How To Become A Contributing Photographer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a contributing photographer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a contributing photographer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $21.74 an hour? That's $45,227 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 11,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreContributing PhotographerUS Average

Salary

3.5

Avg. Salary $45,227

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.5

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 7.02%

Black or African American 6.33%

Hispanic or Latino 15.18%

Unknown 5.70%

White 65.53%

Gender

female 47.39%

male 52.61%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress level

4.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

1.9

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a contributing photographer

Explore contributing photographer education requirements

Most common contributing photographer degrees

Bachelor's

79.6 %

Associate

12.0 %

Master's

4.2 %

Start to develop specific contributing photographer skills

Skills	Percentages
Adobe Photoshop	43.40%
Digital Photography	21.60%
Lifestyle	9.30%
Adobe Lightroom	8.03%
Photo Shoots	6.35%

Complete relevant contributing photographer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New contributing photographers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a contributing photographer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real contributing photographer resumes.

Research contributing photographer duties and responsibilities

Manage creative projects from concept to completion; including signs, posters, specialize logos and video documentaries for clients.
Photograph restaurant and food editorials, online exclusives, and society events while meeting tight deadlines.
Compile portfolios for multiple photography competitions/certifications.
Contribute providing photographic and editorial content for the development of a new project relate with photography.

Prepare your contributing photographer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your contributing photographer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a contributing photographer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable contributing photographer resume templates

Build a professional contributing photographer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your contributing photographer resume.