I’ll never forget the crushing disappointment on googling “Making money through fine art photography” and ALL the results were about showing your photography in galleries, getting them into hotels, cafes and THEN saying supplement with doing family shots, portraits, headshots and of course weddings.

I didn’t want to do ANY of that. My fine art photography didn’t suit galleries and the rest. I actually did a gallery showing once and a man said he loves my work but he wouldn’t buy any of it to hang on his walls because it was weird to have a photograph of a random young woman on his wall. Which made perfect sense and I never did another gallery (with intent on making money) again.

So I’m here to explain the journey I went through to getting paid for fine art photography without having to do gallery showings.

Money making ideas that don’t suck

• Commissions. Once you get a good style you can offer fine art photography packages, people are more open to having conceptual photography done now for portraits. Especially if you have a distinct style.

• Collaborations. Might not make a lot of money but it’s a start. Collaborate with brands, whether it’s cosplayers or designers, reach out to some brands and see if they’re willing to collaborate with you. It’s great if they share on social media too, furthers your chance of getting work.

• Last but not least. Do what I do. Sell your photographs to be on book covers. It’s my favourite, personally the easiest way and the way that makes the most money. You simply upload your images then every month or every quarterly you get a statement, paid within a day or so. And your work gets published all over the world.

If you’re on my blog and website anyway you know that I make my living from book cover sales so I’ll never stop rabbiting on about it because I felt lost for so many years trying to find a way to make money with my photography that didn’t suck and never worked for me and my photography style.

Check out my course Breaking into book covers on a step by step process on getting your photography published on book covers.