Photographer Emails

Tammy Mercure

http://tammymercure.com


"Hey Elle,

Sorry for the delay in reply. Lots of emails last week to catch up on.

I have a fair number of friends in photography and interestingly, we've all kind of figured out different ways to make work and support ourselves. I went the route where I don't put the burden of making money on my photographs directly. I've worked in colleges/universities for money. I was a staff person for 8 years running the digital lab in a photo department and then after grad school I was a professor. I like making money from photography but not from my work directly. Then I have time for my personal work and I can thoroughly enjoy it and have a different set of goals for it than money. Only in the last few years, have I made money directly- getting commissions from CNN and VICE and such. I hope within the next 5 years I will also start to sell prints- I haven't concentrated on exhibitions as much as online recently, so I need to focus on that more.

I do have plenty of friends who thrive on editorial work and get every excited about their own work when people are hiring them to do paid work. I do find that the jobs that really keep this group of friends afloat they don't talk about because it is very boring work- product shots, etc.

As far as getting work out, I've seen many different ways as well. I am probably on one end of the spectrum where I tend to share a good deal of work on tumblr and editors and people have found me this way. On the other end I have friends that won't show anything until they have a whole project complete. 

My main advice is to worry about your personal work first- figure out a way to make money that gives you the most energy and then share in a way that keep you motivated. It is different for everyone. 

Best of luck with everything! Keep in touch.

Best,

Tammy"