Highest Paid Photographers of All Time
- A $4.3 million auction sale (possibly the highest print sale of all time, if you don't include Peter Lik's private sale)
- Selling most of his originals for over $1 million
- Almost half a billion dollars in sales in his lifetime
- Claiming to have sold the most expensive print at all time at $6.5 million (it was a private sale that many have disputed)
- Being one of the most controversial photographers of our generation
- Being named one of the 5 most influential photographers in the past 25 years
- A MacArthur Fellowship
- A Pulitzer Prize, which she won alongside a group of journalists with the New York Times
- Becoming the first contributing photographer for Vanity Fair
- Working with huge artists like Mick Jagger, Bob Marley and Bob Dylan
- An infamous photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, where Lennon is posed nude curled around Ono
- Working with clients like the Wall Street Journal, Allure and Vogue
- Private exhibitions at prestigious Swedish museums
- Features in Cannes
- A heartbreaking series on the ivory trade in Kenya
- Founding a nonprofit organization dedicated to Africa's wildlife
- A series of books focused entirely on Africa's flora and fauna
- Becoming the creative director of Elle
- Working as the photographer for America's Next Top Model
- Clients like Gwyneth Paltrow, Beyonce, and Saks Fifth Avenue
- Being named on Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia list
- An exhibit during Singapore's first large scale street exhibition of fashion photography
- An Animal Planet documentary all about his travel photography
- Landing the first dedicated photographer position with BBC's landmark series, "Human Planet"
- A MacArthur Fellowship
- An honorary doctorate degree from the Royal College of Art in London
- Clients such as Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and Marc Jacobs
- Being named the IPA Lucie International Photographer of the Year
- Having his photographs published for Adobe's Creative Suite
- Two first prizes in World Press Photo's science and technology competition
- A grant by the National Science Foundation
- Being a guest speaker at Harvard University and TED Global 2017
- Photographing President Barack Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and astronaut Buzz Aldrin
- Being named on the shortlist of 2 Cannes Lions Festivals
- An Emmy award
- Scandal Exposed Behind the World's Most Expensive Photograph, Sold for $6.5 Million
- The 19 Most Expensive Photographs Ever Sold
Photo by Aiony Haust on Unsplash
1. Andreas Gursky
Andreas Gursky is most famous for his landscape photography, most of which are taken from the air.
But, Gursky (like many on this list) has encountered a fair amount of controversy in his career.
One way he made the news last year was by digitally composing fake photos of world leaders.
Gursky's accomplishments include:
It is believed that Gursky is worth $30 million.
Check him out on Artsy!
2. Peter Lik
Peter Lik is a big personality. He bugs people. Yet, they buy his art. And they buy his art for insane amounts of money.
He markets himself as a "fine arts" photographer and sells his photographs on a sliding scale which makes them more expensive as he gets closer to selling a particular print out.
Lik's accomplishments include:
Lik keeps his finances very private, but the fact that he recently listed a house in Hawaii for $19.8 million makes us believe he should be included in a list of the highest paid photographers.
Learn more about the most famous photographers of all time.
3. Lynsey Addario
Lynsey Addario is the first photojournalist to make our list.
Her clients include the New York Times, TIMES, National Geographic and Newsweek.
While on assignment for the New York Times, Addario, alongside 3 other journalists, went missing in Libya in 2011.
Addario's accomplishments include:
It's estimated that Addario is worth between $1 million and $10 million, which firmly places her as one of the highest paid photographers of all time.
4. Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz is known as a celebrity photographer and a controversial one at that.
Leibovitz may be best known for a topless photo she took of Miley Cyrus while the singer and then-Disney Channel star was just 15-years-old, which Leibovitz defended ardently.
Leibovitz's accomplishments include:
Annie Leibovitz is worth $20 million.
Ansel Adams isn't one of the highest paid photographers of all time, but he's certainly one of the most influential. Learn more about Ansel Adams.
5. Morgan Norman
Morgan Norman is one of the least recognizable names on our list because he mostly works in Europe and Eastern Europe, but that doesn't mean he's worth any less.
Norman's accomplishments include:
Norman is worth $18 million.
6. Nick Brandt
Nick Brandt is primarily known as a photographer, but he's also a conservationist and he uses his photography to showcase issues with the environment.
Brandt's accomplishments include:
Brandt is worth somewhere between $100,000 and $1 million.
How many types of photography can you name? Check your photography knowledge by exploring our list of types of photography.
7. Gilles Bensimon
Gilles Bensimon is known as a member of the old guard of fashion photography. He rose to popularity in the 1960s while working for French Elle.
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Bensimon's accomplishments include:
Bensimon is worth $30 million. If that doesn't get you on a list of highest paid photographers, I don't know what will!
8. Zhang Jinghua
Zhang Jinghua is a Chinese-Singaporean photographer who was named as Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia list last year for her fashion photography.
Jinghua's accomplishments include:
Jinghua's net worth is not public information, but it's estimated that she is amongst the richest photographers in the world based on her clients alone.
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9. Timothy Allen
Timothy Allen is best known for his work following indigenous peoples in far off lands, but he also happens to run a photography scholarship.
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Allen's accomplishments include:
Timothy Allen's estimated net worth is $1.6 million.
10. Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman is a pioneer in feminist photography. She got her career started in a series of black-and-white photographs challenging the way women are perceived in Hollywood.
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Sherman's accomplishments include:
Sherman is worth a whopping $35 million.
What is photography? Is it art? Science? A combination of both? Dive deep and learn more about photography.
11. Nick Veasey
Nick Veasey is one of the outliers of this group of highest paid photographers because he works almost exclusively with x-ray photography.
He claimed his most controversial work, an "x-ray" of a Boeing 777, was the largest x-ray photograph in the world but most media believes the photograph is not real.
Veasy's accomplishments include:
Nobody knows exactly how much Nick Veasey is worth, but he's included in most lists of the highest paid photographers for the length of his career as well as the top-tier companies he works for.
12. George Steinmetz
You haven't lived until you've lived a day in the life of George Steinmetz. Steinmetz has published 4 books, one of which features photos of Africa that were mainly shot from a motorized paraglider flying over the desert landscape.
Steinmetz's accomplishments include:
George Steinmetz is worth somewhere between $100,000 and $1 million. Though this isn't the largest sum on this list, it's still evidence that he's one of today's highest paid photographers.
13. Marco Grob
Marco Grob is primarily known for his portrait photography, although he has also conquered the fashion photography world.
Grob's accomplishments include:
Marco grob is worth somewhere between $100,000 and $1 million.