The other day I was looking into the website of a Dutch photographers network and I realised that the amount of male and female differ per type photography. For example, in the industrial category it was 1 woman out of 10. In the animal category it was mostly females. So, it depends on the kind of photography. I work only B2B and there I have mostly met male colleagues. And what about the clients? Most of the business owner clients I work with are men and most of the creative director clients I have worked with are female. I am talking about my personal experience in the Dutch photography industry.
What about pay? It has been a recently popular topic that females often earn less than man in many industries. I have noticed that my female colleagues (not all though!) struggle a little bit more in asking for money or knowing their value in the industry while the men are more direct and confident when charging larger sums of money. When I started I didn't know how much I should charge and I joined a business workshop by a professional photographer. By knowing how much he charged and the sort of clients he had gave me an idea of the whole industry and what was possible. I was very surprised by the amount he charged and getting to charge so much myself seemed like a far away dream. 8 years after that workshop I am charging 250%. His mindset helped me a lot! A big mentor for me has been Sue Bryce, female photographer from New Zealand living in the US. In her online course she talks very openly about her struggles as a photographer and finding her own value, as a woman and as a professional in the photography industry. Eventually she focuses a lot in business and her mindset and tips have also helped me a lot! Not only to grow but also to have peace of mind and to position myself better.
Have I had uncomfortable moments as a female photographer? A person made a comment once that offended me a lot! He said "Of course you are doing great with work, you are a beautiful woman" and it felt terrible, he was saying that people hired me because of my looks and being female and not because of the pictures I take. Luckily I know this is not the case because in my portfolio back then there was no picture of me and many of my new clients even mention during the shoot day that they didn't know how to imagine me. But simply the comment felt bad.
Well, today wanted to share this angle and I highly recommend following business or personal growth courses by Sue Bryce!
Have a lovely day / night.
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