How would a teenager go about attracting clients for her photography (pictures, too..shing shing)? -

first of all, here is my portfolio if you want to see if my photos are any good- aesthetic.carbonmade.com hello, i m a fourteen year old girl from a medium-sized town in kansas. a few months ago, i discovered photography and since then it has grown to a passion. however, i m finding it difficult to find opportunities here. while it is a decent sized place...it IS kansas, after all. not much creative development going on around here. besides taking portraits-which aren t too hot right now because i use natural lighting..and well, obviously no one wants to go outside-i can t really do anything to earn money. i talked to like the ONE independent clothing store a while ago. i took a tour and talked to the owner, but i never heard back. i also posted an ad on craigslist, gotten an account on model mayhem to find local models, and have a pretty popular flickr account. lastly, i m going to start talking to the art coordinator of a cafe...haven t gotten around to that yet...nervous, perhaps? anyways, what i really want to know is how do i get potential clients/hunt for opportunities? more than anything i would love to work with designers, but obviously, there are none here. thank you.|::::|You seem to have gotten to a good start so far - nice initiative. (By the way, your pictures are beautiful!) I would recommend starting with portraits of people you know - family, friends, family friends, friends of family, you get the idea - to get your name out there. You could take people s Christmas pictures, or just portraits. (While this is a little more commercial than what you seem to be interested in, it gives you more practice, as well as some income, and these people can recommend you to THEIR friends.) Post advertisements in the local newspaper, ask your school about a possible internship with a local photographer... there are plenty of opportunities for someone as talented as you seem to be. Finally, I would recommend talking to that art coordinator of the cafe you mentioned - it would get your photos in the public eye, and maybe even inspire people to ask who the pictures are by! Look at it this way: you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by asking. Good luck, hope I helped!|::::|It is all about MARKETING. Your photos are only a TINY part of it all. I suggest you begn studying from this man while you are still young and can do it right. http://www.cjlewis.com/ steve|::::|I dont know about finding clients, but your work looks great! Keep it up!|::::|Photography is a business like any other. It is all about marketing. If you are quot;nervousquot; about approaching other businesses then you will not make it as a photographer. If you are looking to take fashion and catalogue shots for local businesses then you have to get around them with your portfolio (geared to their style) to show that you can do the shots. Most businesses are unlikely to take on a 14 year old for something like that though. If you are trying to promote your portraits then you need to advertise in every place you can imagine. Again though, at 14 people are not going to believe you have the experience to produce the goods each time.