Tim Gruber and Jenn Ackerman use both photography and video to tell stories for editorial and commercial clients. 
I was reading Erik Lunsford’s blog tonight called Uncommons (great blog) and he pointed to the World Press Magazine ENTER.
There I found this article by Simon Norfolk that addressed the question of how photographers will market their work over the next five to ten years and ultimately make a living from photography.
It was probably one of the more poignant reads on the idea of making money with photography that I’ve read in awhile.
Everyone keeps reassuring me there’s a place for photography in the future, which I don’t doubt. My only question is what business model(s) will surface that will pay for that photography?
Here’s a few choice quotes from the article:
So my predictions for the future? More “name” photographers will be cashing in their reputations to teach “masterclasses” to wealthy orthodontists.
None of us will be saying “no” to wedding photography or lucrative teaching posts which sell to young students the rarely-realized dream that they’ll one day have jobs as photographers.
Soon we’ll all be amateur photographers with real money-making jobs on the side that we don’t tell our colleagues about. We need to get over the snobbery attached to that.
And we have to be tougher in our demands. Magazines online will be built by re-skilled photography lovers around business plans that don’t include paying wages to the photographers they ask to write.
They pay salaries to each other, they pay the man who comes to fix the photocopier, but the “name” photographers they ask to contribute six hundred words get nothing. With business models like that, how can we survive?”
Nice article Tim,
That is a frightening prospect for the future. However I think we can protect against that by not undercharging and devaluing our work.
We have to be very good at what we do so our work differentiates us from amateurs.
And we have to get much better at business and promoting outselves.
Very true Pat. Very true.
That cerainly is a scary picture of the future, but I’m going to be optimistic. I hope such a prediction doesn’t come to pass, and I’m not sure it will. There will always be consumers who value good photography and will pay for it – they are still out there now, despite a recession; many photographers are still making a good living at it.
The market is changing though, I do concede that – we just have to make sure we adapt and change with it.
Nigel
Thank you for your help!