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In her latest despatch from across the Channel, Kat Kluge explains why the job market doesn’t have to be as dire as everyone says if you know where to look and who to ask.
Everyone has an opinion on what I’m about to say, regardless of where they live, but I keep changing my mind about this one: is the German photography market saturated?
I speak to professional photographers every day, and everyone has a definite answer to this question, yet the answer differs: while some complain that there is so much stock imagery out there that the value of photography has decreased, others argue that it’s just a question of supplying new, relevant mages at a high frequency to earn lots of small fees that accumulate.
While photographers complain that there are too many newbies undercutting them and taking their business, I know many newbies who started at the height of the recession and who are now in demand as established photographers, charging substantial fees for their services.
The more I think about it, the more it reminds me of the journalism ‘market’ when I started out. My classmates and I were greeted thusly: “welcome to journalism college, you won’t get any jobs but we hope you’ll enjoy the course.”
With that keynote in mind, we all entered our chosen profession with an attitude of fear and pessimism, putting ourselves down and grasping on to any internship or other unpaid working ‘opportunity’, thinking that anything was a step upward.
Fast forward to a year after our graduation, and almost all my classmates had a job that was relevant to their degree.
Turns out it really wasn’t as bad as our teachers had said. Even the ones who chose to freelance are now doing very well because companies almost never hire enough people during tough economic times, meaning that many companies are happy to hear from reliable freelancers who can deliver the extra things they need.
And that’s where I think photographers can take comfort; there might not be many staff jobs left, but there is work if you look in the right places.
The industry might be competitive, but if there are that many people competing, there must be work to compete for.
So stop worrying about the competition, and focus on achieving what you want; you’re much more likely to succeed that way.
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