Building your photography career can be started by sharing your photos to the professional photo sharing sites. By doing this it means that you let others to be able seeing your works. Those who get impressed with your works can someday turn out to be your clients.

Before Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger created Instagram, Flickr has been long widely used by those who want to be serious with their photography hobbies to share the photos they have taken. Today, the number of Flickr-like sites is getting bigger and bigger.

There is a huge difference between Instagram and professional photo sharing sites like Flickr and friends. Instagram is a social media, not photo sharing site. Not all Instagram users have a photography hobby. Of course, you can follow such accounts as National Geographic and your favorite photographers to get some inspiration and learn from them. But, professional photo sharing sites like Flickr keep one step ahead in helping you building your photography hobby since you can upload photos in a higher resolution. Try to ask you favorite professional photographer if you don’t believe me.

What if you don’t like Flickr but keep wanting to share your photos through the professional photo sharing site. As I said, the number of professional photo sharing site is getting bigger nowadays. Below is the list.

1. 500px

500px is one of the oldest professional photo sharing sites other than Flickr. This site has been around since 2009 and has undergone some changes ever since its initial release. This website is previously a pure photo sharing site just like Flickr but now, the service of 500px also include market place. Yes, apart from showcasing your photos you can also take advantage of 500px to gain money by selling your premium photos.

500px itself used to be a fully free photo sharing site. But like I said, the site has undergone some changes. 500px currently has turned to be a freemium service. You can still use the service for free to showcase your works. But, if you need more features you will be prompted to upgrade your account. However, if your intention of utilizing 500px is merely to share your photos free account I think is more than enough. You can upload photos in a high resolution without passing any reviewing process.

2. Flickr

This is Flickr. One of the oldest professional photo sharing sites. Many people consider Flickr is dead. But, really? I don’t think so. I currently still rely on Flickr to showcase some of my photos. One of the prominent advantages of being a Flickr user is that you can store as many photos as you want since Flickr offers you a 1TB of free storage.

Flickr is similar to 500px in many ways. This photo sharing site has also undergone countless changes since it was firstly launched in 2004. Flickr also once tried a marketplace feature though eventually discontinued. Recently, Flickr is trying some premium features. One of the premium features offered by Flickr include statistic that let you gain an understanding of how people are discovering your Flickr photos.

3. Pixabay

Pixabay is a community driven free stock photos site. Since all contents available on this site are submitted by its community you can also register to become a Pixabay member to share your works. But, not all the photos you have submitted will be displayed. Your photos will be passing a reviewing process and need to be accepted first. If you are new to photography and not sure about the appropriateness of you photos you can take advantage of this approach to find out if your photos are decent enough to use.

4. Unsplash

There are some similarities between Unsplash and Pixabay. They both are community driven free stock photos sites. Your photos will also be passing a reviewing process before be displayed. It’s just, the reviewing process of Unsplash isn’t as restrictive as Pixabay. New users is limited to 8 photos per day. You can lessen this restriction by regularly submit high quality photos to Unsplash.

Unsplash is one of the best places if you want truly be a professional photographer. While you can build your portfolio by submitting your best shots, there is also a Slack channel where you can join and get in touch with other photographers from around the world, including the ones from the Unsplash team.

5. Nat Geo Your Shot

National Geographic has a very good reputation in terms of photography. You can find gorgeous photos of wildlife, culture and lots more from talented photographers. Becoming a National Geographic photographer is a dream of nearly all photographers. Well actually, everyone can be a National Geographic photographer. Seriously!

National Geographic has a platform called Your Shot. This platform enables you to be a National Geographic photographer. If the photos you submit to this platform are good enough, there is a chance to them to appear on the National Geographic site and magazines. Not bad. Isn’t it?. National Geographic limits you with 15 photos a week so be sure to select your best photos.

6. Pexels

Pexels is a community driven free stock photos site like Unsplash and Pixabay. Meaning that you can be a part of this site and share high-res photos. Pexels also imposes a reviewing process of each submitted photo so you can utilize it to gauge how good your photos are. Just like other professional photo sharing sites on this list, Pexel is also a great resource to build your portfolio as a professional photographer. The good thing about Pexels is that your photos will be displayed on the front page of the site once accepted.