Is Photojournalism Dead?

There's a thought-provoking essay in today's New York Times; a lot of what is said there applies equally, I think, to nature photography. And I think NPN stands as another model. Your thoughts?

"There's no such thing as going into business as a pessimist." That was also the crux of a friend's blog today -- that photographers need to be businesspeople nowadays. Newspapers were deep-sixing even when I was in journalism school more than 20 years ago. I forced myself to learn how to write because photojournalism jobs were already getting scarce. I'm talking about jobs with news organizations where you get a regular paycheck as well as health and retirement benefits. That old model of being a photojournalist without having to be a businessperson is what's just about dead.

As for nature photography, I think of our local magazine, called Bay Nature. They don't need a staff photographer at all. They put out a wants list and pick the photos they want from the dozens of photographers who submit stuff. The small world of staff photojournalists has got to be enormous compared with the world of staff nature photographers.

...photographers need to be businesspeople....

My wife is fond of saying a photography business is 5% photography and 95% business. She's certainly proven the point in our case.

Anyone know if the price paid for magazine articles about nature photography has dropped in last couple of years and if it is, will it continue to drop?

Monitoring things through OWAA rather than submitting, I'd say right on both accounts.

I was recently forwarded data from a Statistics Canada review on the arts in Canada which indicated between 1997 and 2003 about one quarter of photographers got out of the business.

I think this largely goes to show that today's photographer needs to be diverse and flexible. I think that the days of a photographer sitting back and just earning money on their stock catalog or through prints sales is LONG gone. I sell prints; I teach a fair bit; I make custom printer profiles; I do assignment work; I do lots of other little odd income earning jobs..... and it's still not enough during times like these.

We've noticed a real shift in our commercial clients over the last 5 years. We get fewer of them, but better pay so our net income is roughly the same.

In the last year we see what's hopefully the start of another trend. People who thought they could "do it themselves" with all the great camera gear on the market are discovering there's more to good photography than great gear. In our area there have been lots of business start-ups in the last couple of years, and the survivors are getting more sophisticated in what they expect in their ad photos and product photos. And they're willing to pay someone to do it right the first time.

Another interesting article on the subject in British Journal of Photography: http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/interview/1732759/starting-scratch

And another one claiming PJ is alive and well: http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/blog-post/1651276/photojournalism-alive-photographer