The internet has a wealth of information available for free, but there are some questions that photographers seem to dodge as a question. Especially the more British of those. Let's try to answer a few of these.
Before making this video, I reached out to the online photography community to ask what they felt we photographers dodged and tried not to openly answer. From the obvious questions like how much we earn, how much are we paid to use certain items of equipment, and the deals we have between camera equipment suppliers and our online content, through to what I would do if I suddenly ran out of clients (I would be a school teacher). It also looks at the nuts and bolts of business, such as how much you need in savings, how much you need for your cash flow, and the costs of starting from nothing to owning a studio and kitting it fully out with everything you would need to shoot the latest top photography campaigns.
However, the main interest was money. The money we earn, the money we charged, what was a normal or average day rate, what was the cheapest we would go, and what is the most we could make, which I tried to tackle in this video. Of course, these things change city to city, and country to country, not to mention the huge changes from each genre of photography (I wish I was into watches).
What do you feel that the industry likes to keep hidden away from those not in it?
IMO post processing on architectural images. Not the dime a dozen RE nonsense but the high end images top architectural firms commission.
I find the "sitting at desk" talking about gear photographers exhausting. Please go use the gear!
Ill report this comment so one of the admins see it.
It took me a few extra seconds to reply because the borders showed up again so when I pressed “reply” nothing happened. Once the borders disappeared, the “x” to close the ad was still there. It’s one of those faux-X’s because no matter how accurate you are pressing it, it still opens a new window to load the ad.
It’s complete shit and something needs to be done.
While typing this the ad must have put the bars up 2 dozen times. This is out of control guys.
Thanks for reporting it. It’s absolutely infuriating.
Extremely interesting presentation, thanks for your openness. As a "user" I would comment on one thing, the educational aspect. I personally have found the majority of professional or expert photographers to be poor teachers with little real knowledge of how to communicate their expertise. There are also those who seem so concerned with the "knowledge is power" syndrome that they spend more time avoiding sharing than actually imparting. Given that, there are some truly excellent educators who are also amazing photographers.
There is one area where online education for photographers is extremely valuable and the pedagogical aspect is less important, and that is those presentations given in the style of the B&H Event space, where photographers are in general talking to other photographers as "equals"
Thanks
Good video, but you still didn't really answer the earnings question. A six figure salary can be anywhere from 100,000 to 999,999. Can you do a more detailed breakdown of your earnings?
haha nope.