Working in China as a Photographer

[JoshDynasty]

hey,

What are the prospects of a Photographer (Bachelors degree) Living and working in China? Without wanting to get into detail, is it plausible? also if the person was almost "Fluent" but not quiet. Also - is the basic idea of a westerner working in China plausible? or is they're alot of red tape?

[liuzhou]

To work in China, as to work in any other country other than your own, you generally need to have a skill which the host country doesn't have or is in short supply of. Your language skills are irrelevant.

I would be surprised if photography fits this need . Your only real chance would to be employed by a company from your homeland to work in China, but I've never come across any employing photographers, apart from the major newspapers. Most news agencies employ local photographers of which there are many.

Here is a link you may find interesting.

[randall_flagg]

Your language skills are irrelevant.

Really? Why?

[character]

Despite the recent pictures, I think Natalie Behring ( http://flickr.com/photos/chinapix/ http://nataliebehring.com/ ) is working in China as a photographer. You might email her for advice.

[tony1343]

you generally need to have a skill which the host country doesn't have or is in short supply of. Your language skills are irrelevant.

Really? Why?

Uh, well, I'm guessing that is because China does not have a shortage of people who can speak Chinese.

But, more seriously, when a company in the U.S. applies for a work visa for a potential foreign employee they have to show there are no Americans who can do the job. However, you cannot typically use language skills to meet this unless you have a good reason out of business necessity. Don't take this as legal advice obviously, as I'm just spouting something off from recollection.

[simonlaing]

I have a friend who is married to a woman who is teaching at a univerisity here and gets his visa through her.

I think it could be difficult on the visa side to be authorized here, though he says he gets quite a lot of free lance work for western newspapers and art magazines.

Also I used to know a guy in shanghai who used to make short commercials and short movies for people and companies. I think the shortened L visa got to him and he joined the foreign service last I heard.

The work isn't regular and doesn't supply a visa but for him the work was good. So it is possible to do this kind of work though you might need to teach English until you can find your niche or legal way of working as a photographer here.

Good luck,

Simon:)

[yersi]

There might be a (relative) shortage of people who do professional photography and speak fluent Chinese and English. So I wouldn't say his language skills are irrelevant.

Foreign students tend to vastly overestimate their level in Chinese, though, I'd like to know what " almost fluent but not quite" means here. There is also a lot of technical vocabulary related to photography that you'll need to learn.

[simonlaing]

Oh yeah and Wedding picture shops are very popular here and make lots of money.

We had ours done the prices range for one day of pictures about 2000-6000 RMB. Though we're in Nanjing which is a lower cost city than Shanghai or Beijing.

You could try there. Photographers are always busy and the business seems quite profitable.

Photoshopping pictures after wards is also something that they do here as well.

There are plenty of magazines here as well so there are definitely jobs if you can find your niche. People would be employing you though for your photography skills not your Chinese ones. (Unless you were to be a journalist/photographer)

Good luck,

SImon:)

[liuzhou]

When I said

Your language skills are irrelevant.

I meant that they have no bearing on whether you are given a working visa or not. As I said, you need to have a skill which locals don't have or work for a western organisation operating in China. The ability to speak Chinese (however fluently) is hardly a skill the locals don't have and nor is photography.

The chances of a Chinese organisation wanting someone capable of professional photography and able to speak fluent Chinese and English is, I would have thought, negligible.

And non-Chinese organisation generally recruit in their home countries. Again the number of organisations wanting non-Chinese photographers must be very limited. Apart from the press, how many companies need a western photographer on a full time salary?

The freelance approach is possible. I too have a friend who makes a bit by selling his photographs back in the USA, but it is not a legal job. He also teaches English which gives him the right to remain here.