Wildly Inspired Wednesday (A Million Dollars)

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living the dream at sunset on location... models in the pool, knee high in warm water and good people to work with... not bad

So, I tend to avoid negative things people say about photography and photographers and the market we are in and how good or bad someone is doing. For one, part of me thinks it is all how you look at it and how you create it for yourself. As a photographer you are self employed so you can draw your own picture of what your career will look like, to an extent. I also think that negative blogs and down market forecasts have  over saturated the internet and I really don't think any of us (even those of us who are not photographers) need to hear how awful everything is. Is it really? I'd say we have it pretty good, we aren't plowing fields with oxen, we are sitting in offices browsing the internet... just my perspective. 


On the other hand, there is reality. I shot an ad job this past week and the rate was great. I didn't have to haggle or ask for usage and explain what it is. I had a great team of people to work with, and most importantly, I got to do what I love to do. That great rate was rare and as with any ad job, the expenses were high and not to forget, we spend more than the shoot time on these photographs. There is pre and post production, retouchers ( or hours in lightroom, photoshop...), assistants, rentals, insurance... Crunching the numbers last night made me think about how I would probably make more as a shop girl and have more free time.  For anyone thinking of being a photographer or those of you that are photographers and those of you that hire photographers, I think that this post "First Get a Million Dollars" by  Photographer Kenneth Jarecke on his blog "Mostly True." is very on point. He says, "The number of successful people working as freelance photographers in America today, is less than the number of guys playing in the NBA.


... and there isn't any pension." 

That made me think, would I have had a better shot at making money as the professional surfer I dreamed of being when I was 15 than at this? Maybe.
  read the entire post here: 
http://kennethjarecke.typepad.com/mostly_true/2010/05/first-get-a-million-dollars.html

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