Are female photographers getting popular easier than males?

Hello!

Maybe I'm about to open a can of worms here, but since this topic is something I have thought about a lot, I want to hear your opinions and thoughts on the matter.

Do you think female photographers are getting popular, wide-spread, credited and hired easier and more effectively than us male photographers?

In Sweden for example, there is a lot of high quality wedding and portrait photographers - the same as in every other country - but not all of them are well known or getting the publicity they deserve. By some reason it seems like many of the female photographers get well known and almost famous in the business really fast although they're not technically superior to their male counterparts. At least not as far as my semi-amateur eyes can tell. They seldom have longer experience or better equipment either.

They very often get loads of comments like "Oh you're pics are fantastic!" - "Can you please photog me and my boyfriend?" - "I just looove this image. You are the best!" which I find more rare in male photo blogs/homepages/social network pages.

Theory 1: They're connecting better with the couples/models, making them feel comfortable, relaxed and showing their true self in front of the camera or something else I can't really see, which lead to the couples and models recommending them to friends and family and in that way gain a lot of good PR.

Theory 2: Today's blogging industry has an excessive number of women (compared to men) which makes it natural to female bloggers with a subject of interest (read photography in this case) to get a load of publicity and therefor easier get well known, widespread and recommended to others. I find it that women tend to follow and read other women's blogs rather than following blogs written by men, but that may not be correct.

Theory 3: Couples about to get married or models in general prefer to have a female photographer.

As my final line in this thread I just want to point out that I'm NOT criticizing the ladies - I am the first to applause to popularity, recognition and professional growth. I'm just wondering about this as a phenomenon and want to hear if this is noticeable in other countries too? Or maybe there isn't even one - it's maybe just me who's hallucinating?

no.

To me, it makes sense.. I equate it to gynecologists. Most requested aspect of a doctor, is that she is female.

Not to say that there aren't young upcoming male gynos out there, but it seems like that is a realm that has just slowly been absorbed by the female demographic.

I think male portrait photographers are faced with a similar predicament. It doesn't seem to matter as much in wedding photography, and of course, woman are a very rare species when it comes to landscape/wildlife shoots.

Perhaps, it could be down to the female brain & how females "see things". I may be generalising, but women prefer weddings, flowers, fashion etc while men may prefer insects & extreme landscape or sport. Also there are some professions that are generally assocciated with males & when a female is successful at these, they become more noticable, possibly because they have to work a lot harder to be taken seriously. Neither women nor men are "better" at photography. Women in general, tend to be better communicators & maybe they are better at "connecting" with their clients. I think I would prefer to hire a female photographer to photograph my child, as they seem to have a natural ability to get the kids to relax & find it fun to have their photo taken.

Miki G wrote in post #14738572
I may be generalising, but women prefer weddings, flowers, fashion etc while men may prefer insects & extreme landscape or sport.

Well, I'm a woman and I mainly shoot motorsports. And I hate shooting weddings (tried, didn't like it). And insects

It depends. I suspect that women have an easier time shooting maternity / babies / families simply because they more naturally connect with the subject / client. Same for NILMDTS.

Miki G wrote in post #14738572
Perhaps, it could be down to the female brain & how females "see things". I may be generalising, but women prefer weddings, flowers, fashion etc while men may prefer insects & extreme landscape or sport. Also there are some professions that are generally assocciated with males & when a female is successful at these, they become more noticable, possibly because they have to work a lot harder to be taken seriously. Neither women nor men are "better" at photography. Women in general, tend to be better communicators & maybe they are better at "connecting" with their clients. I think I would prefer to hire a female photographer to photograph my child, as they seem to have a natural ability to get the kids to relax & find it fun to have their photo taken.

Agree. Women can put others at ease a lot easier than a guy can. As to working harder, maybe in some businesses, but if she is good looking, it is far easier to get a foot in the door and get noticed. it's also easier for people to do stories on good looking people as it generates interest. that's human nature.

there shouldn't be, there are more men than women on the planet.

Generally is the woman in the family that will pay for art and pictures so women may feel more comfortable dealing with and buying photos from another woman just like women like to have a woman doctor regardless of being a gyno.

Hermanssson wrote in post #14738251
Hello!

Maybe I'm about to open a can of worms here, but since this topic is something I have thought about a lot, I want to hear your opinions and thoughts on the matter.

Do you think female photographers are getting popular, wide-spread, credited and hired easier and more effectively than us male photographers?

Possibly. If not, however, that would at least be the goal of women's photography groups, women's professional photographers' organizations, and so on and so on.

The notion of openly promoting a professional based on gender is okay in photography and virtually every other field ... but only in one direction.

By the way, just for fun, I visited Wikipedia and found a page called "List of photographers" and a page called "List of women photographers" but not a page called "List of men photographers."

Funny how that works.

What's the point of this? It seems to me that there are a lot of unproven stereotypes being expressed about a supposition that is unsupported by evidence.

Todd Lambert wrote in post #14738457
To me, it makes sense.. I equate it to gynecologists. Most requested aspect of a doctor, is that she is female.

Not to say that there aren't young upcoming male gynos out there, but it seems like that is a realm that has just slowly been absorbed by the female demographic.

I think male portrait photographers are faced with a similar predicament. It doesn't seem to matter as much in wedding photography, and of course, woman are a very rare species when it comes to landscape/wildlife shoots.

Male gynos outnumber females by a LARGE margin.

I don't know about any of the above.

And like the last guy said, is there some kind of evidence or research?

I think kind of, but it depends...............

The one thing that I have noticed is that female shooters that I follow tend to have a better lock when it comes to doing artsy fartsy stuff and their comps seem to be somewhat narrower than what I see coming out of most of the males that I follow. To me, that's just the difference between the male and female brain. I see more macro type shoots from females, whereas I see more sweeping landscapes from males. I notice this a lot in my photography club.

I'm not saying that's a 100 % lock on everyone depending on what body parts they are packing in their Underoos, it's just what I notice with the photographers that I pay attention to.

mileslong24 wrote in post #14741924
Male gynos outnumber females by a LARGE margin.

They won't for very long. For one, woman prefer to deal with another women. It makes them feel safer and more comfortable. There's a reason "all female" OB/GYN clinics are becoming so popular. Second, woman are surpassing men in med school grad statistics. Put simply, we will soon have more female than male doctors.


On topic..........I spend a fair bit of time watching photography tutorials. Most of them are men. I would dare say that most of the members of this forum are also men.. . . . unfortunately my butt is all out of numbers, so I can't pull out any statistics to support that observation.