The Photography Profession in the Modern Era
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A picture is worth a thousand words, but is it worth a thousand dollars? After all, everyone with a smartphone is technically a photographer. Why should anyone pay for a photograph at all, let alone $1,000, in the modern age when cameras are so accessible and smartphone capabilities are continuously improving? Can the average person capture photos just as good as a professional photographer? Are phones taking over the photography business? Has videography replaced photography? Is AI a threat to photography? Below, seven photographers explain.
Here are the professionals:
Michael Cavazos
Michael Cavazos is a freelance photographer operating Michael Cavazos Photography since January 2024. He specializes in journalistic-style photography, having previously worked for the Longview News-Journal for two decades as a photojournalist. Now, he shoots anything from weddings and events to lifestyle and commercial photography. Cavazos’ work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post and the Texas Tribune.
Tye & Grace Jackson
Tye and Grace Jackson have partnered not only in marriage but in their media production company—VizCre8ve Media. Though the Jacksons started out with a photography-based business in 2011, they now employ a team of experts that shoot video and creative content for various businesses and events. They were recently awarded the Family Owned Business of the Year by the Longview Chamber of Commerce.
*Tye provided the quotes for this story
Andrew Jones
Andrew Jones is an insurance agent by day and a freelance photographer specializing in concert, celebrity, editorial and portrait photography by night. Jones started his business—Goldn Photography—in January 2019, focusing on senior portraits and golden hour photoshoots. He has traveled around the country shooting for musicians such as Kesha, TLC, Jon Stork, Randall King and Randy Travis. Jones’ photos have been featured in US Weekly and the Today Show.
Alisha McGee
Alisha McGee is a stay-at-home mom who pursues her photography business—Creations Captured Photography—full time after working as a yearbook/newspaper adviser and teacher for almost 15 years. McGee specializes in family and children’s portraits and shoots weddings and other events.
Ethan Mito
Ethan Mito is a sports photographer working for Texas A&M Athletics, specializing in baseball, soccer and women’s basketball. Mito is also a freelancer for the NCAA and has previously shot MLB and NBA games for Getty Images. He graduated from TCU in 2021 after serving as the Horned Frog yearbook photo editor for five semesters.
Lindsay Steele
Lindsay Steele, owner of Lindsay Steele Photography, has been a freelance photographer for almost a decade. Her expertise is in colorful portraits and weddings. Steele has traveled around the world capturing vibrant, whimsical photos that emphasizes her quirky brand. Steele offers sessions ranging from engagements and maternity photoshoots to movie poster replications.
Lesa Wright
Lesa Wright is a high school counselor who owns her own photography business—Lesa Wright Photography—on the side. Wright started out documenting her family’s events but picked up senior portrait photography when she became a high school yearbook adviser. Her expertise now is in senior photos, family portraits and headshots.
Do smartphones compare to professional cameras?
With the release of every new smartphone model, camera capabilities have improved. “I think phones are great. They've come a long way,” Cavazos said. Smartphone photography is convenient, accessible and relatively easy to execute. However, in terms of taking high quality photographs, smartphones are limited in areas such as shutter speed, zoom and lighting control. “If you're really trying to get into photography, I think it's a good tool to work on your craft,” Jones said. “They have a distinct look. Not bad–just different,” Cavazos said.
There are many skills to master using just an iPhone, but without perfect lighting, it may be challenging. In terms of covering events professionally, such as weddings, sports or concerts, “you get taken more seriously with an actual camera,” Jones said.
Not everyone who can “push a big white button” on a phone screen has the “talent and knowledge to work a camera, the manual settings and everything,” Jones said. And not every professional can take good mobile photos. “I can't take a good iPhone picture to save my life,” Wright said.
What sets apart a professional photographer from an average person with a camera?
Access to equipment
“To get the work done, you need hardware–cameras and gear,” Jackson said. Lighting accessories, editing software and extra lenses are all necessary for industry-level photography. For example, in sports photography, “you need that 400m lens to get that good photo,” Mito said.
Technical know-how
“A professional photographer knows the ins and outs of the camera,” Jones said. “Having knowledge about posing, angles, lighting, camera settings, and other photography principles is what makes photographers more valuable than a smartphone camera,” McGee said. There are also “many different pieces that you don't even realize, like marketing and taxes and accounting and social media," Wright said.
Ethics
Photojournalists especially have to follow a code of ethics to ensure that events are portrayed accurately, fairly and comprehensively. “You can’t manipulate or distort the image to make it something it isn’t,” Mito said.
Experience
Everything gets better with practice–skills improve and confidence increases. Sometimes the thing that sets two people apart is the amount of time spent perfecting the craft. “Professional photographers have more experience. It’s their livelihood. It’s their reputation,” Mito said.
Risk-taking
“Sometimes you have to get into some uncomfortable spaces to get the shot. There's also a lot of bending, squatting, and lifting. It's much more physically demanding than most people realize,” Wright said.
Creativity
“A cinematographer or a photographer sees things a little differently than just anyone with a camera. There are skills that have been honed in storytelling that most have not learned,” Jackson said.
“Anybody can pick up a guitar, but it takes a special person to write a song. It’s the same way with photography. Anyone can take a picture, but it takes a special person to create art.”
Lindsay Steele
“If I go home and cook a meal on the stove, that doesn't make me a chef, so just because someone has a camera and they take pictures, that doesn't make them a photographer per se.”
Michael Cavazos
“I can sew a pair of pants, but I can't tailor pants to suit somebody else's body. It's one thing to learn how to do it but then also to have the creative eye for it."
Lesa Wright
Is the price of photography worth it?
Many people cannot afford to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a photographer. However, just like every other service, there is value in hiring a professional. It may not be within everyone’s budget to take leisure photoshoots, but photographers charge the way they do because just like everyone else, they need to make money. Since artwork is not free, some photographers just “focus on the art, and those that find value in it don’t worry about the price,” Steele said.
Photographers also grapple with the idea of undercharging. “People find value in what they have to give something for. Sometimes when you give something away for free, people feel like it must not be worth anything or must not be worth much if I can get it for so little,” Wright said.
What are some other obstacles for photographers?
Videography
In the social media age, videos are a very familiar medium for people to gather information and seek entertainment. Wedding and real estate videos are becoming increasingly popular, especially with drone advancements. “It kind of breaks my heart that we’re moving into more of a video society than pictures,” Jones said. However, there are many reasons for photographers to stay optimistic. “I do not think it is a dying industry,” McGee said. It’s just “an opportunity to be more creative,” Jackson said. Another advantage to photography is that photos are more tangible and timeless than videos. With photos, “I hold it in my hand, and I can hold it as long as I want. A video will never allow me to do that,” Wright said. Due to the uncertainty of the future of digital technology, there is no way to predict how long videos will last. Photos, on the other hand, have been able to survive hundreds of years.
Changes in media
News organizations use a variety of methods to receive photos, from using wire services like the Associated Press to hiring staff photographers to buying images from freelancers to crowdsourcing from civilians. For many media outlets, especially smaller ones, it is more cost efficient to rely on crowdsourcing and freelancing. Cavazos, who was laid off by the Longview-News Journal, said there were several layoffs while he was there because of money concerns. As smaller outlets struggle to stay afloat, they have incorporated innovative solutions to reduce spending, such as content sharing with sister papers, utilizing programs like Report for America and reducing the amount of staff workers. For agencies that do still hire photographers, they prioritize workers who have broader skills in videography and TV production, Jones said.
Artificial Intelligence
There is debate within the photo world of the role of AI in photography. Some photojournalists think AI should not have a role at all “because it’s not real,” Mito said. “In the very definition of a photograph, you need light and a light sensitive material. AI uses neither of those,” Cavazos said. As in other professional landscapes, some people see it as an additional tool. “As we navigate the introduction to AI workflows, we are looking forward to the possibilities this will add to our client experience,” Jackson said.
According to the professionals themselves, photography is here to stay despite its current day evolution.
"There's something about having a picture in a frame or on a wall. Photographs allow us to remember, reflect and feel."
Professional photographers are there to capture historic, special, sentimental, exciting or important moments. They also allow people to “be present with what’s going on and not have to worry about taking pictures,” said Nicole Vu, the mother of 2024 TCU graduate Nicholas Do.
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