Around 300 million digital photos are uploaded onto Facebook every day. That adds up to 2.1 billion pics per week, and 109.5 billion pictures a year. For those of you doing the math, that’s about 16 photos for every person on earth. Even as everybody is snapping pictures these days, the job prospects for professional photographers are expected to grow about 13 percent in the coming decade.
As the population grows, wedding and portrait photographers are in great demand. And the Web is more than a home for uploaded vacation pictures and viral photobombs. It is also a place where professionally trained photographers are selling the pictures to stock photography websites like Shutterpoint and iStockPhoto. These sites allow photographers to upload their best work to their databases. If a magazine, graphic designer, or ad agency wants to use the picture, the photographer gets paid. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, it’s not worth a thousand dollars. Most sites offer anywhere from a few bucks to $50 for a great picture.
The Web is also providing unprecedented exhibition space to pros who are marketing directly to customers. And with traditional media cutting staff, self-employed photojournalists are finding new opportunities to sell their pictures to respected periodicals which are increasingly turning to freelancers.
There is little doubt that the competition is intense in the photography field. But most people don’t know a lens from a megapixel. Those who learn the technical aspects of photography, including lighting techniques, digital darkrooms, and visual design, will have a better shot as professional photographers. As Allen Murabayashi, co-founder of the freelancer website PhotoShelter states, “being immersed in photography and surrounded by others who are also immersed is invaluable. When you live and breathe photography on a daily basis, and your peers and instructors are pushing you to do more, it’s almost impossible to regress.” Combine an art degree with artistic talent and your job prospects in portraiture, photojournalism, and studio management will be developing in a snap.