I do think it is worth pointing out that “salary” and “Income” to a self-employed person or to a company are not always equal (or declared), plus how many of these people who earn less than £5k a year are doing it on a part-time basis? What is the definition of “photographer”? Someone who has sold the rights to one image on Alamy could call themselves a “Pro Photographer”, someone who snaps the odd wedding could do the same.

The main reason for average low income is the same as any freelance industry where there is a low barrier to entry therefore a glut of low-experience people entering. It creates a buyers market and drives down fees for all but the top 2%.

Having said that it wouldn’t take too much for a determined person to earn a healthy side income, I have been thinking about it myself. For example a couple or few paid wedding gigs would put you over National Geo’s bottom end. The main factors are similar to any business:

• How are you different? The top photographers differentiate by style, portfolio, reputation, contacts,  clientele …
• Specialism or generic? You might not make a big splash by being “another photographer” but perhaps a real estate photography specialist would get noticed?
• How do you advertise? Word of mouth is obviously the best route, so many are in yellow pages etc already, but how do you start that word of mouth trend?
• Etc

None of these are unique to photography, you could see the same problems facing any freelancer or small business.

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