As a former school teacher, Melodee Lynn wanted to contribute financially to her family but didn’t want to work outside of the home. She had been doing photography as a hobby for several years and decided an at-home photography business was the solution. Read on to see how she was able to become a professional food photographer and make a living from home!
Tell us how you got started as a professional food photographer.
Before I had my boys, I was a second-grade teacher. But once my first son was born, I decided to stay home with him. During that time, I started doing seasonal photography. At the end of 2015, I was ready to grow my business and do photography year-round.
At that time, I had a friend who was a food blogger and needed help taking photos of recipes for her blog. Since I also happened to love cooking and had even dabbled in a food blog of my own, I asked if I could help her. So she gave me some recipes to photograph for her, and I was hooked!
I had so much fun photographing recipes for her blog and thought man; I wish I could do this for a living. That’s when she introduced me to a world where bloggers hire photographers for their blogs. I started connecting with bloggers and worked with over 40 bloggers photographing food for their blogs.
Then, I had a friend reach out to me and ask if it was something she could do, too. I started sending her little training videos of my photographing food. And from those videos, Pretty Focused was born.
Do you need a specialized background or equipment for this business?
You do not need to have experience; Pretty Focused teaches everything you need to know.
No, you can not use your phone. If you hired a wedding photographer, and they showed up with just their phone, how happy would you be? For this same reason, you need to have access to a real camera. The quality of work you can deliver will be substantially higher with a camera. If you want to be paid well for your work, you need quality equipment. We have an investment guide that breaks down everything you’ll need to start with our Free Training.
How much money can you make selling food images?
Over the past 3 years, 69% of our grads reported making $50,000+ a year, and according to ZipRecruiter, food photographers earn an average of $62,338 annually in the US.
What sort of personality does best with this business?
First, you need to love cooking and photography. If cooking and baking isn’t your jam, then this wouldn’t be a good fit for you.
Second, the type of personality that would work best in this business is someone who is flexible, open to feedback, and willing to learn.
Tell us about your food blog photography course.
Pretty Focused is an online course and community that teaches people how to be food photographers for food bloggers. We are unique in that we not only provide curriculum, but coaching and a supportive community as well, which is not something you will see in many other photography courses.
How long does it take to go through the course?
There are 3 phases to our program: Training, Practice, and Portfolio. The training has 6 modules, 40+ lessons, and bonus content. It takes around 8 total hours to complete. In Practice, our students will work with our coaches to complete at least 20 recipes. Here, they focus on implementing what they learned in training. When they have mastered their new skills, they begin building their Portfolio. The average student graduates 4-8 months after their date of enrollment.
What will people learn in your free training?
In our free training, you’ll learn about why bloggers hire, what the work looks like, the gear that you need and how you can connect with potential clients.
Do you help students find clients?
At Pretty Focused, we help connect clients directly to our grads. We already have an established and constantly growing network of bloggers who come to Pretty Focused to hire our grads. We call this network the Buyers Club. Upon graduation, all students gain access. We announce each new grad into the Buyers Club so bloggers can review their portfolio and start to connect right away. Where else can you find this?!
What does the work look like?
Bloggers have two main areas of need when it comes to photography and recipe development. The first need is what we call “recreations”. This is where they hire a photographer to update old content on their blog. The second need is what we call “exclusives”. This is where the photographer will develop and photograph a new recipe for the blogger. If you’re not confident in recipe development, that’s okay! You can completely focus on recreations. You do not have to do both.
If you’re curious about becoming a food photographer and earning money from home, check out Melodee’s free training here!