10 Reasons Why Photography Is NOT An Easy Job

A year ago my boyfriend and I went to get gym memberships. To get the membership we needed to do a bit of an interview and fill in a questionnaire to see where we were at with our fitness and health. One of the questions was if you were stressed or not. I crossed it off yes and didn’t think much of it. When the trainer was going over the questionnaire he got to where it said that I was stressed out and he asked why? I didn’t feel like going into it too much seeing as how I didn’t know him so I said school…which was the main stressor at that time anyways. He asked what I was in school for and I said photography. As soon as I said photography he started to laugh and said something along the lines of “You’re stressed because you’re in school for photography? That’s such an easy job and the schooling for photography shouldn’t be that stressful!” I’m constantly getting comments from people about how easy my job is and how lucky to have such easy school work. As other photographers know, PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT AN EASY JOB! So I thought I would come up with a list of 10 reasons why photography is not an easy career to be in.

1. Photography hurts. Take a wedding for example. First of all, you need to be dressed in some decently nice clothes. Most of the time they're not the most comfortable of clothes. Photographers usually shoot for an average of 8 hours per wedding so imagine walking around in uncomfortable clothes and shoes for 8 hours with all of your equipment on your back. You’ll also be on the ground, climbing in trees, tripping over rocks and so much more. You'll also probably lose your voice from screaming out "Hey everyone, look at the camera!" every 10 seconds.

2. Finding jobs is not that easy, especially if you’re just starting out. Clients just don’t fall into our laps. We’re never assured that we’re going to have 20 headshots booked for next month or the brand that you’ve been working with decided to buy their own camera and try to muster some shots. We’re constantly promoting ourselves and trying to bring in new clients. I spend far too much time on my facebook and instagram.

3. We spend hours on our computers. I spend more time with my computer than I do with anyone else. There have been days where the only time I’ve been away from my computer is to get up to go to the bathroom, unless I’m usually my laptop, then I bring it to the bathroom. I’m surprised my eyes haven’t been buggered up too much yet.

4. This one might not be for every photographer, but talking to people can be a struggle. I’m an introvert and I don’t enjoy being around a lot of people that much. Some people aren't always the nicest either; therefore, clients can sometimes be a pain in the butt. I have a very hard time socializing, but that's part of my job.

5. Dealing with all the hate can be hard. I’ve been lucky and haven’t gotten too much hate for my photography yet, but I know photographers have to deal with it all the time. People are ruthless when it comes to the internet and if they see something they don’t like you will definitely know about it.

6. There’s never a right or wrong way to do anything in photography. That can be a good thing at times but sometimes it gets really frustrating.

7. Trying to stand out is very difficult. It’s hard to always be creative and to get people’s attention.

8. Upgrading equipment happens a lot in the photography industry. Camera equipment is extremely expensive and there’s always new things coming out. Cameras don’t last forever, lenses get dropped, lights break and so much more. There’s always something that you can update and most of the time you need to update or else your equipment isn’t up to date.

9. Again, equipment is expensive. Like way too expensive.

10. Photography is mentally draining. I'm already drained so I'm just going to leave it at that.

Now, go hug a photographer and tell them they're doing a good job. They probably need it. Maybe give them a shot of vodka while you're at it, I know I need it.