I've recently started a crowd funding campaign, using the site gofundme.com as my platform. This is my first experience with crowd funding. I think it's going well so far and I'm excited see the final outcome. The photography world can be such a challenge, particularly due to the high costs of production. So many people out there have the skills to create amazing imagery if they had disposable income and a hard working team. The catch-22 is that without images that are, or look, highly produced it's very difficult to find someone willing to fund your production. It's really somewhat of a paradox. And I'm simply speaking of the cost of production. This doesn't even account for the cost of all the technical equipment required. I believe it was Erik Almas that said something to the effect of "Don't spend your money on new lenses and toys, spend it on shoots." This is so true. You can rent everything you need for shoots pretty cheaply, especially as a student. Who cares how many nice lenses you own. If your not producing amazing work with them, then who cares. Personally I own a single lens, a Canon 50mm f/1.2. That's because I've spent every penny I've earned on producing bigger and better shoots, not buying equipment. I rent all the equipment I need for every shoot.
The cost of this image equals a Zeiss 85mm f/1.4.
In any case, the point is that images cost a lot of money to create and if you already have high quality production images, someone, somewhere will pay you to create more. And If you don't, they won't. Recently I came up with a project that, for a student, needs a lot of money to be created. That's why I am using crowd funding. If you want to make amazing images then you have to be resourceful. I asked friends and family to help make my dreams come true. It's not begging or charity, its just asking for help to get your career off the ground. You'll see below in my campaign that I'm offering incentives for donations. Not only do the donors get a sense of gratification, but they're also given a piece of the project -- which I'm expecting to be worth millions one day.
That concludes what I have to say about crowd funding and creating funding for your own projects. I found someone who says it a little bit better than I do. Below I have shared a link to Amanda Palmer's TedTalk about "The Art of Asking". If you have the time and are interested in alternative careers that require creative approaches to achieve success I suggest you give it a look.