Paid Photography Is Dead

Jeff hosts with Connor joining him at the roundtable to discuss the state of the photography industry from a career perspective. With smartphones, inexpensive but very good camera equipment, and computers automating post processing how is a young person with a dream to be a professional photography supposed to make it?
Topic 1: Master Photography Podcast Network

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Remind you that we are returning to the separate feeds for the podcasts on the network.  Photo Taco is out there and you can find everything related to that podcast at the home for the show at https://phototacopodcast.com.  Connor, why don’t you talk for a minute about the show you and Erica do on the network.  Portrait Session can be found at http://portraitsessionpodcast.com
We will be re-branding the Improve Photography Podcast to the Master Photography Podcast sometime between now and June.  So don’t worry when the album art and the name changes. Same show, same format, same everything. Just being rebranded.

 
Topic 2: Paid Photography Is Dead



We know with the thousands of photographers listening to this podcast that we have a diverse audience.  As I have been thinking about how to tackle our topic today I thought we could start of by talking about 4 main groups of listeners we know are out there for this podcast

Some are seasoned pros who have been making a living doing for photography for their entire lives
Some are like you Connor, pros making their living doing photography but didn’t start out that way
Some are like me, passionate hobbyists who got bit by the photography bug and have been doing it mostly for fun for a few years but do some paid work.
Last, those who just barely got bit by that bug and are just starting into making a decision about a career


I want to start out our discussion today with that last group.  The beginning photographer who has absolutely fallen in love with the art and has a dream to have photographer be their career and make a living.  Maybe they are in high-school. Maybe they are just graduating high-school and have to make some life choices about a job or college.



 

Connor, what do you think a person in that situation is likely to hear from friends and family if they asked about pursuing a career as a professional photographer?

 


Let’s have a bit of a debate here Connor.  I am going to argue that paid photography is dead and it isn’t.  So I am going to start off by saying that having photography be the sole source of income, is dead.  Everyone is a photographer these days.

You have the cell phone that has not only killed off the compact camera market but it also eliminated photography jobs.  Some a little more trivial, like the photographers you used to see at theme parks. Some more important to society like news media who used to have staff photographers but now give cell phones to the reporters because those are good enough.
You also have the problem with the accessibility of really good photography gear these days.  Really that is the reason I am doing a podcast about photography at all. I have talked a lot on the shows on our Podcast Network about how even the most entry level consumer cameras these days are plenty of camera to do some really incredible photography,