I decided to turn a photo hobby into a professional endeavor in late 2020/early 2021. For the last two years, my goals have been to build out a professional-level portfolio, supplement my income to cover all photography-related expenses, and work with people that I can learn from.

I maintain a full-time, corporate job (40-60hrs/wk; earning over $100k), so my photo endeavors have to work around the constraints of that commitment.

I generate jobs through pitching potential clients on trips/activities that I have planned (or want to plan) (e.g., a fishing trip to Canada or hunting in Texas). My hit rate is admittedly pretty low, so I usually treat these trips as spec shoots that I later send to clients as my proof of concept/capabilities. I am very lucky to be able to juggle my job with these activities, as my job offers a relatively flexible leave policy and allows me to run a side business. Since I don’t rely on photography for all of my income, I have the luxury of being very choosy about what I shoot, who I shoot with, and who I work for. This has allowed me to take on long-term personal projects (including documentary film making), as well as paid work.

My financial goal on a yearly basis is to cover all photography-related expenses, which I did not accomplish in 2021, but (barely) accomplished in 2022.

My income is 90% Commercial, 10% Editorial.

Clients are US-based, national brands in the outdoor space (outdoor technical apparel, fishing, hunting).

I have low overhead. Yearly expenses are the usual suspects — cloud storage, website, etc. The last two years I have done one gear upgrade/year (lens, camera body, etc) in order to build out my professional kit. $3-4k/year.

Its hard to say how many days/year I work, since I am only part time. Since starting my business, I have averaged 7 days of *paid* shoots per year. If I add on spec shoots, that number grows to 30-40 days/year. Its worth noting that I view the majority of my spec shoots as leisure/fun (hiking, fishing, hunting, etc).

My income grew by 29% in the last year, but income remains low as I continue to shoot professionally in a part-time capacity.

My full time job is both key to my success, but also a major constraint. It benefits me because it allows me to step away from photo when I feel burned out (without losing income) and pays for spec shoots. However, it also constrains me because I’m unable to accept last minute jobs and I’m unable to take on as many projects as I’d like to.

Average job: two full days of shooting (morning and evening, with downtime during midday). Average day rate is 1500/day, based on licensing for 2 years, social and web. Expenses are also covered. Take home pay would be around $2-2.5k.

Best paying shoot to date was actually my third paid gig. I charged 1500/day for 3 days of shooting and received an additional 200/day for lodging/travel/meals. Since it was just me (no second shooter) and very low expenses, I pocketed $3700.

Worst paying shoot (besides the ones that were free) was my first ever paid gig: $400 for a 1-day shoot. No expenses covered. 9 hours of work. Client was local tourism board. Licensing was for all mediums in perpetuity. My take home pay was -$100.

I have recently taken up video through my work on short documentaries. I haven’t generated any income from video/films.

I have never viewed Instagram/Social Media as a viable tool for me. I don’t have the patience/time/interest to put into the platforms for the purposes of gaining followers/interactions. Instead, I focus my efforts on using those tools to network with other photographers and the marketing managers of brands that I’d like to work with. At the end of the day, I’ve found the most success with in-person events (trade shows, speaking panels, etc) where I can get face time with the right people.

Worst advice: Licensing doesn’t matter.

Best advice: You’re at a delicate place in photography. You have all the technical things figured out, but what makes your photo different from anyone else who was there with that gear that day? If you want to move forward and come away with photos that stir emotion, you need to answer the following: Why are you shooting this? Why do you want to photograph this? What makes your photographing this unique? The process of answering these will help you find your voice.

If you’re new to this, don’t feel the need to jump into this as a full time job. There are a lot of benefits to a slow burn, including finding your voice. My skill and portfolio has increased dramatically since I first started out… and to think that I was considering jumping into this full time two years ago is truly laughable. I was not ready, and if I had attempted to do so, I believe I would have lost my love for the art. Keep that love and passion alive.

I was based on the West Coast and had to relocate back home due to pay not being compensated by location and feeling inflation way too hard.

Photo feels like an afterthought. We’re told that it’s important, but then we don’t get any traction on being able to execute anything substantial that could elevate our company’s imagery. It seems like “good enough” is often, sadly, enough and we don’t often get to strive for excellence. When not using images from in-house staff we predominately use stock sites to source imagery. Benefits are good, but pay across the board is significantly lower than the standard.

I’ve needed to be paycheck to paycheck-ish a good bit of my entire career due to living in some expensive cities. I have some money squirreled away in savings. I know I can budget better, but I just find that my current wellness is more important until I can make more. I’ll probably get roasted for this in the comments. Financial gurus can drop their wisdom in the comments, pls.

I have unlimited PTO and probably take anywhere between 4-6 weeks off annually.

My income has dropped a lot recently: 72k – 2019, 79k – 2020, 83k – 2021, 90k – 2022, 67k – 2023.

I try to pick up freelance gigs, sell imagery, and for mostly my enjoyment, dog sit. As an introvert and neurodivergent person, it’s hard for me to find the energy to do the freelance thing after my 9-5. I’d love to have more freelance clients to work with, but the chasing leads, creating promos, and battling budgets has me pretty discouraged. I get a lot of, “your work is amazing!” but no money or work ever comes my way. My target industry is outdoor, travel, and some niche sports, and it often feels pretty saturated by the male gaze.

Sadly our budget is pretty dismal. I try to tell higher ups that a shoot is upwards 10k to get going and we’ll get a measly $3-4k thrown our way. Then we get questioned why the quality is piss-poor or why shots were missed. Our imagery comes from in-house staff and it’s often not great. My average work day is basically sourcing imagery and basic retouching work.

My advice for anyone looking to get into this line of work is don’t settle during the offer stage. HR is out to give you the hardest sales pitch of your life when trying to get you onboard. Fight for higher pay, more vacation, or other benefits if more pay isn’t available. Don’t hold your breath if they say raises and promotions will happen quickly – it’s their prerogative to get you signed on and they will say whatever they can to convince you. If you’re a woman, non-binary, and/or POC fight for your life to get the same pay as your male counterparts. Do your research and see what others in the role make and demand the exact same. I have had men on my team, doing the same exact job as me, make $5/hr more.

I started out my career scanning negatives and digitizing them while still in college on the East coast making $12/hr. When I saw that I wasn’t getting any traction from West coast companies, while still being on the East coast after graduating, I packed my trunk full of necessities in my car and drove out West. I worked part-time at a whatever e-commerce warehouse making $18/hr in Seattle while doing random photo shoots for $50/a shoot (I could get a shoot done in 30-60 min) shooting food for restaurants platforms like Caviar and UberEats. After 8 months drowning, making no money, I got a job as a photo editor at a tech company making $35/hr.

You can do it but you need to be persistent. For full transparency, I had help from my parents while in college and post college until I got the tech job. I wouldn’t say I’m totally happy with what I’m doing as a photo editor, but I appreciate the consistent paycheck. I see my friend’s who are constantly shooting either as in-house photographers, or freelance, and I am so envious that they’ve “lucked out” with those jobs. If you’re good with being behind a computer all day then I’d say photo editing and retouching is for you. Personally, for myself, I’d much rather be at a healthier 50/50 split with shooting or producing away from a computer half the time.

Worst advice: “Just keep shooting.” A local female photographer told me this once when I approached her asking if she needed a second shooter or could use an assistant on her shoots, unpaid. It just annoys me to this day. Giving people a chance, providing an experience even if you cant pay, is more worthwhile then just telling people to keep shooting. The experience folks get on shoots is not equal/the same as shooting themselves. I could have potentially learned a lot from that person, gained experience in assisting, and made a career out of it. But you know, I’ll just keep shooting.

Best advice: Fucking send it (me, I’m the best advice I’ve ever heard).

Reach out to photographers in your area to second shoot or assist, if that’s your jam. I found that any experience in the photo field was good experience, even if it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing long term. More than not, some photographer in your area knows someone else who is willing to have you help out or shadow them during a shoot. Assisting and second shooting for someone can lead to your photographer passing off gigs they don’t want to do to you and allowing you to build a clientele. I’ve had folks who didn’t need help at that very moment save my email and reach out months to a year later with a gig.”

I don’t promote my photo editor “status” on my Instagram, so most people don’t know where I work my 9-5; but the photographers that do know will reach out to me via DM, and I’m cool with that. Email is also preferred. Please, for all that is good and holy, do not reach out to me on LinkedIn. UNLESS, you are writing me an actual message that I can tell isn’t just some C+P’d laundry list of achievements.

I find photographers on Instagram, Getty, Cherrydeck. Women photograph. Diversify Photo. But as previous folks have said, just because I follow you, doesn’t mean I can hire you. In an ideal world, I’d hire each talented person I find but it’s sadly not the reality.

Pay your interns. It’s 2023. Eggs are $10. There’s no reason why interns should be second shooting or editing your work for you for zero pay. Give new photographers a chance; give women a chance. I get wanting to stick with “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” mentality with some of your golden boy photographers, but there’s lots of new talent out there that deserves to see the light of day. Mine included, honestly.

I work with various domestic + international publications and in my salaried position I report to the Chief Brand Officer.

The most important thing I ever did was find a reliable accountant who has plenty of experience with creatives that do both salaried and freelance work. He has given me so much valuable financial advice over the years especially with taxes—all the important things we should’ve learned in school. I’m an LLC business elected as an S-corp, a move we made once my freelance income reached a certain point a few years ago (when I freelanced more than I do now). If you’re making over $30k in freelance income and you haven’t looked into converted to s-corp yet, I would highly recommend it.

I have a 401k with company match, and have about $100k. I also have a separate Roth IRA that I started this year and it has about $20k. I didn’t know what to do with my personal finances until very recently, unfortunately. THEY NEED TO TEACH THIS STUFF IN SCHOOL.

I work between 160-180 days a year. I work in an awesome company that has unlimited paid vacation and encourages everyone to take as much time off as possible. It’s been a weird transition for me to just be able to take time for myself as I please because I used to get cold sweats just thinking of the most polite and gentle way to ask for time off in my previous jobs. If I was sick, I had to act REALLY sick just so my boss would believe that I really needed a break. Now, I just peace out when I need to.

I doubled my income in taking this position. I used to be a photo editor in an international news organization that didn’t pay very well and gave very insignificant raises.

I still do freelance work on the side, but in the past couple years, I’ve finally given myself permission to say no to projects that I don’t necessarily feel excited about. I’m in an extremely privileged position to not have to take on shitty jobs for money.

I used to say yes to everything because I was living paycheck to paycheck. My mental and physical health suffered a lot in the beginning of my career. The weird thing is, looking back now, I had so much pride in my “hustle”. I was so proud of the fact that I worked almost all year long, even during holidays sometimes, as if I was doing world-changing work. I wasn’t. I was doing $450 assignments. And I would say my peers at the time felt the same too. And we were ALL quietly suffering, but none of us admitted it to each other.

I spend a lot of time working on art direction for future shoots, brainstorming with my team, and pitching projects. If I’m actively working on a project, I’m usually planning for shoots with my producers. We have a pool of freelancers we like to hire from, but I also spend a lot of time looking at Instagram accounts and websites. My team is made up of incredibly nice + high performing people, and we prefer the same when hiring freelancers.

If you want to get into my line of work be nice. You don’t have to be a saint, but just be a decent, nice person. I’ve unfortunately met a good amount of talented but not very nice folks. Because I’m a woman, I’ve had my fair share of mistreatment. I’ve been mansplained to by someone I’ve hired. I’ve been sent rude emails. And I always say, that’s totally fine. I’m just never hiring you again and if someone asks me about you, I will definitely share my experience.

This industry can be very stressful, but it doesn’t make it okay for anyone to be shitty to people they’re working with especially because photo editors + producers talk to each other. We all move around to different companies, but we stay in touch. If someone gave you an opportunity, at least try not to be a dick. Is it obvious I’ve had a lot of experience with this?

Best advice: set aside money for taxes!

Worst advice: go back to school and get a master’s degree.

I prefer photographers reach out via emails or Instagram DMs. I don’t really like LinkedIn messages. I use Instagram and emails to find photographers, and I like to look at people’s websites.

Please make sure your portfolio’s tightly edited. I always look at the cold emails I get and I’m often shocked at how poorly edited the websites are. First impressions are very important. Let your website reflect the kind of jobs you’re aiming for and learn to kill your favorite images. Some images you’re attached to won’t look the same to a stranger who doesn’t know the back story. Edit and re-edit, see how all the images blend together. Find an editor you can work with to look at your site and give you brutally honest feedback.

Depending on the scope of work, our photography rates start at $1500 plus expenses.

I work for a major national newspaper in NYC.

I work full time job with 3-4 weeks PTO.

I started my current job in the low 80s, then received a few small bumps over the past couple of years to reach 92k.

I have no other sources of income this time, but would love to start a newsletter or offer 1:1 sessions with photographers who need editing help on personal projects, portfolio, or grant proposals.

For retirement I have a 401(k) with company match. I contribute 12% per year, with a company match up to about 3% which is not great, but it’s something.

I spend about a third of my day in meetings, talking with reporters, editors and other photo editors about upcoming coverage and how we should approach it visually. Another third of my day is commissioning and briefing photographers, and producing shoots for upcoming stories. The rest of my time is spent reading story drafts, researching and editing photos for quicker-turn stories, building online articles and collaborating with art directors on layouts for print. Also, processing invoices, tracking payment, sending contracts, onboarding vendors, all the admin stuff. It’s a lot.

There’s a slightly romantic view of photo editors from the outside, but some days our work feels so operational and further away from photography than a lot of us ever imagined. The pace, constantly shifting deadlines, newsroom bureaucracy, and aesthetic boundaries can be a bit crushing, but there are some really magical moments of creative collaboration.

There is no set path to break into photo editing, which can be incredibly opaque and frustrating. It took me years of networking to get a full-time gig. Some people enter the industry in more traditional ways, such as art schools or photojournalism programs, others break in through an industry mentor, internships, fellowships, lateral moves in a newsroom from other functions, or years of freelance photography.

While they are super competitive and few, photo editing internships are the most reliable way to establish the portfolio and skillset for a full-time editing job. It is certainly possible to develop your eye and learn the skill of editing, sequencing and visual narrative in a workshop or developing your or a friend’s personal project.

That being said, a truly effective Photo Editor is built making edits in minutes rather than hours, in hard conversations we have around ethical and accurate image making and selection, and constantly advocating for photography in newsrooms where words often come first. You must learn to articulate the value of an image to reporters, editors, etc. with limited visual vocabulary, and often make artistic compromises for the fit and betterment of a story. For the record, I find a lot of this very frustrating. I wish you didn’t need experience (and a whole lot of luck) to get experience. But it’s true.

Best advice: Surround yourself with photo and non-photo folks who support you, inspire you, and offer a safe place to brainstorm ideas freely without competition. This industry is very small, so be kind. Establish strict work-life boundaries. Have a hobby outside of photography, get outside, and take care of yourself.

Worst advice: Settling for the safe, easy option. Often times photo editors get a bit stagnant with commissioning and creative direction because the role is so demanding and they become too risk averse. But every story is an opportunity to push the industry and publication forward, from aesthetics to representation, even if it can be difficult internally sometimes. You have power, so use it productively. You will become a better creative professional learning to have these tough conversations respectfully and collaboratively.

I am never annoyed with emails or even DMs, Instagram is a major tool for me to find new talent and get inspired, plus engage with people in a way that isn’t super time consuming like an email can be. I can’t respond to every message, but I always read them, and will often give someone a follow if I see potential in their work. Getting DMs on the weekend or after work hours isn’t the best, but I’ve kinda accepted my fate there and try to keep my own boundaries because people are on different time zones and are busy too.

The most successful cold emails are highly specific, know what subject matter I cover, and include a pitch idea that is thoughtful, well-researched, and recognizes the need for some sort of hook and a visual narrative that can stand alone without a reported article. If we have an established relationship, I’m more open to looser pitches/ideas and will do more initial legwork to develop the pitch and get buy-in internally. I don’t expect you to be an expert in our coverage, but some awareness around that goes a long way!

One gripe, and I say this with so much love: please do not bcc a bunch of editors on one email–we can tell, and we all talk! I know- writing individual, tailored emails is very time consuming. But I think targeting a few specific editors you want to collaborate with, articulating why your work is a good fit for them and their publication, and focusing your email and meeting efforts there will drastically increase your success rate.

I find photographers through Instagram, agencies, lists like Diversify Photo and Women Photograph, art programs, portfolio reviews, bylines in other publications, other editor’s recommendations.

I pay $500 day rate plus expenses, multi-day assignments or longer term stories often result in a negotiated project fee.

I work almost exclusively as a digital tech in NYC (about 90% of income). I shoot some video projects (less than 10%) and do occasional set design & production work (to get away from a computer screen); combined between business income and paying myself a minimal salary (after expenses). I also own a small amount of gear that I sub-rent.

I’m set up as an S-Corp and I pay myself a small salary. I am the only employee; a handful of times each year I hire freelancers for video work. Keeping my personal salary low allows me to qualify for low cost healthcare.

The type of shoots I digi tech on run the gamut – Lifestyle, Fashion, Product/StillLife/Cosmetics, Celebrity, Occasional E-comm; mostly NYC, occasionally LA and Miami jobs.

Minimal overhead; no studio, some gear I rent out to clients. Try to keep my overhead to a minimum.

My retirement is an IRA that I manage.

I work 130-140 days a year.

The pandemic years between late 2020 and Late 2022 were some of the busiest years of my career as a DT. This year has been up and down.

My day rate as a DT: 650-750/10 hour day. Set Design/Production days: 500/day; Camera Op/livestreaming: $1000/Day.

Best gig recently, last September 2022, 6 day gig as digi tech $6000 including some OT.

Worst recent gig was a photographer I work with regularly who took 6 months to pay a $650 invoice. After that I added a $100 fee on top of all his invoices to guarantee on time payment .

My jobs come from word of mouth/recommendations from colleagues.

I believe the photo industry needs a movement to unionize. Too often it’s every one for themselves. The younger generation undercuts those of us who’ve put the time in; the photogs sometimes forget the crew that are the backbone of the industry and we need them to stand with and stand up for their assistants/techs/producers etc so that we can all flourish. We need a sliding scale that makes sure everyone is taken care of and a way to reward longevity and experience in the industry. We also need a way for clients to know they can hire crew with confidence, while they also pay industry standard rates with a base for minimum rate they should expect to pay.If not I expect the industry will continue to be a race to the bottom.

My business is structured as an S Corp.

My clients are East Coast Fortune 500.

I have a Roth IRA for retirement.

I work 50 days a year.

The last few years my income has been up and down.

Average job is 10 hours days and I take home about $10k per three days of work.

I pay assistants $450/day.

Best paying recent job was $20k for a 3 day project.

Jobs are all from word of mouth and networking.

Worst advice: Don’t do grunge work.

Best advice: Under promise and over deliver.

My go to answer:

You can search though these instagram posts as most people have described their typical shoot pricing.

You can also search these articles on my blog for examples:
https://aphotoeditor.com/category/pricing-negotiating/

You can hire @wonderfulmachine to help you

You can hire a consultant: https://aphotoeditor.com/2008/02/04/list-of-photography-consultants/

@blinkbid and @cradoc_fotosoftware fotoquote have software with pricing

You can ask your peers.

My income is 75% first assist, 25% photography (20% commercial 5% editorial). For editorial, I cover a lot of Florida based conservation projects. Sponge divers, oyster farmers, controlled burns, etc. For commercial, I cover a lot of outdoor brands. Paddle board, surf, and lifestyle brands that fall into an outdoor realm. Underwater usually plays itself into both categories.

I deduct 30% from each paycheck for taxes. I write off the bare minimum in hopes of buying a house one day, which is why my expenses are low.

When assisting, it’s all over the US. Large outdoor brands and Fortune 500. Personally, I have one Fortune 500 client, and a handful of small companies I’d shoot for throughout Florida.

My overhead is usually travel expenses that get reimbursed. My main overhead is website, Dropbox, insurance, intuit, etc. Comes out to around $2k a year.

I’ve been stashing as much savings into a high yield as possible this year in hopes for a home. I have 0 debt though, so that helps increase my savings.

I work roughly 100 days a year.

I detail cars and boats on the side. I pay myself the bare minimum from my photography business account, so this cash flow helps if I have unexpected cost that come up, extra savings I want to put away, or the extra money to take a small vacation. On average, I detail around 8 days a month. (96 days a year) this income is not reflected in my photo salary. I typically make an additional 12k a year from this side hustle.

Average assist rate is $500 for 10 hours. Anything after is OT. If it’s out of town, travel days are half rate, expenses such as gas and food are covered.

Photography rate is $1k a day. Working on getting my rate up. Typical shoot is 6-8 hours. Travel days are half rate, travel expenses and post days are added in as well. For every two days on a shoot, I bill for one post day @500/day. Take home for a two day shoot is $2,500 (not including expenses). After taxes, $1,750.

Best paying shoot was for a fire truck company. For a three day shoot, travel days, post and expenses included, $8200. Take home after expense and taxes was $4305. No licensing terms added.

Worst paying shoot was a four day campaign + 2 travel days for a very large, very successful CA based surf brand when I was first starting out. Rate + expenses was $2650. After taxes and expenses I took home $1400.

Video makes up 5% of my income.

I’ve learned that cold emails don’t work for me. What’s worked best is meeting people in person and working on personal projects. I’ve learned that the best way to get new business is to provide value, and I think that comes across better for me in person.

Best advice: be a person that people want to be around.

Worst advice: ask for more money when I was first starting out.

Don’t be an asshole. People will treat you like shit in this industry, but that doesn’t mean you have to do that when you’re finally established. Be kind to the new people coming in. Give back and be willing to help. You never know what roles those folks will take on as they advance in their career.

As you can see, on paper the numbers look a little all over the place, but the year that represents “normal” business for me the most is 2021. A lot of my years prior to 2020 are closer to 2021’s numbers or slightly above. I included 2023 numbers so far because things are on track to be “normal” for me again. In 2020, there was an obvious slow down from COVID, then in 2022 I voluntarily took off about 6 months to help with the birth of my son.

In a regular year, my gross income is around $450k to $550k. I don’t have a lot of overhead. I mostly travel for my jobs, and pass on all the related expenses to my clients. I don’t own a studio, and only have a small home office. No full time staff. I hire all my assistants, techs, producers, etc on a per job basis. I have my regulars that I work with often, and have different crews local to NY and LA and decide which to use based off where the job is. Outside of that, I’m usually looking for any reasonable business expenses I can safely write off. I have an agent that gets 30%, and my gross number already reflects that since I don’t take in their portion of a project’s fees.

Speaking of 30% agency fees; I read the comments on these and often see this as a point of debate. You can book some amazing, well paying jobs without an agent. This plays no part in whether you get hired, however, if you value your time like I do, then the right agent can be helpful and worth the money. My agency in particular makes me feel secure about our relationship. I talk with them all the time about strategy, and other things I’m curious about as far as how to better my business. They also add a huge layer of infrastructure that I feel like I need to handle my client base.

I don’t find sitting in front of the computer communicating with clients all that fun, or working on scheduling details for hypothetical projects which happens a lot. It sounds small, but when you’re working multiple jobs going from city to city, the last thing you wanna do is spend an hour answering emails once you have a moment to chill out. At the end of the day I consider this a highly personal decision, and not all agents are created equal, but if you have the right one then it can be something that adds to your bottom via a time return which in some ways can be more valuable than money.

I spent the majority of my career working in advertising with a concentration on sports and athletics. At the time that I got into it, it wasn’t nearly as popular of a category as it is now. Athleisure wasn’t a thing yet, but with my style and perspective I brought something different to a space that was overlooked by others who wanted to be in fashion and celeb entertainment. Eventually, I got my business to a place where I regularly work with celeb talent for big brands exclusively. Today, the category is more popular than ever and for that reason I’ve invested time in expanding beyond just sports. I now work with clients in tech, finance, pharma, and entertainment. This business moves in waves, so my expansion and ability to bring my style to other genres have helped me stay as busy as I want to be. A typical month for me can include working with a celebrity athlete for a big international client, then the following week working with non celeb, real people talent for a completely different kind of client like a bank or pharmaceutical company, then another week later shooting the keyart for a tv series. I think that this kind of versatility in my work and skillset is a unique edge that helps me earn the way I do. The key is that I shoot all these different types of subjects without changing my creative voice or point of view.

I’ve had a CPA from year 1, and right away she advised me to open a SEP IRA which I max out every year. This helps me save a nice amount on taxes by deferring them to when I start making withdrawals. This process has helped me build a rather nice sized retirement account which is valued at about $650k now. The first year I opened it with about $7k, so I’m proud of how much I’ve been able to grow it in such a short time through saving and investing. I pay pretty close attention to my investment portfolio outside of my retirement account, but this is more so a long term vehicle that I don’t really take money out of, and only continue to add to it when I have any extra money.

I normally do 1 or 2 multi day shoots a month that amount to about 2 weeks of physical work. Maybe 3 if things are really busy. Otherwise, I spend my days off on creative calls, and production related calls for any projects I’m working on. I also spend a good amount of time researching and understanding whatever is happening in the industry that affects me. This includes doing a lot of reading or even being on IG researching what agencies clients are working with, and trying to understand who I need help getting work in front of. In the past, more towards the beginning of my career I did a lot more shoots per month, but they were lower quality as far as day rate, and usually less shoot days. That meant I had to do around 5-6 shoots per month to equal the monthly return I get now. My current workload is perfect for me and my family’s lifestyle. I work just enough to not feel like I’m getting burned out.

I had a couple of years in the past where I netted $750k, or close to $900k. I was a bit younger then with a more intense drive because I knew how hard it was to get started. I was saying yes to nearly everything with almost no regard for my body or well being. I was on a mission, so none of that mattered. I just wanted to make as much money as possible. In that phase, I wasn’t necessarily looking for balance, where as in this current phase of my life I value the time I don’t spend working a lot more. I enjoy being home, and spending time with family and friends.

There has been a deliberate decision to pull back and focus more on the quality of jobs versus the quantity. In turn, that has lowered my bottom line but I couldn’t be happier. Granted, I used the income from those “go hard” periods to pay off student loans for myself and my wife, buy a home, and knock off other big financial burdens which allow me to take it a little easier now. Now, I’m making a really good living without the pressure of needing to find a way to get bigger.

My best paying shoot was for a tech client. The shoot was about 2 weeks long including all the travel, prep, and shoot days. My fees were $170k after expenses and rep commission. This is my best paying job as far as the amount, but I had another job that paid around $80k after fees, and it was just a two day shoot with about 4 travel days. This was my best job as far as how much I made against how much time I actually worked.

When i first started I did a shoot as a favor for an art director, and got offered a pair of sneakers. I never got the sneakers lol, so this was my “worst” paying shoot. Honestly, I was super young, and the pics I got from it ended up being worth more than the sneakers. I used the shots to get so much more work after that, and thats the lesson I would pass on to any one reading this. Free work is almost inevitable, but be strategic about it. You need to assess how you can leverage a small opportunity into something bigger. The something bigger might not be the shots you get. It could also mean getting on set with an agency, or art buyer/art director you really wanna meet. Also, you still wanna do proper paperwork/estimate for this kind of exchange then show how you discounted you normal rate to meet whatever payment you agreed to. This helps you not short change yourself if you continue working with these same people again in the future.

I also direct video, but it’s almost a separate thing from my photography. I never personally shoot video, and sometimes get added fees as a director on my photoshoots. I always bring on a DP that can match my style, and direct them on what I want. I’ve directed some decently budgeted commercials before too where I did no still photography, and could do this more but I don’t love the process although it can be fun sometimes. A pretty small percentage of my income comes from this setup. I’ll likely explore straight up directing more in the future.

In the age of everything being digital, I’m a huge fan of trying to meet as many people as you can in person. No matter how good your work is, a huge part of being successful in this business is who you know, and who knows you. I have a rather easy going personality, and have been told that I have a calming presence. A lot of my clients describe situations that are chaotic or need me to work with celeb personalities that can be unpredictable. It helps if you are not adding to this stress, and they know you can handle a high pressure situation with ease. This is something thats very important, but hard to get from an email or DM. When there’s a client I want to meet, my agent usually leverages their existing connections to get me a meeting when I’m in town, and more recently Zoom/virtual meetings if schedules don’t allow for in person. In addition to that, my agency advertises as a group through newsletters, social media, and events like Le Book along with specific blasts about what each artist is working on. I used to do printed promos and mailers, but stopped after I took a break for a while on doing it, and business stayed strong. Instead, I invest money occasionally in personal shoots that interest me.

I started my professional career in 2011/2012, and as many other Black photographers have experienced at some point, I was told back then that I needed to shoot more White people and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be successful in this business. Even though it wasn’t that long ago, that was a common thought back then. Black faces in front of the camera for ad campaigns just wasn’t a normal thing at that time, so when you presented a book full of them, some people didn’t know how to critique it without making the work about that. Needless to say, that was the worst advice I was given.

I have so much to say here, but I will try to keep it brief and concise. I’m very proud of the career I’ve had thus far. It can end tomorrow, and I would be happy with all the things I’ve done. A relentless work ethic in developing my skills, a keen understanding of business, and a bit of luck are all the things I think were key in getting me here.

Bury yourself in the craft, and develop a strong creative voice/perspective. I think too many are concerned with getting work too fast, instead of focusing on building their taste level. A strong creative voice will bring you more work than you can imagine, but getting there takes time. Once you get into business, and start making money the pressure to continue making money only increases, which in turn takes away from the time and energy you have to really focus on getting better and understanding what you like. That cycle can be hard to break, and can create an environment where people find themselves stuck at a certain level and/or unhappy with the work that they attract.

Next, get out and meet people within the industry face to face. Emailing, and dm’ing is great for opening a conversation, but I found a lot more success from meeting people in person. I think its because you become a real person at that point as opposed to being black and white letters on a screen. Art directors, art buyers, etc are busy people and get emailed a lot so it can be hard to stand out. Don’t get discouraged by not hearing back right away. You have to stay persistent and keep trying.

As a working artist, the insecure feeling of “it can be over tomorrow” never leaves. It’s a feeling you must learn to live with, and work through. I have learned to use this feeling as motivation versus it being something that debilitates me. The task of becoming and continuing to be a working artist can be overwhelming, so I committed a long time ago to doing at least one thing a day that helps my business, and it doesn’t matter how big or small the one thing is. I do this because it helps me stay focused on the process and know that even when I’m not seeing the results everyday I’m still moving forward.

Lastly, know your client’s love language. For most of the projects I get, I have to go through a bidding process that includes a creative call and sometimes presenting a treatment. My win rate increased a lot when I became good at understanding from job to job what qualities my potential client valued. From there, knowing how to articulate my understanding of those values in real time gave me an edge. Reading people, and knowing how to sell yourself is a huge part of being successful in this business. Having good work is just one part of the equation, but once you add the confidence to sell yourself you’ll be able to take your opportunities to the next level.

P.S. ChatGPT wrote all of this, just kidding! Thanks for reading.

It’s been quite humbling reading through these and realizing how business savvy so many photographers are. I have not been particularly smart about running my business. I feel like it’s been 12 years of focussing on the creative side, then just crossing my fingers and praying that people pay invoices within 30 days. I keep everything to the bare minimum with low overheads. I have many different clients in different industries but the bulk of my work is shooting portraits within entertainment/music/arts. Sometimes direct for client sometimes through ad agencies. My income is 65% commercial, 25% editorial, 10% fine art.

I don’t want to be a small business owner – I want to be an artist who can live an acceptable lifestyle solely through my art and I want to have spare time to travel and pursue hobbies. Yes I would like to earn more money and be more successful but I constantly remind myself how lucky I am to be doing this and making any kind of living at all.

I was a professional musician in Europe in my early 20s which lead to my photography career. So I have always had steady work for major record labels and music management companies in the US and EU. Some of my music clients moved into advertising so I began shooting for ad agencies – stills on set mainly. Around 2018 this eventually led to good work with large alcohol and tech companies shooting smaller campaigns.

Then most of these clients disappeared entirely during the pandemic. A lot of my contacts lost their jobs, left the industry or simply changed creative direction. It was worrying for a while.

In that void I have built a little editorial career I never had, shooting for major newspapers and some established magazines. The money is not good but its not too bad and most portrait shoots are short, easy and inspiring. I still do a lot of work for record labels and smaller creative agencies.

I rent a tiny art studio for desk work and fine art stuff. Its a luxury and I love it. Its $425/month. I stopped shooting film this year which has been life-changing financially (and artistically!). I have owned a medium format digital system for a six years now and it is paid off. I own a lot of pretty basic lighting and video gear. I rent it out sometimes which helps.

I am an only child from a single parent. We were comfortable but not wealthy. However I live my life knowing one day I will inherit a house in a major city and that allows me to take risks with my career that many others may not have the privilege to. I am enormously thankful for this.

Also important for people to note that there is a huge amount of unspoken, generational wealth in the photo world. A lot of nepotism too. Especially the more glamorous fashion/fine art side of things. If you feel bad for not publishing that book or finishing that series just know that a lot of people you are comparing yourself to may not face the daily restrictions that you do.

I’m lucky to have a partner with a slightly more stable income who is very supportive.

I shoot about 50 – 70 days a year. Then a lot of editing and admin time in the studio.

I have just reached my pre-pandemic income again. 2020/21 was incredibly tough.

In 2017/18 I had some health and financial problems and a friend got me a job as a camera operator for (some terrible) reality TV productions which paid well for about 30 days of work.

Never forget that as a photographer you have technical knowledge that is valuable to people and you might be able to find some niche work if you ever feel stuck.

I shoot a few editorial portraits a month. These range from $450 to $1k. They usually take 1-2 hours, then I deliver the contact sheet and 1-6 final images. Travel can often be the most time consuming part!

My current commercial jobs are usually 1-2 days, 8-12 hours per day. My base rate is $2500 per day. I make sure that is minimum take home. It is sometimes more, rarely less and never below $1800.

Edit and delivery will often take a day or two. I make sure I charge between $400-600 for these days. If clients want multiple retouched images then more.

I only do all-in budgets or buy-outs really. I need to get better at understanding licensing.

My best paying job was a campaign for a large alcohol brand. 2x travel days, 3x shoot days, 4x edit days. I agreed an all-in fee of $25k and needed to deliver 4 images which were total buy-outs.

I do a lot of favors for friends and my wider network when I have spare time. I never go below $350 for a few hours. If its a full day I’ll charge at least $750. Whether this is headshots for actors or little music videos etc.

People will always ask you for favors as a photographer. Have the courage to say no if you feel so inclined. Just make sure nobody is using your work to make income directly, if they are or if they have personal wealth then ask for your commercial rates.

I used to shoot a lot of video up until 2020. I found it an easy way to make money but weirdly unsatisfying. I have a good portfolio of music videos and branded docs as both director and DoP but really want to focus on stills right now. I would say I was 50/50 in 2019 and in 2022 I was 80/20 stills/video. I think my video career harmed my stills career and stunted my growth as an artist. I am trying to focus on stills from now on but video work will come calling I’m sure.

In this fine art/editorial/commercial world – I think that creating coherent bodies of personal work, then submitting them for features in prominent online magazines is pretty much the best marketing you can do. The last time I did this, it lead to some really great commercial work. I think a lot of people in positions of power, need to see initial recognition from somebody else before taking that leap and commissioning you.

Instagram is of course the necessary evil and undoubtedly the most important marketing tool for a photographer – I put in minimum effort and try to have fun with it. I would say I have a good following for my type of work, but I would also like to get better at using it. It can be real bad for confidence though, just know that a lot of people with big followings are just playing to algorithms or buying followers. Its a fine line between using the platform smartly and keeping your distance from it.

Best advice was to have a positive routine before traveling to a shoot. For me this includes looking through my recent comparable work, thinking about what I should do differently and what I should repeat. I might look through a photo book for inspiration and I’ll try not to think about any stressful everyday life stuff too close to the shoot!

Worst advice was my Dad telling me to “take any job for money”when I was young and inexperienced. I did this for years, it slowed my progress in crafting a personal style which is key for long term success. Don’t listen to your parents too closely if they haven’t had a creative career ha!

Take inspiration from outside photography. Look at paintings, watch sports, get into gardening. Photography careers are evolving rapidly but I still think it’s a long game and the most curious people always win in the end.

I work for a childrenswear retailer. This position was listed at $55k max, but with the retouching and excel skills I brought to the job, plus experience, they were able to increase it to $60k which I still feel is undervalued for what I provide.

When I moved to South Carolina the options to work as a photographer were slim. I was previously working in North Carolina for a shoe retailer making $72.5k as a lead photographer.

I work for a single employer as a typical M-F 8-5 w2 employee. I do have an employer matched 401k and 13 paid vacation days plus additional sick days available.

Their cycle of shooting is a bit chaotic and changes with the seasonal release of product to vendors. Photography consists of necessary files for store plannograms, ecommerce on white, flat lays and on figure (both on white and lifestyle). I do not have an assistant and do all of my my own lighting and editing. We do bring in a stylist as needed. We are a team of 3 photographers plus a manager and we each handle a specific brand and retailer in the children’s clothing business. While the other brands are split amongst photographers here, I handle a single brand and all of the types of photography listed above for that brand. It can be hectic.

Worst advice: Being a photographer will make you a starving artist. You should go in to marketing.

I’ve done well in my career, and while this position has been a step back financially, in many ways, it was a necessity in my career.

Learn photoshop – and more than the basics! It has helped me to be an asset to the companies I have worked for and helped me advance in my career.

My income is 80% Weddings and 20% Commercial Photography. My business is structured as an LLC but taxes as an S-Corp.

My commercial clients are smaller businesses. I work with a lot of commercial video teams that bring me on to take stills alongside video.

Overhead:
Studio space – $300/mo
Equipment upgrades – $5,000-10,000 a year

I have a Roth IRA that I contribute a little bit to, and then I also have a small real estate investment portfolio. The goal is 10 houses in the next 8 years (I currently have 2 houses at the moment). After those 10 houses, the goal is to continually scale.

Realistically working roughly 160 days a year.

General increase of income year over year from 2018 until 2020. I still did roughly 100k in 2020. while in 2021 I photographed more weddings than any year prior and had an income decrease to 90k. 2022 picked back up with work, I shot less weddings but more commercial work and brought my average business income back to 95-100k.

I have two houses (3 rental units total). I live in a duplex and rent out the other side which covers 80% of my mortgage. I live for next to nothing because of my real estate income, which averages to about $400 a month take home. It’s not much at the moment, but I plan to scale and purchase another house within the next 12 months.

An average wedding is around 8-10 hours of coverage, and they are usually 30-90 minutes away from my home. Average wedding couple spends around $5,000. Take home after paying assistant and taxes is around $2,500.

Commercial projects are roughly 8-10 hour shoots with 3-4 hours of editing. My day rate is between $2,500-3,000 depending on the scope. Historically there have been few expenses per project, so take home is roughly that full amount.

Best shoot was for a local internet provider asking for photos of local spots in two nearby cities. Pay was initially $3,000. For some reason they dragged their feet on payment for three months. As an apology they added an extra $2,000 making the total take home $5,000 for about 6 hours worth of work over 3-4 days.

The worst paying shoot was for an education company. They wanted studio layflat images and then 2-3 headshots. The payment was $1,700 for 40 images. After I sent a contact sheet, they chose to select only headshots and lifestyle portraits of the owners. Which meant 40 heavily retouched photos. I outsourced the editing for time. After outsourcing and studio / light rentals, take home was around $1,000 for 8 hours of work.

I do not shoot or offer video.

I am strictly word of mouth. I have a wedding website, and have yet to build the commercial photography website.

Best advice was to learn how light moves, and hire an accountant.

Worst advice was to shoot destination weddings for free or next to nothing.

When quoting a commercial photography project, quote a number that makes your stomach turn. The worst thing they can do is say no for this project. Then when they have a project that has the budget you quoted, they’ll likely remember you and come to you. We all know higher price is often higher perceived value.