This article was originally published in the Spring 2025 issue of the Michael Clark Photography Newsletter. I have added to that original article here given the extra space available and insight since I wrote this article a few months ago.
Years ago, after the 2008 financial crisis, I gave a series of talks for ASMP (the American Society of Media Photographers) on “Staying Relevant in the Current Economy.“ As part of that presentation I would reference a graphic I had made (shown below) that talked about how in the future the number of working pro photographers that could make a full-time living would shrink drastically. I went on to explain that this would happen because so many of the markets where still photographers earn part of their money from would disappear. Some of those markets that have died off or vaporized in the last fifteen years include stock photography (working with stock photo agencies), editorial clients (i.e. magazines), and print advertising. Note that I gave this talk before social media really had a foot-hold in the advertising industry as it does today.
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Sadly, my prediction was more accurate than even I knew at the time. I count myself lucky to still be working in the industry and to still have exciting and adventurous assignments with a variety of clients. But, the upshot is that social media (and the advent of cheap video production) is the real driver of this massive change in how we consume content—be it still images or video. What I didn’t say in that series of talks (given to my peers nearly 15 years ago) was that affordable video production would be the real driving force affecting still photography and the photo industry in general. Now, it is fairly obvious that most photographers need to have some element of video production as part of their services. The advertising industry has realized that motion content in general is more effective than still photography at arresting eyeballs while scrolling through thousands of social media posts. This is not always the case but it takes one hell of an image to be more eye-catching than the average video—even if that video isn’t all that well crafted.
The advent of social media also brought on a whole other way of advertising. In the last five to seven years it seems that the ad industry has fully moved over to social media–there is essentially very little print advertising in magazines or elsewhere. Hence, many companies have decided that it is better to hire a bunch of social media influencers and pay them a few hundred dollars each instead of hiring a pro photographer and paying them several thousand dollars or more. These days it is all about keeping the overhead low and no company really likes to spend money on marketing and advertising. If the economy gets rough, the marketing budget is the first thing that gets slashed.
Toss in the fact that magazines have effectively died off, AI imaging has come onto the scene, and the big stock agencies have driven down pricing massively and you start to get the picture (literally). The crazy tariffs implemented by the US are the latest issue affecting everyone but they have also hit the photo industry hard as well. These days, to stay alive as a pro photographer you have to be exceptional at your job and have the ability to solve very difficult problems for your clients. My prediction from 2010 has come true—and in a way I never would have imagined. Luckily, still images are powerful in ways that video just isn’t. The best still images have staying power and impact. I have to keep reminding myself of that as I chase the next assignment.
Excellent insight! Creates ideas about photography product fusion. Cream rises.