how hard is it to become a well known photographer

[DonJ]

I have noticed that in today's art (gallery) photo world, there are a number of themes that stand out as the flavor of the day:
Deeply personal work--illustrating one's personal or family situation, present or past. Often delving into personal psychological issues.
Socially relevant work or work that documents and usually criticizes social/ethical situations.
Staged photos, sometimes with models, illustrating of either of the above.
Multi-media, manipulated, collaged, painted, mutilated photos, either originals or found photos, once again often illustrating the first two themes above.
"Novelty" lensless photography--cyanotypes especially.
To a lesser extent, obsolete processes such a tintypes, daguerrotypes, colloidon where the process takes priority over the actual artistic character.

Very often execution and technique are secondary.

All this, especially as it relates to "life during COVID".

 

[Jim Jones]

Unfortunately the "Heroic Age" of photography is over, and so is the age of the "Heroic Photographer."

Never!

 

[choiliefan]

Heroic?
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-yor...show-view-photographer-died-article-1.2513007

 

[removed account4]

Unfortunately the "Heroic Age" of photography is over, and so is the age of the "Heroic Photographer."

it depends on what you mean by heroic
lots of people are doing noteworthy things and becoming heroes of the young and restless youth of today via the current instant media networks
gotta keep swimming..
the funny thing is the there are tons and tons of well known photographers in this day and age
its just that the lions share of people who frequent this website are not of the demographic they connect with...

 

[Pieter12]

Unfortunately the "Heroic Age" of photography is over, and so is the age of the "Heroic Photographer."

Define "Heroic" in the context of photography.

 

[Arthurwg]

Define "Heroic" in the context of photography.

Maybe tomorrow.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

not by spending you time on the internet!

 

[Chess]

There is almost no such thing as a photographer any longer. You literally need to do a million other things if you intend to make any money let alone be famous.

 

[removed account4]

There is almost no such thing as a photographer any longer. You literally need to do a million other things if you intend to make any money let alone be famous.

its always been like that. the difference is now everyone is promoting themselves online

 

[guangong]

The question is too broad. What kind of photography? Industrial, wedding, travel, news, art? Another question, does being well known always reflect quality of work?

 

[CMoore]

The question is too broad. What kind of photography? Industrial, wedding, travel, news, art? Another question, does being well known always reflect quality of work?

There is nothing special about photography.
Being "Well Known" does not imply quality for anything a person might do.

I think there is no doubt, when the OP said "Well Known".....they were talking about having a successful career as a professional photographer.

 

[VinceInMT]

There is almost no such thing as a photographer any longer. You literally need to do a million other things if you intend to make any money let alone be famous.

I disagree. I am a distance runner and my primary running partner for over 20-years is a photographer who makes a good living it at: commercial portraits, team pictures, senior photos, weddings, etc. No side hustles, just photography.

 

[jtk]

The main reason some people get "famous" is that they are significantly better in important ways than the people who are jealous.

The jealous people have all sorts of excuses for their lack of "fame" but their most obvious
characteristic is that ridiculous character flaw.

 

[Arthurwg]

All kinds of things can make you famous, but photography is a long shot.

 

[MattKing]

After editing away a bunch of inflammatory and/or off topic posts, it appears that there hasn't been much on topic material posted here for a long time.
So this thread is closed.