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Ask HN: Is being a career photographer viable in 2022?

2 points by joshcsimmons ↗ HN
Photography is a side-hobby for me right now (I am a programmer during the day). I'm not making any money off of it but wondering how/if anyone does anymore. It seems like the only big profit niche anymore is weddings.

Interested to hear the experiences of working photographers and those that have tried and moved on.

3 comments

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fetus8
While I can't directly answer your question, as I am in a very similar position. I have my SW Engineering job for my 9-5, but have been exploring posting my photography publicly and exploring the world of social media and photography lately. I do think that social media has enabled a new kind of paid photographer, that builds a solid following, get's paid to post via sponsorships and brand deals. I guess it's a borderline influencer type thing at this point.

I've also seen around my local scene, a lot of people who get paid to shoot all sorts of events from the Renaissance Fair, to Pride, or smaller cultural events around the city. I think there's a lot of opportunity outside of shooting weddings but it requires some hustling and networking to make it work.

rk2
Done a couple of shoots for weddings as a side hustle, pretty long days work and far more draining than SW Engineering work ...
fetus8
Same, I've done some weddings for family and I don't think I could actually do it as a main job either.