Confusing. Precarious. Safe. Outmoded. Uncertain. Despondent. Broke. Rough. Scam. Unsustainable. These are just some of the responses I received when I put a poll out on Instagram recently asking the photo community how they would describe 2024. Scrolling through the feedback was bleak, but I’m not surprised. The last 12 months have been tumultuous for imagemakers around the world, who for many, regardless of their status or experience level, have suffered the toughest year of their careers.

Collectively, we scrambled through, and now we sit, exhausted and confused about where we should go next. Amongst all of this chaos, a new set of questions is emerging: Is a photography career still viable? Do commercial pictures still matter? And most importantly, what systems need to change to make the industry more sustainable?

There are no easy answers here. We are still reckoning with the consequences of many systemic issues from the relentless speed of production to economic pressure, and technology continues to advance quicker than we can assimilate it. I’ve written previously for Creative Review about the death of expertise and how the dismissal of art buyers, in-house photo directors and the rise of celebrity creative directors has impacted photographers and the quality of work being produced. While the future of commercial photography feels unclear right now, the root of many of our issues revolves around our industry’s general inability to look at itself with any criticality.