“A Warm Body With a Camera”: What Does Remoteness Mean for Freelance Photographers?

• In Event: Visual Methods Focused on Photography

Abstract

The great recession of the last decade left many staff journalists unemployed, and aspiring ones without much option other than turning to freelance market to practice journalism. While this shift in the media industry increased media organizations reliance on freelancers, the journalists who find themselves in this situation have to work with multiple employers remotely. This study investigates freelance photographers’ perception of their relationship with the media organizations and what strategies they employ construct those relationships. Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory and hierarchy of influences model help explain how freelance photographers adapt to their continuously changing professional environment as they try to maintain a balance between economic and cultural capitals.

Author

• Pinar Istek, U of Texas at Austin