Can one be a pro landscape photographer anymore?

[Drew Wiley]

Reminds me of TV documentaries and magazine articles by the climbers, with all their dancing with death macho jargon. When you really get to know them, they were probably peeing their pants when the rock under their fingernails started crumbling. And similarly, though we might remember certain photographers based
on a glamorization their work, what was really involved seems to have been about 98% work itself, and only 2% distilled art. Gotta feed the family, pay your bills.
Yeah... Gauguin sailed to Tahiti into a tropical fantasy, artistic bliss, and fame; that was a long time ago... Oh wait a minute, he worked as a dawn to dark grunt
in a smelly warehouse and then painted on his time off, fantasizing about what he never found. Sound familiar?

[Sirius Glass]

Sure one can become a pro landscape photographer. Of course one should keep their day job and never count on a positive net income from being a pro landscape photographer.

[Vaughn]

Great example...
Be sure to see his "About" page which links to "Frequently Asked Questions".
Very interesting and revealing.

The last FAQ describes his daily work very clearly, making a point that much time is NOT spent out photographing.
Instead, office work, computer work, marketing, planning projects, etc., etc. take up a majority of his day.
He very realistically describes what it takes to earn a living as he does.

Perhaps in his case the better question to ask, "Can an experienced business person become a pro-landscape photographer?"

[N Dhananjay]

Perhaps in his case the better question to ask, "Can an experienced business person become a pro-landscape photographer?"

An experienced business person would find projects with better return on investment very easily... No, s/he would not become a pro landscape photographer, not to satisfy his/her business self anyway....

I don't think this was ever an avenue open to become a professional landscape photographer. Yes, there are a few who have pulled it off. The numbers are so small that they are the exception to the rule... If you look at the actual stats, wedding photographers, product/advtg. photographers, portrait photographers, reporter photographers etc. probably vastly outnumber landscape photographers. And photographers, as a species, are vastly outnumbered by all the other professions out there. Even stock photography, which has a fair amount of landscapes, was probably dominated by other kinds of images (and other kinds of images were probably used with more frequency).

So where does this myth of the professional landscape photographer come from? From the availability heuristic - our tendency to make a judgment based on how easily some information comes to mind rather than the content of the information. If you hear the term 'landscape photographer', you try to think of examples and a few come to mind easily. And we infer that if it came to mind easily, it is because there must be lots of them. Which is not a bad heuristic to use, except when it is. Sometimes things come to mind because they are memorable, not because of the natural frequency with which they occur. Which is why when asked to estimate the odds of dying in a variety of interesting ways, people underestimate the odds of dying from asthma or swimming pool accidents and overestimate the risks of dying from airplane crashes and firework accidents. The latter get written about in the news and become more memorable. It is why, when I ask half a class to say 6 nice things about their significant other and the other half to say 12 nice things about their significant other and then ask everyone to report how much they like their significant other, the one's who said 6 nice things like their significant other more than those who said 12 nice things (even though the latter said more nice things about this person). 6 nice things about a person - easy to do (especially since you are in a relationship with them - they presumably therefore have some redeeming qualities) - you infer, "That was easy! If it was so easy, it must be because s/he has many good qualities". 12 nice things about a person - call me cynical, but nobody is THAT nice - difficult to do and you infer, "That felt hard! They must not have too many good qualities - I'm living with a troll."

We remember the landscape photographers who made it. We do not remember the thousands who eventually turned their face to the wall and gave up, because we are not even aware of their existence. And we overestimate the odds of making it as a landscape photographer. It is very difficult to make a case for it as a business. There are just too many other investments that have better, more attractive payoffs. And the opportunity costs - if I sink money into the landscape photographer venture, that money is not available for other, better paying investments - are not insignificant. Yes, there are a few who made it. But when you throw ten thousand people at the wall, some of them will stick...

And even those who made it were most likely scratching another itch...

Cheers, DJ

[prado333]

Two of them who earn their living taking photographs on landscape are Joel Sternfeld and Richard Misrach .

[Kirk Gittings]

I really think the question is could one do it now ie starting now. Not could one do it ever or can established photographers still do it.

[Michael Kadillak]

In this country absolutely anything is possible. But success is predicated upon being one of the 2% of entrepreneurial individuals that sees the world in a divergent way than the other 98% do. In a most elemental sense this is condensed into one simple but effective statement.

People do not buy what you do. They buy WHY you do it.

[Andrew O'Neill]

If you can afford to pay someone to manage and promote you, and your images stand out, you will succeed. I was lucky to have a lady in Japan who promoted me , mainly because she liked my work, and I photographed something that was dear to her heart (history of coal mining in her town). I have also done shows through her that were all landscape, mainly of Japan. Japanese appreciate hand crafted work.... silver gel, kallitypes, platinum, carbon prints, etc....

[Drew Wiley]

Bingo. Incorrect stereotypes. Misrach makes his living primarily through a formal teaching position. Yes, there have been some grants, but his overhead is also high because he does not print his own color work. And as far as getting from Point A to Point B, he paid his dues long and hard. Recognition hardly equated to
income or even steady print sales for a long time. He's told the story himself. Nobody even showed up for his first major gallery opening other than himself and
his wife!

[Kirk Gittings]

If you can afford to pay someone to manage and promote you, and your images stand out, you will succeed. I was lucky to have a lady in Japan who promoted me , mainly because she liked my work, and I photographed something that was dear to her heart (history of coal mining in her town). I have also done shows through her that were all landscape, mainly of Japan. Japanese appreciate hand crafted work.... silver gel, kallitypes, platinum, carbon prints, etc....

Not always true. My model is William Clift. Like him after many disappointments with "representation", I have been on my own for decades and prefer it that way. I am my best manager and promoter. Some galleries and reps periodically approach me and sell my work and get their cut but I am on my own otherwise and there is no ongoing relationship. I prefer direct contact with buyers with no filters-same with my commercial business.