Takeaways from the 2015 Outlook Survey: Photographers Feel Optimistic, Instagram Booms, and more

Takeaways from the 2015 Outlook Survey: Photographers Feel Optimistic, Instagram Booms, and more

For the third year in a row, we’re excited to unveil results from The Photographer’s Outlook survey. This year, we heard from close to 7,500 photographers – both professionals and enthusiasts* – who told us their photo business goals and challenges for 2015. We asked questions on everything from the social network they plan to use most to market their work, which business topics they’ll hone in on, where they expect to make most of their revenue from, the resources and photographers they look to for inspiration, and more.

Compared to our learnings from the 2014 survey results, take a look at some of the biggest takeaways this year:

  • 65% of photographers feel optimistic they will earn a greater percentage of their income from photography in 2015.
  • 30% increase among professionals who expect to make most of the revenue from new clients in 2015.
  • A massive 150% increase among professionals using Instagram as the #1 social media network to market their work and a 14% spike among those turning to Facebook first.
  • A 12% increase among enthusiasts who are turning to blogs to learn more about business and technique.
  • A 5% drop among enthusiasts who said they’ve earned money from their photography.

The full breakdown below:

We asked professionals: In 2015, where do you expect to make most of your revenue from? 

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Compared to last year, we see a whopping 30% increase among professionals who expect to make most of their revenue from new clients in 2015.

We also asked professionals: Which social network do you primarily use to market your photography business? Top responses were:

Screen Shot 2015-01-30 at 1.20.27 PM

Although 12% of professionals told us they don’t use social media at all to market their work, compared to last year, we see a 14% spike among photographers turning to Facebook first and a massive 150% increase among those primarily using Instagram to market their work.

When it comes to photo enthusiasts, we also saw a few interesting changes compared to 2014.

We asked: Where do you typically turn to learn more about business tips and technique?  Participants were encouraged to check all that apply.

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Most notably, as compared to least year, we see a 12% jump among enthusiasts who turn to photo blogs to learn more about business and technique.

We also asked enthusiasts: Have you ever made money from your photography? 

Screen Shot 2015-01-30 at 1.57.27 PM

Compared to 2014, we see a 5% drop among photographers who said yes.

For the complete story on how professional photographers and enthusiasts plan to tackle this year, check out The Photographer’s Outlook on 2015.

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*In November 2014, we sent The Photographer’s Outlook on 2015 survey via email to the PhotoShelter community, which included users of our products, as well as members of the photography community at large who receive our monthly newsletter. 7,408 photographers worldwide responded.  For the purposes of this survey, professionals are defined as those who make more than 50% of their individual income from photography, and enthusiasts are defined as those who make less than 50% of their individual income from photography.

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There are 3 comments for this article
  1. Anna at 9:40 am

    Did not receive a guide as promised on the web-site. Looks like they are only collecting peoples e-mails for newsletters. Very disappointed!

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