In a recent article posted on Yahoo, Susan Johnston posts the “7 Jobs to Skip College For.” Freelance photographer made the top of this list. While Ms. Johnston fully acknowledges that these aren’t just easy jobs for drop-outs and they do require a specialized degree, from my perspective, this is just another shot at our industry that you really don’t need much more than a camera and a bit of interest and you’ll be making, as the article says, a median salary of $47,800.
Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t know many photographers, taking home over $45,000. Sure our gross can be several times that but after cost of goods, fixed expenses, equipment investments, employees, taxes and the like, I don’t think many photographers are taking home that kind of money. The ones who are do have at least a degree in photography and many years of experience.
Photography is (or at least was) a craft as well as an art. It takes years to learn and do well. Running a business, is also a skill, to make a living in photography you need a solid business education. Articles like this, in my mind, make light of a serious and challenging profession. Check out the article for yourself and let us know what your background is and if you are taking home this kind of money.
Tags: photography business, Photography Education, professional photography, shoot and burn photographers
I don’t have a degree in photography, but I do have several years of self-learning and a collection of courses and seminars along with a technical degree and marketing-centric MBA.
As my first year in business, I took a loss on photography last year. Will probably do so again this year, expecting to turn my first profit next year.
While I’m sure it happens now and then, I really don’t think the average shutterbug can walk out of high school and expect make a solid living from photography. To do so would take some combination of immense luck, prodigy-like talent, seriously high initiative, and innate marketing savvy.
That’s something this article doesn’t talk about, even if you don’t have a formal photo eduction, without experience you’ll get nowhere and good experience takes time to aquire.