How much do you make from Photography : per annum

[judybee]

dollar wise - $0
but I have gotten a bottle of wine and some chocolates for some photos I took of my friend's family

[ving]

Not good enough to make money from my pics... just as well i enjoy taking them then :/

Sent from my TR718D

[Mick B]

Well I sold a photo to a Real Estate company for a carton of XXXX. Does that count ?

[mrDooba]

$0.00

[rwg717]

Seems most people posting to this thread are like me, usually get nothing out of it but you can sell prints occasionally and get a few hundred per year if you are lucky. Given that most members have pretty standard kit from the big 3 manufacturers of DSLR's, the average camera bag would contain between $3000 and $4000 worth of gear (ie:Camera body, mid-range lens, mid-range flash, cards etc), a lot of "silver" really I have no idea what McDonalds pay their adult workers but it would have to be more than $22 per hour????how much is it worth for a non-professional, given the above figures, per hour if someone wants to hire you.
I remember this type of thread about 12 months ago on AP, but we never got any difinitive answer to the question. Is $50-00 per hour too much or not enough, given you provide the gear, the transport to get to the venue, the selection of prints (but not the negatives) and get yourself home again?
Richard

[kiwi]

I think richard that there is probably no right answer as it's a personal choice what you charge. If you don't want to operate at a loss you have to do the sums.

[BUGSnBIRDS]

Whatcha all talking about...

I earn heaps from photography..so much that I can not put a monetary value on it and the satisfaction that it brings me when I get it right (and the birds damn well behave for me).

[Dylan & Marianne]

the weddings are the major photographic source of income for marianne and me - we're fortuante that its a self funding hobby

[Wayne]

I am thousands in the red, so it will take me a hundred years before I get in profit.

Same, many thousands in the red. I may make some $$, but not even a drop in the ocean when offset against my gear, and thats before adding my time.

[Longshots]

Seems most people posting to this thread are like me, usually get nothing out of it but you can sell prints occasionally and get a few hundred per year if you are lucky. Given that most members have pretty standard kit from the big 3 manufacturers of DSLR's, the average camera bag would contain between $3000 and $4000 worth of gear (ie:Camera body, mid-range lens, mid-range flash, cards etc), a lot of "silver" really I have no idea what McDonalds pay their adult workers but it would have to be more than $22 per hour????how much is it worth for a non-professional, given the above figures, per hour if someone wants to hire you.
I remember this type of thread about 12 months ago on AP, but we never got any difinitive answer to the question. Is $50-00 per hour too much or not enough, given you provide the gear, the transport to get to the venue, the selection of prints (but not the negatives) and get yourself home again?
Richard

Scuse the double post of this information, but thought it would be helpful to paste it in to attempt to answer your question Richard. Essentially there is no definitive answer, due to a large number of different possibilities. And just to remind people that the small point often missed is that when working out your time/rates etc, that you need to not only acknowledge the time shooting, but also the total time involved in completing the job from beginning to end:

The average running costs of a one man photographic business was discussed and debated by way of government and industry involvement, and the industry concluded that (by the way this is based on people who depend on this for a full time income, and not simply calculate on what they think would equate to "beer money", or additional income) in 2009, of total monthly costings/overheads, which included the photographers wages of $3334.00 per month (*before tax) - thats 833.50 per week - before tax - , that those costs were $8777.51 per month to run their business. Which when taking into account standard holidays, that the average running costs on a per hourly basis for an average photographer (who its assumed has already invested in capital equipment - ie that wasnt added into the equation, and that is a significant cost for any start up business), again assuming a 40 hour week, that the hourly running costs of being a photographer in business, worked out to be $59.85 per hour. Thats how much it costs to run their business with a wage, but not including capital investment and future capital investments (ie photographic and computer gear).


I see many people agree to work for less than that, and they can enjoy that luxury because, a) they have a primary income which gives them that option, and/or b) they cut corners and fail to equip themselves with many of the minimum legal requirements of being in business, or c) (AND THIS IS THE IMPORTANT ONE) within 2 years they gain a great deal of work, which they fail to recognise that they are undertaking at a loss, and subsequently they are out of business, because they were not charging a rate that was sustainable.


Its also worth noting that the average professional photographer will have a significant capital investment in photographic and photographic related equipment. Which is not really accounted for in those figures.

[kiwi]

Thanks William, very interesting figures.

[Bear Dale]

Wheres the option for hemorrhaging money?

[Longshots]

Wheres the option for hemorrhaging money?

Too many boxes of tissues would be needed for all of the professionals suffering the same thing

[rwg717]

Thanks Longshots.....this was exactly what I was looking for....well done
Richard

[habro]

I'm waiting until late 2011 before I look at how my "actual" job is affecting my cashflow on a photography front (ie can I earn more by dropping to 4 days a week in my insurance job & having that extra day in photography)... at the moment I just earn a few thousand per year but (probably like a lot of photographers) doing photography that I don't touch the other 360-odd days of the year (team photographs for sport is usually $1-2k per club). Not too similar to the portrait, magazine & wedding photography that I'm heading towards now, which I hate cos obviously you want to make money in your favourite areas, not the "everyone look at the camera" *click* "whatever" photography that is team sports

[etherial]

Just 13% make more than $5000 I thought that would have been higher on here?

[farmer_rob]

Mic, given the voluntary nature of the poll, and the high hobbyist proportion of member, I don't think you can infer too much. However, taking into account I@M's other poll "who earns their livelihood photographing", and looking at some percentages gives:

23.5% of those who indicated they earn something indicate that their livelihood is earned as a photographer (I@M's poll)
25.9% of those who earn something indicate that they earn $5000 or more (Ricktas' poll), and 44% of those who voted have been paid something ($1 or more) for photography.
11.8% of those who earn something indicate they earned more than $40k.

Either there are (i) voting differences between the two (likely) or (ii) photographers settle for a livelihood of "not very much" (possible, but I think (i) is more likely.) I do, however think you can infer that not many people at AP earn a decent living from photography IF they earn money from photography (< 25% - I@M poll, < 12% Ricktas' poll with $40k as cutoff).

I think it is a big step to move to fulltime photography, and as others have repeatedly pointed out, it needs a lot of business skills and hard work.

[etherial]

Rob, I think you're "on the money" with your thoughts.

[ctorry]

I do not earn any income from photography (no where near good enough).

Thanks for posting the above William, very informative. I guess the next question one would have to ask themselves after knowing the approx costs, is what return on investment you wish to achieve by running your business, remember you can probably collect a wage from another employer who takes all the risk. Looking at the figures psoted by William on an annual basis ($40,008 per year wage and $65,322.12 overheads) you would probably want to receive revenue of at least $130,000 per annum. Based on hours worked of 1,408 hours per annum you would need to charge approx $92 per hour ($92.33). Please note productivity % may vary significantly for example if productivity is 75% you work 1,320 hours per annum, which means you need to charge approximately $100 per hour.

See calculation below for hours worked etc:
44 working weeks in the year (52 weeks less 4 weeks annual leave less 2 weeks sick leave less 2 weeks public holidays - note you may not take this leave as a business owner but this is your entitlements if you were simply on a wage) 40 hours per week @ 80% productivity (remember you will have travel time etc) you work 1,408 hours per annum.

Please note this calculation is based on my years as an Accoutantant and what people in general perceive to be fair value for the risk taken in running a business, not specifically the photography profession.

Craig.

[Dan Cripps]

More than double the highest option.