A CNNMoney.com report in conjunction with PayScale.com says that the job of Commercial Photographer is one of the most “stressful jobs that pays badly“. To come up with their results PayScale.com starting with a database of over 2000 jobs. Payscale used data from over 36,000 respondents who ranked their jobs for quality of life factors, and chose those requiring a bachelor’s degree or higher where the national median pay is less than $65,000.

Commercial Photographer was listed among 14 other overworked and underpaid professions, including: Social Worker, Special Events Coordinator, Probation/Parole Officer, News Reporter, Music Ministry Director, Membership Manager, Fundraiser, Assisted Living Director, Minister, Marriage/Family Therapist, Curator, Substance Abuse Counselor, Film/TV Producer, High School Teacher.

The same report shows the median income of a commercial photographer to be $43,600 – yet a search of PayScale.com showed the median income to be $50,947. Slight discrepancy there. The reported pay also is the median income for the whole country, in the major metropolitan areas commercial photographers are making plenty more than $50k. In the suburbs maybe, but Photographers in New York City are making much more than that as it’s not even a livable wage.

I don’t know about others in this field, but I thrive on stress. Stress gets me up in the morning. Stress and challenge is what keeps me going. Yes we work 7 day weeks, working 18 hours a day, and even on our off time we’re brainstorming for our next shoot. But if you don’t love it, you’d leave it! Stress isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

About the author

Kevin Michael Reed
Kevin Michael Reed (Google+, Facebook) is a fashion & beauty photographer and producer/director based in New York City and Los Angeles, CA. He is the President/CEO of RedFOG Visual Media, a production company in New York City, and a partner in Passion of Photography, Inc, a company dedicated to teaching photographers and sharing our passion through charitable causes. Kevin has lectured and hosted workshops throughout the United States and the world teaching photographers the business and creative sides of photography. (Kevin's Fashion & Beauty Photography Portfolio can be seen here).