What is Our Work Worth?

It seems like it is becoming more difficult every year to make a living as a nature photographer. There are many reasons for this. The market for such images is oversaturated. The industry has shifted its demand to images that are called "lifestyle": these show people engaged in different activities. No longer is the forest path carpeted in autumn leaves enough; now there needs to be a mountain-biker riding through the scene. Lastly, the closing gap between professional level equipment and consumer-level equipment has narrowed so much that just about anyone who has a digital camera can produce images for sale.

This last point is the most concerning to me...not the technology aspect, rather the damage being done to the photography profession.

I know a few professional photographers that have spent years making a decent living off of stock sales, books and calendars, and some teaching. With the downturn in stock sales in the past three years, they have to pick up more work teaching photography workshops and tours than they ever did in the past. Now, there is nothing wrong with teaching photography classes and workshops--I do a little of that myself and it is extremely enjoyable and rewarding. My problem lies in one of the reasons they have had to do this.

It's my percpetion that an increasing number of amateurs is flooding the market with images on royalty free sites like iStock or ShutterStock. These "micro-stocks" sell an image for 25-cents per use. There has been debate among the photography world that this is the new standard, that professionals need to get on board or get out. Having experimented with microstock agencies for 1 year to put these assertions to the test, I feel that for nature photographers (at least) the microstock world is the bane of our existence.

To make any money with a microstock, one needs to sell images in large quantities. That might work for commercial subjects, or life-style, or still-lifes and product shots. The idea is that with lower prices, it is more likely for images to be bought, and so the photo buyer wins and the photographer wins. The only person winning is actually the photo buyer. That person can buy an image, put it on the front cover of a travel brochure, print up 1 million copies and the photographer only gets 25-cents for the use of the image. In typical photography markets, the same usage would run over $1000.

Not only is the royalty-free structure of the microstocks damaging to the profession, but the quality level of the work that is represented is also in danger of pandering to the mediocre. Sure, these microstock agencies can represent images that a traditional agency might not. Afterall, the photobuyer will decide what image and at what aesthetic quality to purchase. However, the professional photographer is now being squeezed out by amateurs who are happy to just get their work published, nevermind the paltry amount of money that they are paid.

It might sound like a have a chip on my shoulder against the microstock agencies. I do. I have seen this change in the industry bring a lot of stress and concern to professional photographer friends of mine. That experiment I did with microstock agencies...it took me over 1 year to accumlate approximately $110 of income. Thank goodness I wasn't counting on that for a mortgage payment.

However, at the end of all this, when the industry structure itself is tossed aside, what it really comes down to is integrity for the work that one does. One must ask: What am I(my expertise, my time, my skill, my experience, my work ethic) worth? Whether royalty free or rights managed imagery is the mode a photographer chooses to sell his/her work, we must all be sure that we are not undervaluing what we have to sell. It may be a picture of the Grand Tetons to the photobuyer, but think about what you (the photographer) have invested in it. Travel. Equipment. Knowledge. Time.

I don't know about you, but my time is worth more than $110/year in 25-cent increments occasionally dribbled out to me.

COMING SOON: What our pictures are really saying.