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What Is Passive Income?

Considered a secondary mode of generating money, passive income is the earning made from sources other than the primary stream of income. It is a channel that could ensure you make money at regular intervals without putting in too much of your time and effort. In short, while you continue to focus on your primary job, you could consider creating a product or invest in something that keeps making money for you without the daily hustle. 

Passive Income Ideas For Wedding Photographers

Now that you have a fair understanding of how passive income works, let us look at some of the ways in which you could get the ball rolling when it comes to generating income through multiple avenues.

1. Rent Out Gear

As a photographer, your photography gear is one of your biggest assets. And you’ve probably spent hours researching and may have even spent a fortune to pick up the right equipment. So why not let your gear earn for you? On days you haven’t been booked, you could rent out your photography gear to other photographers. It is no secret that photography gear is expensive, and therefore a lot of photographers, especially those who are just starting out or those pursuing photography as a hobby, prefer hiring gear during assignments instead of buying something new themselves. So if you have a camera or lighting equipment lying around in your studio on idle days, you could consider renting them out to other photographers and making some extra dollars. Also, don’t forget to factor in fine/compensation in case of damage to your equipment due to unforeseen circumstances. You don’t want to end up with a crack in your camera lens because of mishandling on the part of the person hiring your gear. 

2. Create & Share Educational Content

Do you have the ins and outs of photography at your fingertips? If yes, then you could consider sharing your knowledge and skill with others. Maybe, you could start by creating and sharing educational content online. One way of going about this is to try blogging and monetizing the content. However, remember that building a loyal audience could take time, and making money from your content could take even longer. Another thing you could try doing is to create online guides, courses, tutorials, videos, and webinars on various photography-related topics and offer them as paid resources. Before you get on this path, we suggest you make sure that these resources are well-researched, accurate, relevant, and, most importantly, valuable to the audience.

To make this a profitable option, you could also make these digital resources available on various online learning platforms, or if your website has high traffic volume, then you could even put them up on your own website. While this passive income idea could ensure consistent cash flow for you, it would hold you in good stead if you perfect your skills and get started once you make a mark in your field of photography.

3. Prints & Album Sales

Selling prints and albums is, without a doubt, one of the most profitable passive income ideas for wedding photographers. A high influx of print and album sales could help you raise your income without too much of an effort. Imagine you have a current client who has booked you as their wedding photographer, but in addition to your wedding photography, there are other services/products such as prints, thank you cards, albums, and album design that you can offer. Here are some of the ways you could sell these products to your clients:

A. In-Person Sales

If possible, try meeting your clients face to face, as in-person sales are likely to help you get more clients. During the conversation, introduce your albums, gently place the album in their hands (they should feel it is unique and precious!), and let them hold the product. And when you do that, rather than just flipping the pages, try guiding them through the experience. Draw them in the conversation and try telling them why you enjoy the process of creating albums, and let your clients get a feel of the album. The same rule applies to other products such as thank you cards, save the date cards, and so on. And while talking about these products, try emphasizing on ‘what’ they could get out of these items and ‘when’, rather than ‘if’, they would get these products. What the client eventually decides is totally up to them, but as a photography business owner, you have to put in your best efforts in pitching your product. After all, a lot depends on how you present your products to your clients!

B. When Meeting Clients Is Difficult

Not every client would be able to meet you in person. But that does not mean that your business has to suffer. To offer an incredible customer experience, you could start by including videos of your services and albums on your website and giving them a virtual feel of what they could expect if they hire you and buy your products. When it comes to social media platforms, try creating shorter videos. You could use video-making apps such as Animoto to create compelling videos. When you talk to your clients, try telling them how these little details could add value to their overall wedding photography experience. And perfect the art of pitching your products to your clients at the right time during the course of your discussion, especially when meeting them in person is difficult.

4. Sell Wall Art

If done right, selling wall art could be your passive income gold mine. Not every client you book will go for it, but there is definitely a market for this product. All you have to learn is marketing them alongside your packages. To amp up your wall art sales, you could also add a wall art portfolio to your website, showcasing actual wall art images or samples of products sold. This will help your clients visualize how their wedding images could look when placed against creative wall art.

5. Photography Contests

This might not be the most common way to generate passive income, but if you are a well-established wedding photographer, you could give this a shot. Multiple wedding photography contests take place throughout the year. Why not take part in some of them? And who knows, you could bag some of those prestigious awards, recognitions, and even cash prizes. Moreover, this could be a great way to add to your credibility as a photographer and impress your clients!

Further Read: All You Need To Know Before Starting A Photography Business

Introducing Extra

Extra gallery is our solution for generating passive income as wedding photographers even after you are done photographing a wedding. This photo gallery website from ShootDotEdit helps you streamline the process of delivering photos to your clients, even as it markets and sells your images. With Extra, your clients and their guests can easily buy prints of your images as and when they want. And you make money from each sale long after your assignment is over. What’s more? For all ShootDotEdit customers, the service comes free of cost along with other packages.

Further Read: Extra: Stunning Wedding Photo Gallery Websites That Market & Sell For You

While you might be extremely passionate about your art, we understand that looking after the financial aspect of your photography business and ensuring a steady flow of income could be quite exhausting. So, whether it is a dull work season that you are worried about or looking to maximize your revenue, having a passive income stream could ease your burden. Be it selling prints, monetizing content, renting photography gear, or using Extra – these are some of the passive income ideas that you could explore based on your comfort and expertise. So why not try your hand at them to understand which one works best for you?

At ShootDotEdit, we are passionate about providing you with resourceful tips to help you grow as a professional wedding photographer. We also offer professional photo editing services to reduce your post-production workload so that you can focus on building your business. Learn more about how we can help your wedding photography business here.