Nearly 20% of Photographers Thinking of Changing Careers, Survey Shows

Gear rentals house Lensrentals recently conducted a survey of over 1,000 photographers and videographers to see how the coronavirus pandemic has affected their businesses. The results show just how hard some photographers have been hit.

UPDATE: If you’d like to contribute to May results of Lensrentals’ survey, click here.

This survey is only the first in a series of emails that Lensrentals is planning to send to its customer base at the beginning of every month. As the pandemic progresses, they hope to paint an accurate picture of the industry: how many people have lost work, who has applied for and is receiving relief funding, and how many people are thinking of changing careers entirely.

You can find the full survey at this link, but here are a few key takeaways:

• Almost 80% of those surveyed said that “all or almost all” of their jobs for April had been cancelled
• Nearly 60% said the same thing had already happened to jobs lined up for May
• 67% of those surveyed have applied for some sort of government assistance program; only 13% have actually succeeded.
• Almost 20% of those surveyed said that they are “considering leaving the industry” due to the impact of COVID-19

The job losses are not surprising, and we just reported on issues with the Paycheck Protection Program yesterday, but the final data point is a sad indicator of the risk inherent in pursuing a creative dream like photography or filmmaking… risk that is simply untenable for many people during such dire economic times.

To read the full survey results and keep up with future updates, be sure to visit the Lensrentals blog. While the sample size isn’t massive by any means, we’re glad someone it keeping tabs on how freelancers and industry professionals are dealing with this crisis.