“I think there’s more opportunities for young photographers these days… it’s easier to get in because you can just take your pictures and you can put them online and people can see them. It’s not like the old days where you had to get an appointment with an art director or photo editor at a magazine, and they decided whether your work was going to be seen or not. Nowadays, you don’t have that barrier.”
— Julie Bidwell, professional photographer on the changing photography industry
In Part Two of our interview series with Julie Bidwell, we explore how the photography industry has changed over the years. One particularly interesting takeaway: the field is now more accessible than ever, with a lower barrier to entry thanks to advancements in digital technology and social platforms.
Julie Bidwell is a commercial and editorial photographer based in Connecticut, where she focuses on capturing food, interiors, and portraits. Her journey with photography started back at Syracuse University when she picked up a camera as an art student and fell in love with the medium. Today, Julie works with clients across the Northeast and beyond. As President of ASMP CT, Julie is passionate about supporting the next generation of photographers.
Text below transcribed from a portion of an interview conducted by Betty of Cradoc fotoSoftware in April 2025. To view this and other interviews, please go to our Cradoc fotoSoftware YouTube Channel.
How the Photography Industry has Changed
It’s [the photography industry] changed a lot. Once I started shooting, after I was working in the lab and all that kind of stuff, I started with shooting medium format, transparency film and black-and-white film. It was quite a process to do a shoot and then go to the lab and run a clip test and then go back and look at it. I mean, physically, just driving back and forth and looking and then going back and getting it, and getting your negatives in your contact sheet to the black and white, and then finding a rental darkroom and then printing up pictures. So it was just more laborious in that way.
Obviously, now we’re in digital. At some point, it’s much easier because your darkroom is on your computer. There’s no running, driving back and forth to the lab, at least for me. I know a lot of younger photographers are embracing film photography these days, which I think is really interesting and I have different thoughts on that. I wouldn’t go back to those days but that’s obviously the biggest thing is the switch to digital. And the Internet, I don’t want to say the demise of print publications, but it’s definitely not like it used to be. So that’s a huge change just with your image, so much imagery being seen on a screen rather than in print.
I think there’s more opportunities for young photographers these days. I think it’s easier to get in because you can just take your pictures and you can put them online and people can see them. It’s not like the old days where you had to get an appointment with an art director or photo editor at a magazine, and they decided whether your work was going to be seen or not. Nowadays, you don’t have that barrier.
You can have your own website when you’re showing your work, and your own social medias, and you can have your own YouTube. So I would say technology is probably the biggest factor in the changing photography industry.
About Julie Bidwell
Connecticut-based photographer Julie Bidwell captures food, interiors, and portraits for clients across the Northeast and beyond. She discovered her passion for photography while studying art at Syracuse University and has been immersed in the craft ever since. As ASMP CT President, she’s committed to mentoring the next generation of photographers and staying active in the creative community.
Website: https://www.juliebidwell.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliebidwellpix/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliebidwell/
Copyright: All images belong to Julie Bidwell used by Cradoc fotoSoftware with permission of the copyright holder. Use of images or content by any person or entity other than Cradoc fotosoftware for any purposes is expressly prohibited.
See other great interview transcripts:
- Todd Bigelow
- Jonathan Kingston
- Julie Bidwell
- Steve Whittaker
- Scott Dworkin
