It is said that succeeding as a professional photographer is 10% photography and 90% good business sense, and after only six months of doing this full-time it has become patently obvious that that's true.

John Harrington's Photo Business News & Forum is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to make a living by taking pictures. After reading the site for only a couple of minutes the other day (thanks Strobist for the link) I already felt that my business head was screwed on a little tighter, and I was more in touch with the way you need to think to succeed.

The current blog entry about the cull of staff photographers at Time and Sports Illustrated magazines is both depressing and encouraging. On the one hand it shows that even the photographers with the most skill and experience have little in the way of job security. But on the other hand the door is being opened for a new wave of talent to work freelance.

Bad news for the staffers, of course, but for the readers? I'm not so sure.

One specious view is that staff photographers have contracts and unions and they become complacent, so it will be a good thing if they are forced to compete again in the freelance mosh pit. But in my experience that's not true.

Again and again I'm finding that the most dedicated and creative photographers are at opposite ends of the spectrum, those being the staffers and the up-n-coming freelancers. It's the middle guys, the well-established high-income freelancers who are often complacent and lazy in their work ethic. (There are definitely exceptions, but I can think of more people who this does apply to than who it doesn't.)

Maybe the Time/SI cull will produce an exciting new market of competition where the best man wins, and ultimately that will lead to better magazines for the readers. Or they might have spawned a monster! It will be interesting to see how the quality, reputation and esteem of both magazines changes over the coming year.