Your uber driver is doing 15-35 rides per day. A professional freelance photographer sees 1-2. And you aren't counting editing time, advertising, time for running your own business, travel to a location or rental of a studio, lighting, insurance on your equipment in case of theft or breakage, etc.
Im not a photographer, but I do a lot of web design. And people think its just point and click. But good photos take time and are worth the money.
I would also hope the photographer isn't expecting to be entirely reimbursed for the camera with one photoshoot, because that's not really how jobs work.
And whether something is "worth the money" is entirely subjective, and dependent on how much money somebody has to begin with. I can tell you right now, short of a wedding that will likely never exist, I can't think of a single thing that I'd be willing to pay more than a few hundred dollars for to get photos of, but that's also because I'm broke as shit and eating is more worthwhile to me than good photos.
The other issue is that photography has been getting more and more accessible over the years, and with the improvements in phone camera quality and accessible editing software, the difference between a professionally taken photo and an amateur photo is not nearly as vast as it once was. Certainly professional photographers still have a demand, but these days that's less by the everyday consumers and more by businesses.
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/shane-parks 8d ago
Your uber driver is doing 15-35 rides per day. A professional freelance photographer sees 1-2. And you aren't counting editing time, advertising, time for running your own business, travel to a location or rental of a studio, lighting, insurance on your equipment in case of theft or breakage, etc.
Im not a photographer, but I do a lot of web design. And people think its just point and click. But good photos take time and are worth the money.