Cruise-ship Photographers...

[pracas]

I recently ran across an opening for photographers on cruise ships. I was wondering if anyone has done anything similair? and if someone knows what kind of photography does it involve? is it any good? (well i was thinking that it might get me an opportunity to get in full-time into photography...) And finally from discussion point.... Photography as a Hobby Vs Profession... Which is Better?

[jrz]

hobby :D Since from what i've heard getting into pro photography can be a pain in the ass and chances are that you might just end up bankrupt. So i prefer it as a hobby, cause you don't have to worry about anything. Though i wouldn't turn down a job offer for something small. Extra money is always good :D

[philip_coggan]

I gather photography is not a high-paying career - average income for pro photogs in the US is under $30,000 a year. Of course, there are many different types of pro - wedding/portrait (they make money, mostly), editorial (i.e. the ones with jobs at newspapers), advertising/commercial (tough market), photojournalist, art photogrpaher, travel...

If the cruise guys will give you a trip and a salary, and you've got time, go for it....so long as you regard it as fun rather than a profession.

[sohrab]

well it depends on what kind of photography you do and how much in demand you are
even in india where the pay scale is not as high as in the west ( but the expenditure is also quite low)
i know of quite a few photographers who shoot industrial and fashion photography and they earn about 1300-1500 us $ a day on an average. they work for about 10 days a month and for the rest of the time do their own stuff. some of these guys are good, but not great.
if you look at the states, max vadukal charges between us$50,000-80,000 PER DAY for a shoot for the big fashion houses/designers
so it's not as if photography is not paying AT ALL.

however photography is DEFINITELY quite a struggle in the beginning and if you're good and also lucky you won't regret it. atleast in india it is still one of the niche lines of work and when i tell people that i plan on taking up photogrpahy seriously, people behave as if i've lost my mind.
i'm more inclined towards journalism, which is not really paying in terms of money . but i'm obsessed with photograph and i will not be doing anything else

[philip_coggan]

Canadian photog Marcine Linder recently conducted an online poll of photogs. Findings from some 240 respondents, mostly editorial, mostly US:

*Editorial assignment rates are eroding; 34% said this was due to 'too many photogs acecpting bad terms/pay';
* 64% turn down up to 5 assignments a month because of bad pay offered;
* average gross income is $20,000.

This is from an Australian magazine called Capture, wh9ich is aimed at professional photogrpahers. The actual on-line survey is supposed to be available at www.marcine.com/poll.html, but I get a blank screen on my computer when I try to access it.

From my personal contacts, one commercial photog (i.e. doing advertising mostly, the leading such man in Malaysia) reports gross of US$50,000 a year - comfortable, but not outstanding. Another one in Bangkok cahrges $1000 a day - but doesn't get to work every day. And that's the gross - all expenses have to come out of that, including depreciation, and depreciation of digital is very very high (complete re-fit every 18 month or so).

[sohrab]

hi philip
i'm not saying that photogrpahy is a very paying job on the whole , but i meant that it's not as if you can't get a a lot of money if thats what you're looking for. so the example of max vadukul was just to say that it's not as if you can't earn at all, which is why i also mentioned at the beginning of my post, that it depends also on how much of a demand you are in.
even the photographers in delhi itself (these are the better ones), who get paid $1000-$1500 a day don't get work everyday, but they work atleast 8-10 days in a month and are quite happy with it since they have a lot of free time to themselves and $10000-15,000 is a month is ver very good by indian standards.
however one has to be careful about this, because these are just some of the photographers. and also in india having the right contacts is as important if not more , than having the skills

ofcourse editorial photography is one of the least paying stream of photography as far as i know. most of these photographers who i know of, shoot for magazine that are either owned by their friends ( they don't charge anything or even if they do , they charge a nominal price) or to add something on their CV

that's why most of the photographers who're doing well ( financially) are freelance photographers

FOR PRACAS:

hi pracas,

although what i'm saying above might seem very lucrative, you should also take into account that for a single successful photographer there are several struggling photographers (however i think this applies to any other job)
after completing my studies, i plan on taking up photography seriously. this is not for the financial part of it, but because i'm pretty much madly in love with photography and i'd rather kill myself than be stuck in the usual office job ( no offence meant to any white collar worker here, this is just a personal feeling) . it might sound very naive, but at the moment i'm not at all bothered about money( although i realise that i'll have to sustain myself). i just want to do it for the love of it. there is a big chance that i'll also be struggling, but i feel that it is worth taking the risk

maybe if you have the time , you could try it out the cruise thing for once and see how it goes. that'll help you get a better idea of whether you really want to do this or not.