2025 05 27
Checking in on myself. Self portrait, Chicago, Illinois. January, 2025. Ā© Clayton Hauck
If youāre like me (a US-based commercial photographer with decades of experience in the industry), chances are youāre experiencing the same issues Iām struggling to navigate: less projects to bid on; unrealistic-to-impossible expectations for many of the bids that do come in; projects mysteriously fading away. To be blunt, things are kind of shit these days. What keeps me going, in part, is that these challenges are not new and downturns are standard in this business. What worries me beyond the norm, however, is that this time things feel different ā like the downturn may never pick back up again.
The headwinds arenāt going away. At best, they will get less forceful.
When considering the state of the industry, I imagine myself navigating an epic journey ā camera backpack on with overly-heavy bag of lights and grip on my shoulder, while facing sustained headwinds whipping in my face as I try to advance. These headwinds are the many challenges facing the industry, and the thing that worries me is that I canāt imagine them going away anytime soon.
What Are The Big Challenges?
Supply & Demand: increasingly more photographers, influencers, content creators, work-for-themselves types & increasingly less projects at increasingly lower rates
Social Media: the way ads are now served has completely changed and everything is moving to video-first, lower quality is fine if not preferred
Barriers to Entry: itās increasingly cheap and easy to get a camera, lighting, etc and learn how to use it
Ai: this one, I think, had previously been over-hyped but will soon be under-hyped as it cuts out upwards of half of all paid photography needs
Commoditization: a new entry! See below
My mental list, already difficult to navigate, has gained a new bullet point after a conversation with my agent. While Iād already felt myself becoming a literal cog in the machine, as the industry becomes commoditized and we go the way of commercial airline pilots (letās talk about that Rehearsal finale over beers, huh?!), Iād failed to visualize the global scale of this shift. When Hollywood unions went on strike a few years back, the New Economy content streamers didnāt sit on the sidelines and wait things out, they went global. Production was shifted outside of the US and kept right on going. This motivated companies to shoot jobs in foreign countries with lower costs ā essentially, globalization of the creative industry.
I live in the Rust Belt, so it was perhaps silly of me to not see this one coming. But as Iāve written about previously and touched on here, there are so many talented photographers all over the world. It makes business-sense to hire the kid in Mexico (see: 2025 02 18) if heās going to deliver you a project better than you can get locally and at a third of the price.
Photography isnāt going away, but my baseline thinking is that weāre already living in a New Reality, which makes making a living through photography all the more challenging. As a hobby, photography is more popular than ever. More people are making photos than at any point in history, and this trend will probably only continue, even after Ai takes over the world. I think itās important for us to shift our thinking in terms of how we can make money through photography, if youāre like me and thatās all you really want to do.
Admittedly, my perspective on all of this is likely far more skewed and niche than most, as Iāve been fortunate enough to have made a good living doing higher-end commercial projects for large brands. Many younger photographers, or photographers focused on small to mid-sized business, may completely disagree with everything I am saying, understandably. Itās true, there still are vast opportunities out there for photographers, however, the amount of hustle required to find them is likely forever on the rise.
For me, there are a number of pivots I am currently navigating and exploring:
Iām doing more ācontentā photography through my various blogs (this one, everyoneisfamous.com), which could lead to payment in other ways (sponsorships, collabs, events, direct payments, yada yada). Itās a hustle.
Iām also pivoting quite hard towards motion, as Iām finding most of the projects that do come our way are video-first. I just landed one assignment that a video production company won, and was bidding on and lost another project that a video production company won (and then reached out to see if I could do photography for).
Iām exploring a more artistic approach (Doing personal work; selling prints, zines, eventually a photobook, etc, etc). Thatās also a hustle and an entirely new role, as the worlds are like oil and water in many ways.
Previously, Iād given myself a new job as a photo studio (See You Soon) manager and owner. This has worked well in some ways (networking, exploring things, having fun) and poorly in others (not making money and taking away most of my free time). While itās been a huge challenge, I havenāt given up on it yet. Tweaking the model and bringing in new and motivated partners, while using the space to re-focus my own career in a number of ways, is where my head is at currentlyā¦
Studio portraits is something I have never chosen to focus on until recently, but am now finding myself both enjoying it and considering it as a path towards more consistent income though photography.
Iām exploring more of a focus towards small-to-mid-sized clients. The thing is, I just love to make images ā if I could fill my calendar with interesting lower-rate jobs in exchange for never shooting another big-budget production again in my lifetime, it would be a deal I would take. The catch is, this also requires a time-consuming new approach towards finding clients and comes with a ding to your reputation; big-shot commercial photographers arenāt working for the local plumber and neither are top-tier art photographers.
Iāve also recently given myself a new job running a photobook popup with my friend Jack called Realm (IG: @realm.chicago, website coming later!). Weāre both excited about this, however, understand that any success will realistically be modest and also require a lot of hard work.
So thatās where my head is at right now. It has been a mental grind these last few years, and Iām hopeful that finding a more sustainable approach towards making a living through photography can be found. As I get older, the bang and bust lifestyle gets tiring, and Iām finding myself seeking consistency. Do what you love, they say. While this is loaded advice ā oftentimes the things you love, when they become a job, lose their luster. All that said, Iām more in love with photography now than I have been in my two decades of working with it, so I think itās a clear sign that dedicating the remainder of my life to it might not be a bad idea.
-Clayton
A previous version of this post had misspelled ānicheā as nitche, likely because the author was thinking all big and philosophically. Itās cool that weāve built Ai into every app and website, but havenāt mastered the spell check.
2025 03 07
Me, ill wandering. Somewhere in Illinois. December, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
It is my birthday.
-Clayton