How I Make Money as a Photographer 

I love how you developed yourself as a photographer and discovered yourself creatively and it clearly reflected on your RU-vid channel! I'm sure this is only the beginning of your path

Great Honest Info. I Have been watching you and jess since the beginning of my passion for photography. I really wish you all the success you deserve, because you have Great Content that helps me on my path. Jess too. Thank You

Thank you so much for this video Irene. I had to leave my corporate job due to child care and this year I can finally say I’m committed 100% to photography. I have a couple of photoshoot set up and of course it’s not paid but like you said I’m doing it for the experience and to keep my creative juices flowing. I’ve had a lot of doubts lately like “I’m putting in so much effort and not getting paid for these shoots” but just watching this video reassured me I am heading the right direction - much love from Calgary also.

Thanks to Best Fiends I am able to travel to Mexico this year and bring you guys underwater BTS and tutorials!! Stay tuned!!

I am in the concept art and the mindset is exactly the same...Some are ready to take anything to survive. And others are super expensive just to increased your "high profile".

Wow that was sincere and truthful. I am afraid to get started in any kind of photo business where I get paid! What if I blow it! But even the very best photographer started at the bottom. You are doing well.

You're honest and your work is awesome. Def one of my fav photogs. :)

It is amazing hearing you talk about how passionate you are towards photography, amazing work keep it up! I also am a young photographer although, I am more passionate towards videography and music videos

Hey Irene, would you consider ever doing a video on family/couple/children portraiture? I know you said that you still do a lot of client work. I would love to see how you go about doing this and the difference in your style going between Fashion/creative portraiture, to more client based traditional portraiture work. That would be awesome! Still love what you do though! keep up the good work!

Your photos are so magical ! Thank you so much for making videos to explain to us how you take these ! I love photography so much but I don't have enough money to buy wonderful lenses like 24-70mm (for concerts), and the 85mm 1.2 😢 I hope you'll get the success you deserve, you are so talented

great advise thanks Irene. To be a full time photographer it does take a lot of hard work to promote yourself & be confident to charge what you think you are worth.

I always really enjoy your videos. You don't pretend to be the authority on anything but just speak honestly and engagingly from your own experience. It's like having a friend that you can trust completely to tell it like it really is. Thank you.

I am so frustrated trying to get people to know what I do and get people for pictures. I make costumes, headpieces, sets etc. I am an artist too and love creating fantasy portraits. I've been denied on FB for spam, use Instagram, nothing. The only people I get are from my work place and that's minimal since we work nights. I love making photos and can't find models. I'm happy for you that you made it work, and are doing what you love. I watch all your vids.

I guess its just the same as trying to make a living as an artist its so hard to get clients. Because of u i am inspired to do photography and maybe make money on it. Will always support you form Philippines 🇵🇭

I do under appreciate myself and this is mainly because of the other great photographers that are out there ! The internet is a double edge sword, good for exposure and it can be used to compare as well. I am my worst critic regarding my work and I am perfectionists just to make things just a little bit harder for myself.

Thank you again. Your sincerity is so admirable. You are one of my top RU-vidrs. But most importantly my favorite Creators.

WOW! The last part about pricing really moved me! Thanks so much for the confidence you just gave me! 🤗

Keep rockin irene! not only that you’re awesome on what you do but you are very beautiful!!

My wife and I absolutely love your work and I love this video! I don't think my wife has seen this one, but she really needs to hear this from you. So my wife is the photographer and she introduced me to Jason Lanier's channel first. I love his work, but after watching the Jason Lanier and Irene Rudnyk Shooting High-Speed Sync Flash and Natural Light video, we have been following you and love your style, your work!

How you started is how I run my business right now lol I just started, going into my third year part time as I'm in college

Experience is d best teacher.... so actually you just gave your best teacher..

thanks for your honesty.

Wow I can relate to this sooooo so much!! I live in a really small town, and there are 28 photographers here, 28!!! I have been in business for 5 years, and I have felt like I've had to sometimes shoot subjects or shoots I haven't felt really passionate about, purely to make money. I started weddings because I am a romantic and LOVE love, but weddings are so much stress, its a huge 12 hour day, and so much editing. I feel exactly like you, I am always wishing I could do my own creative shoots. But I never find the time, or the right people. I am continuously disappointed that clients do not share the same creativity as me, and sometimes show up to shoots in very casual clothing or not really show the same effort or passion as myself. It was great to watch this, and to be able to relate. I know that if I was to move out of my small town, I could be more select on what I shoot, but right now that isn't really an option. Do you have any tips for getting out of this rut? xx

Thank you, it was quite important for me to hear this information about charging myself higher. I've always had problems with this.

Thank you Irene....you are excellent at your work and very very honest too..we love you...

This is pretty current with the times. Not really detailed but could give insight to anyone who doesn't know where to start

Your portraits are wonderful, you are a young lady with an undeniable talent, I wish you well in the future. Tim UK

Thank you so much! you answered all my questions and even more. Im a beginner at photography and ive been so afraid to put myself out there, but this has helped so much. Thank you again!

It's more then a day for a wedding shoot. Editing, preparation, etc. It's at least a month of work time wise.

Some people do it for free in the beginning. $100 is a good starting point I think.People that do it for free muddy the market and bring everyone's cost down.

Thanks for sharing this! This really inspired me to focus solely on the area of photography I'm passionate about and build that to the best of my ability. I know my worth and it's time to raise prices! So inspiring! Thank you 💕

Thank you so much for this video, I really appreciated it! Your story is really helpful to hear, I look forward to many new videos, I love your content!!!

Great tutorial as always! Thank you Irene!

Can you please tell us about your package details+how do you submit photos and make albums after photoshoots?

I’m 13, kinda young still but my goal is to be a photographer and this video was very inspiring to me now I know what’s coming !!

That was so honest and very very well said. Keep up the great work and keep being creative...

Hi Irene. I know you will do well and prosper. 157,000 subscribers says a lot. You are making a name for yourself. My thinking is that if you were to photograph someone who were to become a celebrity and get recognition from said person...well who knows. It pays to be seen. You are building a fan club. Know any girls desirous of going up for Miss Canada in the next Miss Universe beauty Pageant? Of course you can go as Miss Calgary. (Thunderous applause from your fan club).

You are a very smart and hard working young lady. Congratulations on your courage, and hopefully you will have much success.

Irene, solo entiendo algo de tu idioma... pero me encanta tu trabajo, me encanta lo hermosa y perfecta que eres..., gracias por compartir tus experiencias con el mundo.. un abrazo desde Chile.

$100.00 is a kings ransom for a lot of my clients.

I am from Brazil. In This video you describe exactly what i've been experiencing right now 😐

Great video and lots of valuable advice! I am looking to start charging for my work and your perspective certainly helped! Cheers!

thanks Miss Rudnyk. It is really essential daily self promotion! I enjoy very much your tutorials I hope you spend a great time in my homeland México.

Excellent I feel about the same on charging. I am only out to make a little money when I start as I will be full timed retired and want to do photography as well Thank you

You are so sincere and honestly...most important is..to inspire me a lot...thx for sharing your experience and thinking!

How inspiring. I love your work.

You make great images Irene and have a good eye.Thanks for sharing your journey with us little lady.

I've been really struggling to find myself in my work for photography and really needed to hear some of the things you said. Thanks for making this video Irene!

Thank you for this honest and transparent video. I can absolutely relate to this because like you I have always been interested in fantasy/creative photography than commercial ones. So I have decided to sustain myself with a regular job and support my passion during my free time till I can build a future out of my passion. Thanks for the clarity and inspiration. I really wish you lots of love and happiness!

I hate working with clients, I've mostly just been licensing images for book covers, and recently started a youtube with the hope of getting monetized because when you work for yourself its always a good idea to have multiple revenue streams 😉

I don't have the best equipment or anything but I really want to get to doing conceptual and portrait photography for free I don't know many many people so I have started shooting my family and I did some graduation pictures and I kind impressed myself I am used to mostly shooting events since I am in yearbook staff but I am enjoying posed photography better!💟Thanks for your advise!!!

You, Jessie and Sorelle are my inspiration and I watch you guys all the time 😍

YES IRENE GET THE BEST FIENDS COIN

Irene, where can I see your pictures produced for money - work for your paying clients? I will like to view them.

Your work is outstanding! I love your kreative photo shoots and the background infos and tutorials related to them. But to be honest the thing I love most in your videos is your cute voice. You and your videos really motivate me to get back into my old hobby, photography again.

Very inspiring words Ms. Rudnyk. Thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge. We hope to see more videos from you in the future.

I love all your videos and you are an awesome photographer

You come off as a very honest and sweet person and I appreciate your candor I just subscribed and I’m also just starting out in photography

Thx for making this video & for your honest advice 😎👍

I was bored with weddings as well. Did that for 16yrs. Sk~

your comment about under valuing yourself is quite true.I knew of a guy who always dressed expensively and drove an expensive car .He charged a lot for his wedding pictures, that were fine .However he lived in a wreck of a house in a poor part of town .He could charge so much because he LOOKED sucksessfull .Image is everything

Hey Irene, I lov Your channel :) I am charging almost no money for my photoshoot, but now I have changed my mind. After uploading my photos to EyeEm App, 2 of them has been sent by this app to Stock on GettyImages. One of the photo for Large format was priced for 475 EURO which is 537 USD. I was shocked, because I was not the one who was pricing it and it showed me that my work is really worthy. Thanks to Your videos and many other RU-vidrs I I am changing the way I look on myself as a photographer. Thanks and keep uploading :)

Congratulations! Please post more videos with your story, it is really inspiring.

That last tip on pricing was really really helpful! Thanks a lot Irene! :D

You've won a subscriber with this video. Thank you!

thanks IRENE.....u are just AMAZING and CLEAR and HELPFUL....about photography

Good video. Thanks! Pls do a behind the scenes with some couple or in a weding as well ;)

great video, I understand how wedding and family photo can killed a bit of the creativity, I'm burned up.

you are adorable to watch & to listen to. I appreciate your honesty about 'everything' !! you cleared up some questions I had about charging too low & how clients think. So Thanks for that. I have subscribed to your channel, because I want to follow someone honest like you.

You are awesom!!! So logic, so intelligent, so good at what you're doing! I love every your video and get lots of understanding how to make my works better! Thank you for the work you do so much!!!

such a hard working girl

what an amazing video, honest and very up front. i love your photography

Its really hard to not bring your price down when the bills are knocking on your door... Makes me sad, 'cause i know my work is so much better then what i charge, but people just dont pay it here. They dont see it as art. Idk,im really sad.

Becoming a successful, financially independent photographer is almost like trying to be a famous singer, it's that hard. The market is just so oversaturated that you almost have to be a celeb to get people to hire and pay you. And lets' face it, a lot of photography styles are eerily similar. I have been a photographer for about 10 yrs now, and my oldest brother was a wedding photographer for 20 years. He made a full time living off of it for a long time until everyone and their dog started buying nice cameras. And because of everyone thinking they're a photographer because they own a cell phone with a camera, it's now hard to find people to pay for a professional shoot. Look at any Facebook group with young photographers...you can see a lot of posts of them complaining of having to give away their photoshoots or charge an insanely cheap price. If you are putting cheap photoshoots out there, you are attracting cheap people. And then they're going to tell everyone they know you only charge $45 a photoshoot. It is so hard nowadays to make it in this creative field. One must really find a niche. And Craigslist? Yikes, that's become a scary place now. Scammers and perverted men wanting to hire women for web cams. And of course the only people on there now looking for photoshoots want the $19.99 JCPenney special.

Thank you so much for this video Irene. I love your videos and skills. How would you say this has changed since then now in 2021? Do you have any update videos on this?

Fantastic sincere and honest advice. The struggle is real, but hopefully I'll get to were you're at..free and content. Its amazing where the path of youtubes leads, and so glad I found your channel. Keep up the amazing work and inspiration :) x

You are a very good photographer !

Yea I saw that video too a while back... Thanks for this kind of video.

You are such an inspiration. Thank you for sharing. Got a lot of insights from your video. Wish you success and keep inspiring

i just love love love your photography work, it is amazing

Congrats on the verified youtube channel!!!

Great Video dear!! Thanks!!

thank you for this video

Great video! I appreciate the honesty, it seems like every photographer has his struggles, I wish you all the best, great channel!

Very inspiring video 🤗 As a Aspiring Videographer/Photographer, Is always interesting to learn how other people have come a cross and grow their success from 0 to where they are now... so thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge with us! 👊😉

It is a business, so think like a business person instead of as a photographer and learn about marketing. The book 'Guerrilla Marketing' may give you some ideas.

I really enjoyed your discussion and so appreciated your honesty! it really helped me to think about how I want to proceed with photography, should I decide to go that route.

You are awesome! Love watching your videos and I've learned a ton from you about editing. Keep going!

Beautiful. Thanks.

Good advice/information thanks for sharing.

I discovered your channel from mia maples and I'm glad you did make a collaboration with her. I am not a photographer nor an aspiring one but I really love learning new things. I learned a lot from your channel. More power! #ILYfromPH

Hi Irene, thank you so much for this video. You're so honest. I love your work

I love your photography style and I also love your videos! ♥

Happy you’re successful. Glad I found your yt channel

Thanks so much Irene... this is so helpful!

Great advice! Thank you for sharing!

hello! i love your videos and photos. Yes come to México, you are welcome 🇲🇽

Thanks for the information and honesty.

Irene I have a question. So all of the couples photoshoots and family portraits etc, are done outside using natural light? Do people ever request to do it in a studio? What locations do you pick? Do you use flash/reflectors etc, whilst shooting outside? Thank you 🌷

Irene, you just keep inspiring me! thank you so much !