Old photographers don't retire

[Warren Toda]

Back in April 2016, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College published an article titled, "How Do Job Skills That Decline With Age Affect White-Collar Workers?"

Some jobs are physically and/or mentally demanding. As one gets older, these abilities decline and some jobs become more difficult to perform.

The researchers calculated a Susceptibility Index [link to PDF] that ranks 954 occupations. This Index "measures how likely
the physical and cognitive abilities required by an occupation are to decline during the working years." The higher up on the list, the more difficult the job is to perform with age.

The highest-ranked job is "dancer" (ranked at #954) which means a dancer is the most "vulnerable to age-related decline."

The lowest-ranked job is "Compensation and Benefits Managers" followed by various types of teachers. People in these jobs are the least susceptible and more likely to continue working into their older years.

"Photographer" is ranked at #671. This means that a photographer is more vulnerable to age-related decline than a reporter, a painter, an actor, a model, a door-to-door salesperson, a scientist, various types of doctors, etc.

On the other hand, photographers are less vulnerable than the folks who hand out parking tickets, nannies, plumbers, bus drivers, pilots, pro athletes, etc.

For your amusement, take a look at the Susceptibility Index [link to PDF].



Old photographers don't retire, they just get to the end of the roll.

Old photographers don't retire, they just fade away.

Old photographers don't retire, they just get cropped out.

Old photographers don't retire, they just stop developing.

Old photographers don't retire, they just stop flashing.

Old photographers don't retire, they just stop exposing themselves.

Old photographers don't retire, they just get archived.

Old photographers don't retire, they just lose their focus.

Old photographers don't retire, they just lose their zoom.

Old photographers don't retire, they just lose their light.

Old photographers don't retire, they just fail to upgrade.

[David Buzzard]

I know lots of photographers who are still working in their 70's.

[Warren Toda]

Jazz legend Louis Armstrong was quoted as saying, "Musicians don't retire; they stop when there's no more music in them."

I suspect it may be the same with photographers.

[Jim Cochrane]

I have often said that photography is not what you do, but what you are. After retirement ( 21 years now for myself) I have more time to look and see and that too is part of photography. How luck I have been.