Are Modern Economics Killing Professional Photography?
There has recently been a growing chatter about the rise of the amateur photographer and the threat this poses to professional photographers making a living today. The claim goes that, since these photographers offer their photos for free or for pennies on the dollar, true professional photographers can no longer make a living.
This argument has grown quite heated at times. One the one side, you have professional photographers trying to convince good amateur photographers to sell their photos for a good rate. On the other side you have amateur photographers complaining that professional photographers are trying to control the market.
There is no denying that the market has changed. Places like Shutterstock and IStockphoto have certainly changed the equation and people on FlickR giving their photos away for free are also changing it. Journalism has also significantly changed, meaning many once employed photographers are now looking for jobs as newspapers fold and news organizations look for amateur photographers on the ground.
However, just because the market changed does not mean professional photography is going the way of the dodo – far from it.
Case 1: Event photographers
Nine years ago my wife and I needed to find a professional photographer for our wedding. We eventually found a place that charged $2200 for both photography and video. This wasn’t a guy who happened to own a camera, but involved photographers using medium format cameras, very expensive video cameras, and involved three photographers and some work done in their own studio.
In a few years we will need to find another professional photographer to photograph our sons’ Bar Mitzvahs. It is true that there are now many amateur photographers charging $500 or even less to photograph an event. However, if we want it photographed well, we’re talking between $3000-$4000 – and that does not include video.
How can a photographer make a living when there are other individuals undercutting him/her by several thousand dollars? The simple answer in this case is you get what you pay for. This doesn’t seem to be lost on their clients either – as many of them are booked very far in advance.
Are economics killing these photographers? Far from it. Consider also that with the rise of digital – costs have come down significantly for many of these photographers. If you have the skills and equipment, you can make a lot more in event photography today than ten years ago.
Case 2: Amateur ‘advisers’
For a more modern example, look at sites like Strobist. I like this blog and try to read it every day. This is a guy who started out as a low paid newspaper photographer who I suspect is not hurting for cash today. Could he have done what he does today ten years ago? I severely doubt it.
There is a new market for professional photographers today and that is telling amateur photographers what to do with their equipment. With the rise of the amateur photographer there is now a huge market today of photographers too busy or clueless to figure things out for themselves. They want to know what equipment to buy, how to take a picture, why their pictures suck, and how to post process. They are willing to pay money to do this. They may click an ad on a blog, click a link that gives a kick back to the blog owner, buy a book by an author, or attend a class from the photographer.
There are quite a few people these days other than Strobist who make their living doing exactly this. This is an entire market that barely existed ten years ago.
Case 3: The stock photographer
“OK”, you may say. “I’ll give you the above two, but what about the stock photographer?”. What about the stock photographer? In the old days, many photographers made money by selling many of their shots through stock agencies. Some photographers did this exclusively, while others did it in addition to their normal photographic duties.
What many do not realize is the traditional stock market is not dead. Images are still being licensed for thousands of dollars. Images are also being licensed for a few cents today and are also given away for free.
There are still companies that are very specific about the images they need. They will spend a significant amount of effort in finding the image that perfectly suits them and have no problem spending several thousands of dollars for the rights to that image once they find it. Often, the image is not possible to find at any stock agency and they pay a photographer to take it.
Other companies are less particular about the image they need. They may need a photo of a particular location or of someone doing something. For these companies, the microstock sites work well. For professional photographers, microstock sites offer the ability to make something from the shots that didn’t make it. Even for the top photographers, stock sites typically take only 5% of their photos. The microstock sites offer an avenue to sell the other 95%.
It is true that it takes a lot more savvy these days to make it as a stock photographer. A professional photographer needs to market himself today more than ever before. Companies will not just find you – or will they?
There is a growing trend of companies finding images on FlickR and then offering licenses. Some of these companies offer little to nothing but there is a sizable contingent of companies willing to pay good prices because a particular image fits their needs exactly. There now exists a growing base of photographers who even make a living selling photos through these methods.
Case 4: Amateurs giving their photos away for free
So what to make of amateur photographers giving their photos away for free? Is this hurting the photography market? My argument is this is far from the case.
Most professional photographers these days make the majority of their income from paid assignments. The client needs something very particular – something that cannot be found through FlickR or any stock site. This is how I make the majority of my photo income and these photographers are not really affected by those giving images away for free.
It is true that some companies rely on finding photographers who do give their photos away for free. However there are even more companies out there willing to pay a fair price for something they need. With the international nature of the web, a company in Japan can now find a photographer from Mexico who happens to have the photo they need and sign a license agreement with him/her. This was not possible before.
So who are photographers who give their images away for free really hurting? They are not hurting the professionals. They are hurting themselves. Many of these photographers argue that they take photos for the love of taking photos and seek no monetary rewards. For the companies out there looking to profit from their images, this works out for the better.
In today’s market, the line between a professional photographer and an amateur photographer is very blurry. However the line between photographers who are taken advantage of and those who are not is as strong as it ever was.
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Tags: amateur, economics, market, photography, professional, professional photography, state
heyyyyyyyyyyyy thats a real good pic, the one with ants