Over the 21st century, YouTube has become a prominent factor in most people’s lives. It has provided billions of people worldwide with a catalog of valuable and free resources to learn new skills or improve existing ones.
If you’re at a point where you’re genuinely interested in photography, you’ll probably have watched at least a few videos to learn a new tip or simply for entertainment. But have you ever thought about starting a channel of your own?
As a photographer, starting a YouTube channel has several benefits. Below, we’ve outlined eight of the biggest ones.
1. Learn New Skills
Okay, sure—you’re probably already a competent photographer. But if you want to make yourself more valuable in today’s competitive marketplace, having a broad range of skills isn’t a bad thing.
You’ll naturally become a better videographer when you start a YouTube channel and regularly post content. You’ll also pick up several additional skills that you can use throughout your career, including:
- Marketing
- Navigating social media
- Storytelling
All the above skills are in high demand these days if you want a regular job. And if you want to become a freelancer or scale up your business, the above traits can help you stand out.
2. Create a Personal Connection
If you want to grow your online presence as a photographer, you must find a way to ensure that your audience remembers you. Honing your style can help with this, but showing your face can take things to the next level.
When you start a YouTube channel, your audience will feel like they’re interacting with a real person and not an anonymous face on the internet. And if you plan to work with clients, you’re more likely to leave an impression than someone without a channel.
3. Showcase Your Expertise
If you want to become better known as a photographer, it’s crucial that you build a sense of trust with your audience. Showcasing your expertise is the best way to do this, and YouTube is an excellent platform for it.
Running a photography YouTube channel allows you to showcase what you already know about your craft and share your knowledge with others. You can also use the platform as a way to document what you pick up when out and about, helping you create a valuable resource for others over time.
If you plan to work with clients, demonstrating your expertise on YouTube will give them more of a reason to believe you can produce the results they’re looking for. As such, they’ll be more willing to pay you for your services.
4. Build Your Own Audience
Working for other companies as a photographer is cool, but it’s only one component of a successful business. If you want to increase your earnings over the long run, you need to build your own audience—and creating a YouTube channel is one of the most popular options for doing so.
As you publish more content on YouTube, you’ll naturally attract people looking for the kind of stuff you’re posting. Over time, you can leverage this audience to sell courses, offer consulting, and much more. Apart from the potential income, building an audience also helps you build a community where like-minded people can connect with each other.
5. Become More Confident
If you’re shy and have no experience with creating videos, starting a YouTube channel is daunting initially. However, that’s exactly why you should do it.
Starting a YouTube channel can do wonders for your confidence. First and foremost, you’ll become a more confident speaker. Eventually, talking on camera will become natural, and you’ll get used to hearing your own voice—making real-life interactions much more effortless as well.
Creating and regularly contributing to a photography YouTube channel will also boost your confidence as you start seeing the improvement in your filmmaking skills. You’ll feel less scared when tackling other areas of your life, which will ultimately increase your happiness.
6. Create a Potential Additional Revenue Stream
While you shouldn’t start a YouTube channel for the money alone, earning some extra cash is a nice byproduct if you decide that you like creating videos and stick around for the long run. Many creators have made a living thanks to the platform, and nothing stops you from doing the same.
As you attract more viewers, you’ll slowly become eligible for monetization on YouTube. This is a long-term game, though; you’ll need to have at least 1,000 subscribers and a minimum of 4,000 watch hours. How much you get paid depends on several factors, such as where your audience is from and your niche.
Running a successful photography YouTube channel can also attract sponsorships, further increasing your income.
7. Bring Your Ideas to Life
For many people, having a job as a photographer—or working as a freelancer in this space—is the dream. But one problem that stems from working with clients is that you sometimes have little creative freedom; they’re paying you to make their vision come to life, not yours.
You will probably burn out quickly if you don’t have anything separate going on from your client work. On top of that, you’re needlessly letting your dreams and ambitions die. Creating a YouTube channel is an excellent way to bring your ideas to life. You’ll attract better-fitting clients thanks to this, along with ensuring that you have a solid creative outlet.
8. Meet Like-Minded Creators
One of the best things about photography is the community. Regardless of where you are in the world, you’ll find like-minded creators—and starting a YouTube channel is an excellent way to get yourself out there.
You’ll naturally attract people with similar interests as you become more prominent on YouTube. Over time, you’ll probably meet up with some of them, giving you the chance to learn cool new tips, get inspired, and make lifelong friends in the process.
Every Photographer Should Start a YouTube Channel
For many photographers, videography is a natural evolution or supplement to their existing skills. And if you’re thinking of starting a YouTube channel, we highly recommend taking the leap and not looking back.
Even if you don’t make any money from YouTube, you’ll build a personal connection with your audience and potential clients. Moreover, you’ll learn several new skills that you can take with you into any profession. If you’re struggling for ideas, start with simply documenting your journey. Over time, you can evolve to bigger and better things.