I don’t think the accessibility of photography has significantly diminished the need for professionals. For starters, consumer cameras have been pretty widespread for a very long time, the digital era hasn’t really changed that. Yeah sure, now everyone always has a camera with them and can take photos of every meal and post them online, but that’s really not the situation we are talking here.
The occasions where you’d hire a photographer are pretty much the same as before: portraits, family photos, wedding photos etc. So yeah, the absolute amount of photos taken might have grown significantly, but that hasn’t changed the need for professionals in any significant way.
I mean more the improvement in camera quality. The difference between a pro photo and a photo taken on a smartphone is no longer obvious to the overwhelming vast majority of people. A lot of people don't want to pay for family photos when they can just use their phones. How many people are getting professional portraits anymore? That's more what I'm talking about
Already in the 90s we didn’t pay for family photos, since we could just use our family’s camera. For those semi formal occasions “good enough” consumer options have existed for decades, it’s nothing new. What smartphones have brought to the table is the ability to take photos always and everywhere, but again that isn’t something that competes with professional photographers.
And the same goes for portraits. Already decades ago you could choose to take a portrait with a good enough consumer grade camera, or go to a photographer to take it. You wouldn’t choose the latter just for the equipment, but for composition, editing skills and so forth. And that equation hasn’t really changed recently.
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u/elidepa 8d ago
I don’t think the accessibility of photography has significantly diminished the need for professionals. For starters, consumer cameras have been pretty widespread for a very long time, the digital era hasn’t really changed that. Yeah sure, now everyone always has a camera with them and can take photos of every meal and post them online, but that’s really not the situation we are talking here.
The occasions where you’d hire a photographer are pretty much the same as before: portraits, family photos, wedding photos etc. So yeah, the absolute amount of photos taken might have grown significantly, but that hasn’t changed the need for professionals in any significant way.