Go on assignment with a full-time professional landscape photographer to catch a glimpse of working life on location and making money from photography.
In this video from Landscape Photography iQ, professional photographer Tom Mackie is on location in the beautiful village of Castle Combe in the Cotswolds in south central England. Mackie discusses how he generates income as a landscape photographer in this era of oversaturation. A long career in the field has sharpened his eye for what can be marketable and what he feels will sell well. In this particular case, Mackie is confident that a fresh coat of snow combined with a charming village scene along the river is ideal for calendar prints, specifically for one of his clients.
Mackie takes the audience through his thought process behind the composition he chose as well as a discussion on his settings, including some technical details regarding metering and exposure compensation. I was interested to see that he was shooting in the middle of the day as opposed to sunrise, sunset, or blue hour. While those times of day can provide more spectacular lighting conditions, they may not be right for the client or medium such as a calendar or puzzle, for example. Mackie offers some words of wisdom to photographers trying to make the leap to full-time professionals, saying that what you're passionate about may not necessarily pay the bills. If you're going to make a living, you need to focus on what the client wants.
