Bob On Wednesday, August 20, 2003, at 03:59 PM, Bob Croxford wrote:
There is a suggestion that the number of UK photographers earning a living in the profession is fairly static at something under 6,000 which includes medical and other specialised fields. <snip>
Bob - to be honest it is impossible to put a figure on it. when I was at KJP (till 4 1/2 years ago, we used to reckon the figure was more like 10-12,000 (you'd be amazed just where there were people earning their living full time at photography) but even then that would only give on your (optimistic) basis a vacancy level of 600 a year. Btw - we viewed photo eduction as a significant market sector worthy of a dedicated sales specialist.
However, it was not always like this. In the late sixties photography students were in the highest category of further education to work in their chosen field.
Well - maybe so. But I was a photography student 68 - 71 and I would think less than half my year actually got a job in photography and not many stayed as photographers for long - me included (though I was still in the photo industry). The attempts to get us involved in anything commercial were pretty laughable, in fact we were expressly banned from having anything to do with any commercial activity on college premises or in college time. At least my recently graduated son (Computer Science at Bristol) had to do a final year project which HAD to be highly commercially orientated with a third of the marks given for the business plan. In fact some student's proposed projects were rejected as being not enough commercially orientated. Is not the over-riding problem our government's desire to get 60% of our youngster's into university whether it's the right avenue for them, or not (though I should really introduce politics to the thread <g>).
when friends, whose children want to go to college to study photography, I pretty much tell them not to unless they want to do it as a personal fulfillment.
I fear that the digital capture age will make the problem worse. I have already been informed that digital cameras will put me out of business from a driving instructor and several computer technicians. Even a wholesale fish merchant I know has bought a digital camera because photographers are too expensive.
And did you see in this week's Macuser that Ritz cameras in the USA have introduced a $20 disposable 2Mb chip digital camera. You buy the camera, take the pics and they give you back prints or a CD and recycle the camera for the next person. Amazing - whatever next?
----------------------- Best, Francis Newman Webshot Ltd, UK
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