.

Inside, Furi, Hyper Light Drifter, Moonlighter, Hollow Knight are some of the games I really like. Hellblade, too.

How good is 5k MMR? I know in SC2 that's like Master, which is top 5%?

Same there.

Nice. A badass at gaming and a badass at photography. Literally what i want to be

Stick with photography. Makes more sense than gaming. Photography can be for eternity. Gaming is just for the bored people :P

How long did you spend editing your most recent front page photo? What editing software do you use? What’s your least favorite thing about photography?

At this point of stage I do not process my shots longer than 15mins. I know a lot of people are spending hours and hours in photoshop. I don't. I have a specific workflow. I am NOT using presets. The only thing that is "preset" are my color curves that are dependent on the current mood of the shot (three or four different) ones.

I am right now only editing in Lightroom. In earlier days I was doing a lot of stuff in photoshop, but nowadays I am not doing any composite or heavy "object manipulations" so Lightroom is sufficient.

How about a euro?

Noap.

Pound?

No.

[deleted]

Yes!!!!

Good for you? You took pictures and posted them to a social media website. Congratulations.

Thanks. Wish you a great day.