So, folks sometimes wonder about this, you see kids with stars in their eyes, thinking, “NBA photographer, what a gig!” My own nephew, young fella named Alex, he got bit by that bug. Loves basketball, pretty handy with a camera he got for his birthday. One day he asks me, all serious, “Uncle, how much do NBA photographers actually make? I really wanna do that.”
Alright, I thought, let’s look into it for the kid. So we started poking around online. First thing you find? Just a mess of numbers, all different. Some websites say one thing, others say something else entirely. You’ll see stuff like, “Oh, they make between $40,000 and $80,000 a year,” or “top guys make six figures!” Not very helpful, really. It’s like saying basketball players make “a lot.” Yeah, no kidding.
But Alex was keen, so I figured I’d try to get a better picture. I used to know a guy, Jerry, who worked as a sports editor for a local paper for ages. Figured he’d have some idea of the real deal. So, I gave Jerry a call.
He kinda laughed when I asked him. “It ain’t that simple,” he told me. He said that the idea of a bunch of photographers on the NBA’s payroll, full-time with benefits, that’s mostly a fairytale for the vast majority.
Here’s what Jerry laid out, and it was an eye-opener for Alex, and for me too:
- Most of these photographers are freelancers. That means they’re hustling for every single job. There’s no guaranteed paycheck at the end of the month for many of them.
- They usually buy their own gear. And let me tell you, professional camera bodies, those big fancy lenses you see on the sidelines? That’s thousands, tens of thousands of dollars. Plus insurance for it.
- It’s gig to gig. They might get hired by a news agency for a game, or a magazine, or sometimes directly by a team for specific events. Payment can be per game, or per photo that gets used.
- Connections are everything. Knowing the right people, having a portfolio that blows socks off, and being reliable. It’s a tough circle to break into.
Jerry said, “Sure, there are a few, a handful, who are staff for the NBA itself, or for a huge sports media company. Those guys, yeah, they’re doing well. But that’s the tip of the iceberg.” For most, it’s a constant grind. You might make a few hundred bucks for a game, but then you’ve got expenses, and no work the next day.
It’s not just about taking pretty pictures of slam dunks. It’s about running a business, your own small, often struggling, business. You’re marketing yourself, editing your photos late into the night, chasing payments. It’s a passion-driven field, for sure, but passion doesn’t always pay the bills on time.
So, what happened with Alex? He still loves taking photos, and he’s still a huge basketball fan. But hearing all that, it gave him a dose of reality. He’s now thinking maybe something like sports graphic design, or video editing. Still creative, still in the sports world, but maybe a bit more stable footing. Can’t say I blame him. That dream of being an NBA photographer? It’s a long shot, a real tough one to make consistently.