I’ve always made a decent living. And now that I’m older, I have a body of work, so I have an archive. That is what’s paying off for me, my archive starts to give me extra income to do the things I’m doing, like school for my kids.
When you say Geographic photographer, that includes 50 to 60 photographers, but 90% of them aren’t staff photographers with a regular salary. There are only 5 staff photographers, and we’re sort of like show pieces. All of us are in the back third of our careers. We do books, we do exhibits, we’re big names.
There was a time that they had a working set of staff photographers, and it didn’t work out, because in photography I think guaranteed income takes some of the hunger away. Why would you go and leave your family for all that time every year if you can make the same money staying at home?
Freelance photographers for Geographic generally keep the rights to their work, so they can market their photos after the magazine has published the coverage. Photographers make a lot of their money that way.
If you really want a number, I would say it’s around a hundred grand a year. But that’s not just assignments — that includes side assignments and marketing your own archive of work.
