Pro Techniques

Active photography entrepreneurs sometimes feel like they're working in an information vacuum because their workday leaves little time for rubbing elbows with their peers. Further complicating the isolation, it's natural for professional photographers to regard other pros as competitors, someone with whom it's unwise to share proprietary business details. It would be great to anonymously compare truthful notes. In this light, we welcome this peek behind the (shutter) curtain provided by Aftershoot.

Aftershoot is a leading AI culling and editing tool that helps photographers streamline their post-production workflow. We wrote about them and their genre in this recent roundup. Aftershoot, and other companies like them, leverage AI to automate routine and repetitive tasks in the same style as the photographer. The process quickens the workflow and allows pros to spend more time in the field, promoting their business or watching Netflix.

To chronicle the experiences of a sampling of pro photographers in today's world, Aftershoot surveyed more than 500 professional photographers from different industries and gathered some interesting information.

Some of the data is fairly predictable; for example, 50.6% of those surveyed started as a hobby photographer during childhood or early teens. And 46.9% capture between 1,000 and 3,000 images per shooting session.

But some info is frankly startling. Only 13.4% of the pros are able to deliver their work product in less than a week. And 6.3% spend more than $5,000 annually on photography equipment, while a full 69% spend between $500 and $2500. And, harder yet to believe, 13.7% spend less than $500 a year on gear. What is that, a half a lens? We suspect that many advanced amateurs outstrip these stats.

Here are some of their other findings.

Conclusions
We're not drawing any conclusions, but we are amazed to learn that 18.9% of respondents deliver between 1,000 and 3,000 images to their clients. We wonder, how can the recipient handle so many choices? It suggests the clients are doing the culling.

We're equally shocked that it takes 7.4% of them longer than two months to deliver the goods. Are their customers still interested after 60 days? Aren't the studios losing revenue? This is remarkable data. Thank you, Aftershoot. We think you make a point about the necessity to speed up the workflow.

Aftershoot Create Together Fund
In a completely unrelated subtext, Aftershoot has launched an industry-boosting program called Create Together Fund and has committed $1 million to support photography communities. Their ultimate goal is to enable up to 750 photography events across the US, UK, Canada, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand by the end of 2025. The program supports photographers by helping to build local communities through workshops, photo walks, model shoots, meetups and more.

Survey Disclaimer from Aftershoot
"This survey primarily reflects the perspectives of established photographers who have developed their careers and are earning substantial income from photography. The data is particularly relevant to wedding, portrait, and event photography, which emerged as the top three specialties among respondents.

"Readers should interpret these results as representative of experienced, working photographers, especially those in the wedding, portrait, and event niches. While providing valuable insights into these areas, the report may not fully capture the experiences of emerging photographers or those specializing in other genres of photography."

— Jon Sienkiewicz