What is the average individual income of members here?

chauncey wrote in post #16213742
Where I come from asking about someone's income was considered somewhat tacky.

From where I come from, snide remarks like that can be considered rude.

I didn't ask what your individual income is. I asked you to put an anonymous vote in a bucket. It's just data and statistics and no one is attempting to attach normative value to them.

Nathan wrote in post #16214060
From where I come from, snide remarks like that can be considered rude.

I didn't ask what your individual income is. I asked you to put an anonymous vote in a bucket. It's just data and statistics and no one is attempting to attach normative value to them.

Exactly

Lets really get rude and tacky what is your net worth? Income doesn't mean crap if you owe more
than you earn.

I am as poor as can be . . . probably because of photography. It's hard to commit to a full time job because then I wouldn't be able to spend so many weeks a year away from home pursuing wildlife with my camera.

Plus, when I am in town, most mornings I go out and photograph wildlife locally, and often do not get back home until 11 or 12 o'clock. When I have side projects (construction/stone masonry), I am often pooped out when I get to the job, because I've been up since 4 o'clock in the morning and working my butt off to find and photograph critters all morning long. Hence, not much work gets done on those side jobs - they take me forever to complete, primarily because most of my energy and time get used up on wildlife photography.

I know quite a few people who are very good wildlife photographers - but they are hobbyists. They have full time, high paying careers that consume most of their time. When I think of those guys and the lives they live, I think, "that would suck, only getting to shoot one or two days a week!". Then I realize that they probably look at my life and think, "that would suck - having to sleep in his car on photo trips because he can't afford a cheap hotel or a campsite".

I get out to shoot a few hundred times a year, which is great. In fact, I have sacrificed just about everything else in life to be able to do this. But because of it, I am so poor that buying a backup battery for one of my cameras ($30) eats up an entire month's savings. And I've had to cut a few out-of-state photo trips short because I simply ran out of food & gas money, and was barely able to buy enough gasoline to drive home.

I do make most of my paltry income from photo sales, so at least this obsession is providing a living for me (barely). Hopefully, sales continue to grow, and in a few years I may actually climb out of the "impoverished" bracket!

Wow, Tom. You seem truly committed to photography. I've followed your posts in the past, but now I've got a newfound respect.

chauncey wrote in post #16213742
Where I come from asking about someone's income was considered somewhat tacky.

I think it's generally considered this. However, product registration asks for this (so they know how to best market to you, and understanding the demographics current marketing is working on), many surveys ask for this. This is how sites like salary.com and others get their business. In fact, many businesses do in depth salary research to ensure they are paying competitive wages (and companies exist solely to do this research).

I find it interesting to be honest how even the breakdown was in the different ranges in the informal survey here. I filled it out too, but rarely, if ever, discuss my income with anyone but at the same time I love data, I love being able to think about and ruminate over what the data might mean and what stories it could tell.

I guess I'm a geek.

Nathan wrote in post #16214304
Wow, Tom. You seem truly committed to photography. I've followed your posts in the past, but now I've got a newfound respect.

Toms da "man"......

I have since moved up into the next higher income bracket from when I answered this post before.

I haven't moved up, and the wife has noticed. She is the driven career person in our family. I just want to get my checks and be left alone. In retrospect, I am pretty bored and unfulfilled by work, so I'm starting to push for a promotion. I think the coming 4th child has a lot to do with both our motivations.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #16214532
Toms da "man"......

No, Allen, with 20 to 30 long term clients - YOU da man!

ewheeler20 wrote in post #16214711
I have since moved up into the next higher income bracket from when I answered this post before.

Congratulations - that is awesome! May you continue to have success!

Let this be a lesson to all those out there that aspire to turn professional, but for a very select and talented few...the big bucks just aren't there.

interesting thread and set of data points. I have justifications for having all the photo equipment that I have (and unfortunately, I cant use talent as a justificationO
1. Documenting the our lives, our memories, and our children, which is priceless.
2. a relatively safe hobby, which is unlikely to get me injured or in trouble.
3. It matches well with my love for travelling and outdoors.
4. photo equipment (at least lenses) depreciates very slowly, and the usage cost is very little (compared to golfing or skiing, etc)
5. I live in LA. between Mortgage, various insurances, costs of having 2 children, etc, the cost of nice photo equipment is really not all that much.
6. God has blessed me with no interest in real long glass, such as the 600 f4

Tom Reichner wrote in post #16214722
No, Allen, with 20 to 30 long term clients - YOU da man!

I have sold some of my personal work but I would never be able to live on that. My professional work is my day job and I have been lucky over the years. I made some good choices early in my photographic career but there were some very lean years in the beginning but failure for me was not an option.

chauncey wrote in post #16214745
Let this be a lesson to all those out there that aspire to turn professional, but for a very select and talented few...the big bucks just aren't there.

The survey isn't limited to just professionals. It's a cross section of pros and hobbyists.

chauncey wrote in post #16213742
Where I come from asking about someone's income was considered somewhat tacky.

That's true in social situations here, too. However, survey takers routinely ask about household income. One can decline to answer.