The End for the Business of Photography?

The rise and democratization of digital photography over the past 15 years has been, I would describe, as one of the most socially changing movements in the world, ever. Though the cellular phone may have been the initial catalyst, the camera accompanying that communication device has now allowed billions of people to interact and share worldwide events from a nation's political upheavals to the birth of their own child. With sales of standalone cameras dropping nearly in half in the past seven years, has photography changed for the better, and is this the end of making money in photography?

Tony and Chelsea Northrup give us some valuable insight into the possible future of photography in their video above. The business of photography is always evolving and changing with how society values their conception of themselves and each other. The Northrups explain this dichotomy with how portraiture and wedding photographers may be winning or losing the battle depending on what they offer. One of the biggest takeaways is the Northrups' take on the value of diversifying into a new field that is shouldered with photography and how to grow into that arena so you stay viable. 

What are you doing to stay relevant and make your photography business succeed in today's changing marketplace?

JT Blenker's picture

JT Blenker, Cr. Photog., CPP is a Photographic Craftsman and Certified Professional Photographer who also teaches workshops throughout the USA focusing on landscape, nightscape, and portraiture. He is the Director of Communications at the Dallas PPA and is continuing his education currently in the pursuit of a Master Photographer degree.

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20 Comments

You mean Northrup wasn't attacking another photographer long enough to post this video??????

They have declared the end of, Micro 4/3, crop sensors, full frame, and just about every other aspect of photography. As long as companies advertise products, there is sports, and formal events (weddings, fund raisers, etc) photography will be a profession that will be profitable. It is the middle and lower levels that will get muddied up.

It is time for Casonykon to produce smartphones………

Well Sony's been making them for a while...

"we like making positive videos they do better for us "

*continues to make negative videos*

Oh look a video of Northrup saying the sky is falling for attention. In his next video he'll tell us about about how our eyes aren't real and there's no such thing as spectrum.

I am bet he goes after pixel pitch or color science next and starts attacking Adobe and Capture One next.

I like the Northrups but this is a funny take. The clickbaity video titles and subjects get old after awhile.

Mr. Clickbait is back. I really don't care for his "insights".

Clickbate sponsored by Squarespace.

What a load of crap... Tony, you are not the Messiah of the photography industry. You are a mere spectator in its evoltution.

I can't stand these people's videos... I fail to remember learning anything meaningful from any of those. So this time, I don't fall for the click bait, and simply won't open it.

CLICK BAIT.

In the 90’s cell phones leader Motorola said cameras in cell phones would never succeed and then lost their lead market to Samsung.

This was Motorola’s first false step and now exist only in name only made by a Chinese Company.

Lead ... Follow ... or Get Out of The Way !!

Attention whore strikes again...

"What are you doing to stay relevant and make your photography business succeed in today's changing marketplace?"

Well, first off I'm going to ignore Tony Northrup or any of the YouTube "experts".

I see a thumb of these two individuals anywhere and just by reading comments bellow I already got the answers to my question if this would be worth to even open and watch ! Thank you to all of you guys for commenting and expressing your opinions on it. To me it looks like very narcissistic duo is trying to get attention at any costs for click and views and by parasitizing on people to intrigue them to watch their nonsense their succeed to show the world who they actually are in reality :) This is fun for me, so Thank you to FS to keep pushing this through your feeds :) Happy shooting everyone and cannot wait to see another thumbnail of them with some juicy title trying to 'educate WORLD' :)

it's just an adjustment in goods.... some are more aggressive (adjustments) than others, but an adjustment nonetheless i'd consider it. i mean, having said that, i'm pretty sure we'd see very similar numbers with other products (past and/or present), as well. look, my name's Hamateur, and i'm an amateur.... but, that's my .02 cents worth ;)

It is amazing to me how negative these comments are. Any idiot can complain about anything and everything - get a life!

Can't see any issue with his video, Tony and his wife looks like good people to have a good talk, their tutorial videos are really good and helped a lot of people to start, i don't understand all the hate.