Editorial The Year In Review
How can we do more with less? It is one of the biggest issues currently facing editorial photographers and photojournalists. Budgets may not be declining as drastically as before, with a handful of publications raising their budgets, but photographers are being asked to produce more work for lower rates. Unfortunately, publications are still trying to figure out how to remain profitable while attempting to fulfil the demand for visual content, so it’s not hard to believe that photographers might be at the losing end of that equation. But rather than hang up our cameras and begin mourning the death of editorial, photographers must be agile in this changing market and find new ways to become both better storytellers and businesses to survive.
The digital market
In 2018, Reuters reported that over 50% of the US population consume news and media online and through social media with reporting similar statistics for Australia and the UK. Ever since publications have realised that a majority of their audience consume news and media digitally, it has caused an evolution in the market for editorial photographers. Stephen Voss, an American photographer based in Washington, D.C., has witnessed this change in his assignments covering political figures such as Bernie Sanders for a cover shoot for . “I’ve noticed that more of my assignments are for news organisations that are online-only, like and Post,” says Voss. “There are more places than ever to have your work seen and a fair amount of newer media start-ups that have decent budgets and are experimenting with new ways to present work online.” Being
