Is Fear of Competition Holding you Back as a Photographer?

Here’s how to overcome it.

Photos by by Khosro & Pixelshot

“Everyone is a photographer these days.”

I’ve never been one to worry too much about competition, but every now and then I hear other photographers bemoaning the fact that there are too many photographers now.

But are there?

Just under a year ago, I wrote a similar article about writers. When I did my research, I found that in a world population of 8 billion people, the number of writers within that number is relatively small.

You can see the USA numbers here on Statista.

My conclusion was that the competition is not as overwhelming as you might think.

It is all about putting our perception of competition into perspective.

And it is the same with photography.

Finding precise numbers is challenging, but estimates for 2024 place the number of photographers and audio-visual operators in the UK at roughly 93,200.

Considering that the UK has a total population of 68.35 million as of 2023, 93,200 doesn’t sound like a lot, does it?

In the USA, as of 2024, there are 275,619 people employed in the photography industry.