That was the median pay for the 136,300 professional photographers in the United States in 2012, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's $28,490 annually.
Of course they don't say whether that number is gross or net (although it must be net—right?), or whether it only includes salaried employees getting a W-2 or if it includes freelancers and the self-employed as well.
According to survey conducted by Eposure, a UK site that says its mission is "bringing commercial photographers and businesses closer," 60% of UK photographers in 2012 charged day rates of between £300 and £700 (~$460–$1,070), while in the U.S., 56% of photographers charged day rates between $900 and $2,000 (£590–£1,310). And another 10% charged more than $2,000.
Of course photographers might bill their day rate for anywhere from zero to seven days in any given week, and those numbers don't specify whether expenses are billed extra (that's customary) or are included, or whether the photographers are actually getting their day rate or are offering discounts. Seems to me I heard of one guy years ago who offered a special 50% discount off his day rate—to every single client.
Part-time photography for pay is almost certainly on the rise, whereas advertising photography is on the wane—the New York Times reported in a 2010 article that, according to the trade group Publishers Information Bureau, magazine ad pages declined from 286,932 pages to 169,218—more than 40%—in the decade of 2000s. According to MediaFinder.com, 428 magazines closed just in 2009. Newspaper photography is declining, too.
All in all it's very hard to get a read on what photographers actually earn, and still less on what prospective earnings might be for a newcomer. The best advice may be something I heard years ago: "Being a photographer is a great job. Just don't ever sit down and analyze exactly how much you're taking home, because if you do, you'll quit and go find some other way to make a living."
Mike
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Featured Comments from:
Aldo Altamirano: "I work for a top retouching agency in Manhattan and we release ads for top brands and magazines, and let me tell you something...there is no money in photography. I've been saying this for years. Sometimes a known photographer will get a campaign for good money, and after that he'll have to go for the rest of the year doing nothing, or very little for little money. A known photographer will likely get more money giving courses than taking pictures...it's a fact, and the reason why you'll see so many workshops....
"In the advertising industry, an art director, a copy writer or an editor will likely have a bigger salary than a professional photographer within the same agency, and also, regardless the size of an agency, most only have a single photographer, sometimes freelancing, while employing many art directors, editors, copywriters, etc."
Herman: "You can earn money from photography??"
Glenn Brown: "Wow, this is a can of worms. For what it is worth I charge per job. I learned 30 years ago that clients do not like half and day rates plus plus plus; quadrupled my income in three months. I charge $200 per hour pro rated, and files at $65 each. I do a quarter of a million in work every year. Day rates are a killer—it makes people look for another way or not do the job."
Gordon Cahill: "Hmmm. I'm in the middle of my best year in a decade. I'm busy enough that the only thing I'm behind on is invoicing. And I don't even pretend I can shoot video. Stills only. I wonder what I'm doing that others aren't. I'm not even trying that hard."
