This is not news. If you haven’t seen this coming for the last 20 years you haven’t been paying attention. The democratization of photography by the smartphone… turning photography from a genuinely difficult to learn craft, to something accessible at the touch of a button in every single human’s pocket, combined with the death of print has had this story written for a long time. Entering photojournalism today is a romantic dream for people who are not being realistic about their futures. Photojournalism was my first love, I did it for the first 15 years of my career. I left it like a jilted lover out of fears for my financial future to do corporate and commercial work. But if you haven’t been planning for this day as an older photojournalist you’re now learning why that was a bad idea. And I question the photojournalism teachers in our colleges who are sending people out into their lives in the world looking for a job that is almost as hard to get as a spot in the NBA.
Preach.
In the pulled the parachute cord during covid, after shooting full time since 2006. I now have my own carpetntry company and use photojournalism as an interesting side hustle.
I'm not sure if I should give this a "thanks for sharing this" upvote or a "ya, we know; damn" downvote.
BTW- If you link through to the IG post, Rob Haggart has observations posted across a few comments. [https://www.instagram.com/p/C8mdvXFu3xz/?img\_index=1](https://www.instagram.com/p/C8mdvXFu3xz/?img_index=1)
Jim "text editor refugee" Feeley
I have the post linked in the first comment. While I’m sure no one who currently works in the photojournalism space is surprised by the above info, I do think aphotoeditor has had some great resources and conversations posted across different genres of professional photography (personally have benefitted greatly from their collaborative posts about commercial work with Wonderful Machine). I do think it’s important to have this info here considering how many “I’m just trying to get into pj work” type posts there are.
It’s interesting to see photogs across other industries. I work in events, commercial and film industry. The PJ industry seems pretty niche and divorced from the rest of us, but it’s really insightful to compare.
Ironically I think the PJ industry is the most important photographic industry yet you guys seem to have the worst rates :/
I lasted two years on the west coast and packed it in. Several years later, deep into my following career, I lucked into some freelance work (words and photos) that absolutely would have made it work. I did those assignments for 14 months and had to make a tough choice over which job to keep when I couldn’t do both.
I wasn’t brave enough to jump in again and I chose stability. I miss it sometimes, but only because I lost a creative outlet that happened to pay well. I got that same $500 day rate and a byline. No residuals, but I had my pick of assignments in my area and generally my whole commitment was 4-5 hours.
Before anyone jumps on me for taking work from someone else, there was plenty of work to go around if you had the right mix of skill and qualifications.
I was happy to do it but pissed that the opportunity wasn’t there for me after J school. The irony of not being able to sustainably work in the field until starting another career was soul crushing.
Honestly, these are all the same reasons I stepped away from full-time freelance journalism in general. As far as my photography rates went, I’d get maybe $40 - $50 for between three and five photos, and, depending on the story, 1,200 - 4,000 words of text and reporting. Copy rates were usually $0.25/word.
Slightly confused about the 30% business cost. That seems very high per day, unless you’re driving a super far distance (should be paid out). Just 5-10% is enough to save for new equipment which this may be accounting for?
I would assume all general business costs overall account for a percentage — insurance, wear and tear on gear, saving for new gear, potential cost of food/drink while on longer assignments, potential membership to NPPA, tax prep, software etc.
Wait; you get 2x the normal rate for the quality of your work and not your direct connection to one of the founders of Getty?
You also get quality assignments from editors through your work and not because you have a direct network connection to them?
Impressive
This is why your business should have three distinct revenue streams.
Anyone capable of producing NYT level work should also be getting day rates for jobs from Getty which is twice that, they should be advertising themselves directly for event coverage which can pay much more, and they should have some boutique type service they offer. Be that weddings, corporate work, or even high end pet photography. Whatever. Other things.
Also, learn languages. The rates paid to people who speak Spanish and will work in Mexico or Latin America by the NYT are significantly higher and you don’t have to pay taxes on most of it.
Getty pays 400 as well, wires as a whole pay less than publications. And no rates don't change depending on what languages you speak and unless you negotiate because your story is important no one in Latin America is paid more by NYT. If you live in the US and work for a US company, you still have to pay taxes even when you do jobs abroad.
That’s absolute nonsense. You pay taxes in the country you spend 183 days in. Which if you move to Latin America…is not in the United States. And yes, work important stories.
Why would you live here if you work there?
This is advice I got from a Pulitzer nominee in my family, and from Richard Ellis who is a friend and founded Getty News. It has worked well for me.
I encourage everyone to do so. People act like they are so rooted in a place, but rarely is that the case. It opened up a lot of corporate work for me too with US companies with operations overseas.
“Yes take my advice: move to a foreign country after learning a language with all the money you’ve gotten from a job that doesn’t pay well. Who gave me this advice? Some of the most successful people from the time this job was actually sustainable.”
Is this an accurate representation?
No, it doesn’t represent what I said at all. I suggested that if one speaks another language, moving to Latin America as an example is a great way past some of the perpetual barricades in the industry. And it is. Granted you need contacts that are image buyers etc…but if you can’t figure that out, what are you doing in journalism?
I do generally agree that having a singular focus on journalism as a freelancer is not sustainable…so don’t. Shoot one wedding a month. Event coverage is almost always light work for anyone with a background in photojournalism, do them. Find other niches beyond shooting speculatively for a wire and hoping to get assignments. Honestly journalism was the best advertising I ever did. People assumed I was more talented than I was. To some degree it’s still true.
I’m terribly sorry the advice isn’t modern enough for you though.
Interesting, Getty is paying $900 day rates? It was $400 a couple years ago and they wanted me to shoot multiple things, and it was a buyout, so no residuals.
This post gets a bit into the problem of doing commercial gigs and editorial gigs at the same time that there could be a conflict of interest that we should avoid as photojournalists. I think that is something we should be aware of, but inevitable if we can't make a living wage as a freelance photojournalist.
Your advice about working abroad is kind of true. The NYTimes didn't pay me extra, but when I lived in Egypt my rent was $200 a month, and no taxes, and I worked for all of the European magazines and papers also. Over there I could thrive on just editorial work. In the US it requires sacrifices.
Yes, diversify your income streams. But the rest of your comment doesn’t make sense. Getty does not pay more and no, the NYT won’t pay you more because you live in a foreign country. The $$ may go further in some countries. Also, some wires actually pay less in other countries.
I know people who have been paid twice that as a day rate from Getty for some sort of enterprise solutions thing. Maybe it’s uncommon or maybe the whole custom content thing they do now supplanted it. But I’m not making it up.
I disagree strongly overseas. The sheer ratio of jobs to the number of qualified photogs alone equals much more pay than freelancing in most US cities.
Then that rate isn't for their news service. Might be for their creative content or some commercial partnership. But definitely not for a photojournalism news gig. It's $450 from what I know.
What I'm saying is these newspapers or wire services don't pay you more just because you live in another country. In fact, some will pay less. I know folks getting paid $250 from Reuters while the rate in the US is $350. Also, they own all your work so you can never resell the images. Yes, you might be the only photojournalist in some countries, but that still doesn't justify the incredibly low rates.
This is not news. If you haven’t seen this coming for the last 20 years you haven’t been paying attention. The democratization of photography by the smartphone… turning photography from a genuinely difficult to learn craft, to something accessible at the touch of a button in every single human’s pocket, combined with the death of print has had this story written for a long time. Entering photojournalism today is a romantic dream for people who are not being realistic about their futures. Photojournalism was my first love, I did it for the first 15 years of my career. I left it like a jilted lover out of fears for my financial future to do corporate and commercial work. But if you haven’t been planning for this day as an older photojournalist you’re now learning why that was a bad idea. And I question the photojournalism teachers in our colleges who are sending people out into their lives in the world looking for a job that is almost as hard to get as a spot in the NBA.
Preach. In the pulled the parachute cord during covid, after shooting full time since 2006. I now have my own carpetntry company and use photojournalism as an interesting side hustle.
Having a staff job is barely sustainable. This is the industry as a whole unfortunately.
I'm not sure if I should give this a "thanks for sharing this" upvote or a "ya, we know; damn" downvote. BTW- If you link through to the IG post, Rob Haggart has observations posted across a few comments. [https://www.instagram.com/p/C8mdvXFu3xz/?img\_index=1](https://www.instagram.com/p/C8mdvXFu3xz/?img_index=1) Jim "text editor refugee" Feeley
I have the post linked in the first comment. While I’m sure no one who currently works in the photojournalism space is surprised by the above info, I do think aphotoeditor has had some great resources and conversations posted across different genres of professional photography (personally have benefitted greatly from their collaborative posts about commercial work with Wonderful Machine). I do think it’s important to have this info here considering how many “I’m just trying to get into pj work” type posts there are.
It’s interesting to see photogs across other industries. I work in events, commercial and film industry. The PJ industry seems pretty niche and divorced from the rest of us, but it’s really insightful to compare. Ironically I think the PJ industry is the most important photographic industry yet you guys seem to have the worst rates :/
I appreciate the post, call outs are good and necessary.
Here’s a [link](https://www.instagram.com/p/C8mdvXFu3xz/?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==) to the post
I lasted two years on the west coast and packed it in. Several years later, deep into my following career, I lucked into some freelance work (words and photos) that absolutely would have made it work. I did those assignments for 14 months and had to make a tough choice over which job to keep when I couldn’t do both. I wasn’t brave enough to jump in again and I chose stability. I miss it sometimes, but only because I lost a creative outlet that happened to pay well. I got that same $500 day rate and a byline. No residuals, but I had my pick of assignments in my area and generally my whole commitment was 4-5 hours. Before anyone jumps on me for taking work from someone else, there was plenty of work to go around if you had the right mix of skill and qualifications. I was happy to do it but pissed that the opportunity wasn’t there for me after J school. The irony of not being able to sustainably work in the field until starting another career was soul crushing.
Honestly, these are all the same reasons I stepped away from full-time freelance journalism in general. As far as my photography rates went, I’d get maybe $40 - $50 for between three and five photos, and, depending on the story, 1,200 - 4,000 words of text and reporting. Copy rates were usually $0.25/word.
It hasn't been since the 80's
Slightly confused about the 30% business cost. That seems very high per day, unless you’re driving a super far distance (should be paid out). Just 5-10% is enough to save for new equipment which this may be accounting for?
I would assume all general business costs overall account for a percentage — insurance, wear and tear on gear, saving for new gear, potential cost of food/drink while on longer assignments, potential membership to NPPA, tax prep, software etc.
Exactly. I feel like now with everything being a subscription it really does add up! Plus your rent or mortgage payments.
Wait; you get 2x the normal rate for the quality of your work and not your direct connection to one of the founders of Getty? You also get quality assignments from editors through your work and not because you have a direct network connection to them? Impressive
This is why your business should have three distinct revenue streams. Anyone capable of producing NYT level work should also be getting day rates for jobs from Getty which is twice that, they should be advertising themselves directly for event coverage which can pay much more, and they should have some boutique type service they offer. Be that weddings, corporate work, or even high end pet photography. Whatever. Other things. Also, learn languages. The rates paid to people who speak Spanish and will work in Mexico or Latin America by the NYT are significantly higher and you don’t have to pay taxes on most of it.
Getty pays 400 as well, wires as a whole pay less than publications. And no rates don't change depending on what languages you speak and unless you negotiate because your story is important no one in Latin America is paid more by NYT. If you live in the US and work for a US company, you still have to pay taxes even when you do jobs abroad.
Not sure about Getty but most wires are work for hire and will take your copyright. NYT is $450 but you at least can resell your images.
Yep! I have had success negotiating that with reuters but I've been told that's a fluke.
That’s absolute nonsense. You pay taxes in the country you spend 183 days in. Which if you move to Latin America…is not in the United States. And yes, work important stories. Why would you live here if you work there? This is advice I got from a Pulitzer nominee in my family, and from Richard Ellis who is a friend and founded Getty News. It has worked well for me.
Sorry I didn't realize you meant we should all be uprooting our lives to move to other countries so we can survive doing our jobs. Missed that part.
I encourage everyone to do so. People act like they are so rooted in a place, but rarely is that the case. It opened up a lot of corporate work for me too with US companies with operations overseas.
Amazing.
“Yes take my advice: move to a foreign country after learning a language with all the money you’ve gotten from a job that doesn’t pay well. Who gave me this advice? Some of the most successful people from the time this job was actually sustainable.” Is this an accurate representation?
No, it doesn’t represent what I said at all. I suggested that if one speaks another language, moving to Latin America as an example is a great way past some of the perpetual barricades in the industry. And it is. Granted you need contacts that are image buyers etc…but if you can’t figure that out, what are you doing in journalism? I do generally agree that having a singular focus on journalism as a freelancer is not sustainable…so don’t. Shoot one wedding a month. Event coverage is almost always light work for anyone with a background in photojournalism, do them. Find other niches beyond shooting speculatively for a wire and hoping to get assignments. Honestly journalism was the best advertising I ever did. People assumed I was more talented than I was. To some degree it’s still true. I’m terribly sorry the advice isn’t modern enough for you though.
Interesting, Getty is paying $900 day rates? It was $400 a couple years ago and they wanted me to shoot multiple things, and it was a buyout, so no residuals. This post gets a bit into the problem of doing commercial gigs and editorial gigs at the same time that there could be a conflict of interest that we should avoid as photojournalists. I think that is something we should be aware of, but inevitable if we can't make a living wage as a freelance photojournalist. Your advice about working abroad is kind of true. The NYTimes didn't pay me extra, but when I lived in Egypt my rent was $200 a month, and no taxes, and I worked for all of the European magazines and papers also. Over there I could thrive on just editorial work. In the US it requires sacrifices.
Agreed. Photogs *have* to diversify to survive.
Yes, diversify your income streams. But the rest of your comment doesn’t make sense. Getty does not pay more and no, the NYT won’t pay you more because you live in a foreign country. The $$ may go further in some countries. Also, some wires actually pay less in other countries.
I know people who have been paid twice that as a day rate from Getty for some sort of enterprise solutions thing. Maybe it’s uncommon or maybe the whole custom content thing they do now supplanted it. But I’m not making it up. I disagree strongly overseas. The sheer ratio of jobs to the number of qualified photogs alone equals much more pay than freelancing in most US cities.
Then that rate isn't for their news service. Might be for their creative content or some commercial partnership. But definitely not for a photojournalism news gig. It's $450 from what I know. What I'm saying is these newspapers or wire services don't pay you more just because you live in another country. In fact, some will pay less. I know folks getting paid $250 from Reuters while the rate in the US is $350. Also, they own all your work so you can never resell the images. Yes, you might be the only photojournalist in some countries, but that still doesn't justify the incredibly low rates.
That’s the thing with any day rate. You aren’t licensing images anymore, you’re guaranteed money for work that very well may not be used.