I have deliberately written the title of this article to have clickbait qualities as I want the kind of people who may be enticed by such a suggestion to read what I have to say. Of course others are welcome to read on but they may not be so surprised by my standpoint, explanations and logic.

There is an old joke that has a dark reality attached to it. What’s the difference between a 12″ deep pan pizza and a photographer? The answer is that the pizza can feed a family of four. Harsh but often fair.

You can make money from professional photography. I have for the past twenty-five years and I still do. A good income but it is not easy, linear or based on social media nonsense. For photography to be identified as being professional a financial transaction must take place. I know this statement will up-set some but that’s just a fact. Don’t take it personally, don’t see it as an attack on your work. You might think you are a professional but if you are not making money from photography it is not your profession. Selling a few prints does not a proffession make. You might be a capable plumber but unless you get paid to repair the plumbing of others you are not a professional. Some specialist training is also useful. I’m sure you get my point. And yes! Plumbers can be creative! Abstract conceptual plumbing is a thing! You should see what I inherited in my house.

The profession of photography requires consistency, resilience, storytelling, empathy, good communication, problem solving, the ability to listen and talk, an inquisitive nature and creative awareness. Some technical and contextual training is also useful. If you can evidence these you will make a good photographer but making money will require more. It is not based on the amount of social media followers, expensive equipment, seeing yourself as a brand or aggressive marketing but originality and an awareness of how the industry works.

Because there are rules, like it or not, believe it or not. Rules of engagement. Rules that have changed little over the past forty years. Rules that you only know if you have engaged with the people who implement them. Art directors, commissioners, art buyers, photo editors; in fact anyone whose job it is to commission photography.

The most important truth to understand about these people is that they only commission the work they commission. Therefore it is the photographer’s responsibility to find the clients who commission the work that is similar to what they make. To approach them, make friends with them, and hopefully at some point start working with them. Simple.

If you don’t consider the client or audience when making work you are existing within a bubble. It might be a nice, comfortable, self-rewarding bubble but it is a bubble that precludes you from engaging with the real world of professional photography. If you are happy to leave that bubble or have it pricked then you stand a chance. If not you don’t.

Now, you may have noticed that earlier I said it is possible to earn money from photography. I did not say as a photographer. Twenty years ago I would have had confidence in giving you a simple outline to getting commissioned and working as a professional photographer. Today that would be dishonest of me. You might make it as a photographer but to make money you have to be more open-minded.

Let’s use the metaphor of a musician to explain this. In the past a musician or band had to tick just a few boxes. Get gigs, get noticed, get a record deal, get reviews and sell records. The records made them money and the gigs helped them sell and promote the records. Simple. Today the boxes have multiplied and the rules have changed. Today the gigs make the money and the albums don’t. They can’t expect to get a record deal and will have to self-fund any recordings and releases. They will have to find their own gigs as potential venues disappear. They may have to fund their own videos, find creatives and promote them on their own social media channels and Youtube which they will also have to run. They will have to organise their own photographs, posters and merchandise which they will sell at their gigs to make extra funds. After all of this effort and spend nothing is guaranteed and therefore many have other jobs to support their journey. The same is true today for photographers.

Professional photographers can no longer rely upon clients to fund their lives as musicians did with record labels. They will have to oversee their websites, social media, promotion and marketing in a way that is appropriate to their area of specialisation. Food photography should have a different approach to music for example, fashion is different to sports and so on and so on. All clients will expect to see personal work that the photographer will have to self-instigate and fund. Those are the expectations of a professional photographer today. There is no quick fix that Adobe can offer.

The good news is that making money from photography means that you can utilize the soft transferable skills you are developing as you engage with all of this expectations. You can teach, publish the work of others, set up a gallery, a bookshop, give talks, sell the prints of others, run a Youtube channel or set up a podcast. You can offer your storytelling and research skills to employers. Not as a photographer but as a consultant or member of staff. I know that all of this is possible because I have done all of them. The bad news is that all of these opportunities cannot be done without putting in the hard work first. You can make money from photography but it is not easy. The question you have to answer is, if you really want to make money from photography how hard are you willing to work?

Dr.Grant Scott
After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Under and Post Graduate Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), and What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

Scott’s book Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, Orphans Publishing, is now on sale.

© Grant Scott 2025