This is a very unique time we are all experiencing. As a content creator you may:

- have lost a lot of jobs that have been cancelled or put on hold until further notice

- have lost your inspiration to go out and shoot

- wonder how to earn a living still during these hard times

After a few years experiencing working from home and having experienced making money online, here are a few ideas to help you remain creative and still earn a living as a photographer working from home.

Edit old photos

As a photographer and content creator we have this urge to always be creating new content. But we tend to forget all the content we already created in the past. (I do!)

This is the perfect opportunity to consult your archives and experiment new editing styles or recycle your old content for social media.

I have thousands of photos that I have not even touched from previous trips or work assignments. It was not the most exciting thing to dive into the archives and sort all the photos but the reward in the end is worthy.

I now have an archive system I created that allows me to find any photos I took by dates or genres in less than a minute!

Also editing those old photos helped me clear out some space from my hard drive but also revisit moments from past trips I forgot. My next step is to create photo albums and even prints.

Participate to online photography challenges or run photography battles

Many photographers are running weekly photography challenges to remain creative from home. It is a good way to keep being creative, share your work and discover new photographers.

If you'd like to join a few of them here is a list of a few current challenges hashtags:

#pmphotoassignments 👉Peter McKinnon

#lostcreatoracademy 👉Lost Leblanc

#stayhome 👉Mango Street

You can even join new Instagram reels or Tiktok challenges for photographers. It is also a great way to learn how to edit short form videos which can be an additional skill to add to your creative belt and also connect with other photographers around the world.

Or you can challenge a few photographers you know for a battle. This is a great way to keep being creative, collaborate with other photographers online and gain more visibility for your brand.

Learn new skills

If you have more time in your calendar, why not seize this time to learn some new skills. It can be photography, film-making or business related. As a content creator, I believe it is important to keep learning new skills.

My go to platforms are

Skillshare

YouTube

Creative Live

Here is a blog article I wrote on the best places to learn photography online

And another one on my Top 10 Photography Classes On Skillshare.

You can also join online trainings and communities from famous content creators.

I personally joined the Lost Creator Academy ran Christian Leblanc also known as Lost Leblanc.

The content he provides is top notch. If you ever want to learn advanced photography and film-making for the purpose to collaborate with brands on social media, this is your go to training in my opinion.

All levels are welcome.

And the community is the best. Over 2.5K content creators from all around the world. Meet-ups are often organised and it is a great way to connect with other like-minded content creators.

If you’d like to learn more about what you can get out of the Lost Creator Academy, here is the link to a one hour video training full of value hosted by Christian Leblanc where he breaks down the process he’s gone through to become a professional content creator and get paid to travel the world.

Offer freelance services

If you have had many jobs cancelled due to the pandemic.

Why not offer your services online.

Platforms like Upwork or Fiverr allow you to sell your services and earn a living from the comfort of your home doing what you are great at.

If not, maybe you have a following online that might be interested in leveraging your creative skills. Do not hesitate to let them know that you can offer these kind of services and share your portfolio.

Or some digital agencies might be interested to collaborate with you as an influencer and connect you to brands that need people with influence to promote their products. This has become the most common way to earn a living online creating content nowadays.

Share your knowledge online

👨🏽‍💻You can create an online course where you share skills you have acquired over time. For instance, I really enjoy iPhone photography and I offer a FREE web-class where I share my best iPhone travel photography tips.

Platforms like Skillshare or Udemy are great places to start if you do not want to take care of promoting your course yourself.

With Skillshare, you’d earn royalties for every minute of your course watched by a premium member. The more courses you create and relevant to the market needs, the better.

With Udemy, they mostly take care of the promotion of your course offering huge discount deals to their subscribers. Do not expect to earn a lot from it but it is also a great source of passive income.

Otherwise, if you feel confident enough to promote your course, you can use platforms like Thinkific, Kajabi or Teachable that offer to host your content and take care of all the payment processing for you.

Stock photography & Videography

Going through all your archived photos you will certainly find some golden nuggets that can be used for stock photography or stock videography websites.

You can upload them on online platforms like Blackbox, shutterstock or istockphoto and earn a passive income overtime every single time your photo or video is used.

Or, you can do photography assignments where you can upload your photos. And if selected you get paid for it.

Platforms like Snapwire, shuttout or Twenty20 are great apps to use for this type of work.

These are the top 6 ways I personally use to remain creative and still earn a living as a photographer while staying at home. Travel is still on stand by at the moment due to the current pandemic. But hopefully this will change in the near future.

If you are open to other ways of making money online leveraging social media, I also wrote an ebook where I gather the top 16 ways to earn a living leveraging social media nowadays. You can click here or on the button below to download your free copy.

What about you? Do you have any other ideas on remaining creative or earning a living from the content you create from home?

Finally, if you need any tips, advice or just want to chat, do not hesitate to contact me. Having experienced working from home and online since 2017, I know the feelings most of you are going through. I am here to help if needed.

If you like this article, do not hesitate to like it, it actually makes a difference. And if you’d like to receive more photography and travel tips in your inbox, feel free to register to my newsletter below.

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