Dollars and Scents

The photography business stinks.  Stock photography is selling for 1% (yes, one percent ) of its former value.  Time Magazine is paying less for visual contributions in dollar terms than it did in the 1970's, and in real dollar terms after inflation, a tiny fraction.  There are people with experience and modest talent and high end equipment shooting weddings for 3% (yes, three percent) of what I used to charge six or seven years ago, when I still did weddings.  It is the end of the world for the mid-level generalist photographer.

Is this a complaint?  Only a little one...

The way I look at it, it was a miracle that I ever earned a living at something that was so easy, so fun and so personally fulfilling. Photography at the level of vocation, as opposed to business, does not stink.  It smells like a flower.  More on that tomorrow.