Skip to main content

Is being a professional photographer glamorous?

Well I don't know about you but a lot of professional photographers are now spending far more time manipulating pixels than they are on anything else.

A few do outsource all their Photoshop work so they can spend more time photographing but in reality a professional photographer probably spends around 10 per cent of the day on average with a camera in hand.

There are plenty of amateurs who have more time to take pictures than professional photographers do. Add to that the fact that a lot of pro work is rather unglamorous and not spent actually photographing things the pro would really like to, and you've got to ask yourself what the whole dream of turning pro is all about. Is it a romantic illusion?

Well, yes and no. There are pro photographers who love their work and get to do and see the most amazing things. And then there are the rest, fighting to make a living, struggling with government bureaucracy and spending long hours hunched in front of a computer screen.

If you're thinking about turning pro then it's important to know what you're letting yourself in for, the good and bad, rid yourself of romantic notions and the aura that surrounds the industry which is in fact incredibly diverse. Decide what would make you really happy and it has to be a lot more specific than just being a professional photographer. Weigh everything up. Above all you need to realize that with the exception of a few landscape, still life specialists and scientific photographers your job is all about dealing with people and the key to getting a good image relies on your ability to communicate. Photography is a people business whether you're a fashion photographer, a photojournalist or a wedding photographer.

Personally I'm never happier than when I'm out photographing things and people that interest me. Today though, I spent my day photographing people in meetings, with little scope for creativity. It comes with the territory as they say.

All the best,

Paul

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Overcoming creative block and self doubt

Every photographer, for that matter every creative, I've ever met comes to a point when they're not happy with the work they're producing. The pendulum between creative highs and dry spells swings continuously. For some the cycle is long and the bouts are quite mild for others the feeling of doubt about their work can be a crushing experience which returns all to frequently. It's actually quite healthy to have these periods of doubt because it can often be the beginning of something new and interesting which takes you further than you thought possible. Creatives in the commercial world have to always perform and although they may agree looking back that they've had a few patches where their work was less good, they always seem to bounce back. A very few creative geniuses deliver such high quality work that their poorest attempts still surpass the rest of us. But I have never heard of anyone, from tortured soul of Van Gogh to the supreme showman and genius, Salvador ...
22 comments
Read more

What You Photograph Reveals How You Think

  Photography is often described as a way of seeing. Less often do we talk about it as a way of thinking. What you choose to photograph, and just as importantly what you ignore, quietly mirrors how your mind works. Some photographers are drawn to faces, micro-expressions, emotional spikes. Others chase atmosphere, light, mood. Then there are those who gravitate towards structure, systems, order, the invisible logic holding a scene together. None of this is accidental. The camera becomes a sorting tool. It reveals what your brain prioritises. Where others see chaos, you might see alignment. Where some look for drama, you look for balance. Geometry, repetition, flow, layers, these aren’t just visual preferences, they’re cognitive ones. Strong graphic images tend to come from people who think spatially. Who notice how things relate before they notice what they mean. Lines before labels. Structure before story. And yet, the best images rarely stop there. They gain depth when human pres...
1 comment
Read more

Is professional photography still a viable career?

I am not against amateurs and semi-professionals selling their photography. It's a great way to earn some extra cash. However I am concerned about the level of high quality published work and the standards that clients and the public accept these days. It seems that just about everyone is a photographer. The line between amateur enthusiast and professional is fuzzy to say the least. Photography enthusiasts are selling their images through stock libraries and microstock websites, directly to magazines or through their own and third party sites. They're accepting commissions to shoot weddings, being hired to shoot for magazines and selling fine art prints from their websites. They're teaching photography on the weekend and guiding photographic holidays and safaris. Photography became accessible to the masses with the first non-expert cameras and the famous Kodak slogan"You press the button, we do the rest." The digital camera age has taken the whole thing to a ne...
14 comments
Read more