Photography is a profession that can NOT be easily outsourced to other countries. Why? Because you have to be HERE to take the picture! With careful planning while you keep your day job, you CAN turn your hobby and your love of photography into a lucrative profession. Many people facing retirement, reduced pensions or job layoffs have successfully become full-time or part-time photographers, earning significant income with their photo skills. This new Washington Photo Safari workshop, taught by a person who's been there, will explore ways to make a successful transition into photography as a profession. It will look at such options as shooting for stock, events, weddings, child portraits, sports, architecture, real estate, restaurants, food, pets, sailboats, landscapes, and lawyers. Participants will also be encouraged to explore areas of photography with which they are NOT familiar as possible options for career work.

The workshop will discuss such topics as: how do you get educated in photography? Once you get to be a GOOD photographer, how can you market your skills? How do clients find out about you? How do you build a business that supports yourself and your family in the style to which you have become accustomed? What kind of investment do you need in equipment? How do you set prices for your work? Where can you go for further training in photography while holding down your day job? How do you get published? How do you build a photo portfolio? How do you build a resume in a whole new career of photography, where nobody knows your name? Who are the potential clients in your own neighborhood and community? Which areas of photography have the greatest income potential?

The workshop will be taught by Washington Photo Safari founder and director E. David Luria, an architectural photographer who took up his hobby and made it his profession after losing his job as a non-profit organization executive 10 years ago. Mr. Luria, now a Paris-trained member of the American Society of Media Photographers, has had his images appear in 90 publications and on 30 magazine covers. His Washington Photo Safaris have trained several thousand people in the techniques of travel, digital, pet, nature and nighttime photography. Assisting Mr. Luria is Ted Culp, an amateur photographer now turning professional. Participants are asked to bring for review 6-10 of their favorite images of the types of photography in which they prefer to specialize. Register early! This one is popular!