Hallo everyone, and welcome back to my site. Thanks to those who have the patience to follow my posts. A warm welcome to those who are here for the first time.
I recently asked myself, how many amateur photographers are there in Italy. More or less how many people take photographs and have the passion for doing so. I mean how many people have a camera, and not a smartphone.
Given that I’m not aware of any public and/or publicly available surveys and/or market research. The information I summarize below is the result of personal ONLINE research carried out of my curiosity. They do not claim to be absolutely correct, nor do I think they are complete. Although they are still the synthesis of information made public by various Italian sites. I believe that a first substantial difference needs to be made. The “images” captured today are largely the result of shots taken with smartphones and/or similar instruments. I have dedicated my research to photography with digital, compact, reflex or mirrorless cameras. So NOT to other photo shoots.
There are no precise and updated data on the exact number of amateur photographers in Italy, but some sources provide useful information. According to recent photography market public information, photography remains a popular hobby, with millions of people practicing amateur or professional photography.
The distribution of interest is wide, with a prevalence among young adults (18-35 years), thanks to the accessibility of digital technologies (smartphones), and among pensioners (60+ years), who often engage in photography as a pastime. However, teenagers and intermediate groups also actively participate.
Active amateur photographers in Italy: According to recent estimates, in Italy there are around 3-4 million photography enthusiasts, including occasional and regular amateurs. A large portion of these use smartphones for amateur photography, thanks to the advanced technology of integrated cameras. Excluding users of smartphones and/or similar. Trying to take an average between the various public sources consulted. Personally I estimate ( optimistically) that there are around 1.000.000 camera users. Of which probably around 30% are active quite regularly.
On the other hand, following my personal experience, when I go out to take photographs even in very well-known and famous places, there are very few people I meet with cameras. On the contrary, many people, I would say at least 90%, use their smartphone to take pictures of panoramas, monuments, etc… I believe that what I’m writing has easily happened to you too.
The reason for this widespread diffusion of photographs taken with smartphones is obviously easily understandable. I would add that the quality of the cameras of the most recent smartphones has definitely improved and the overall quality is of absolutely acceptable and often valid quality.
On the contrary, a high concentration of specialized photographers with very respectable equipment. They are very easily encountered in other public places such as: naturalistic oases, parks and protected areas.
Popularity and motivations: In Italy, photography is popular thanks to tourism and landscapes, which encourage the use of higher quality cameras to capture better images than smartphones. However and again, there are no statistics to my knowledge as of this date.
In my research as well as other things that I have explored and which for brevity I will not report. Instead I found this initiative from the Italian Ministry of Culture dedicated to photography. Site in Italian language, I was completely NOT informed.
Please forgive me if I’m unable to transmit certain and secure data, but I don’t think there are any specifically dedicated to the Italian market. I therefore based myself on the little data publicly available, applying personal evaluations and estimates to these.
I hope this post was of some interest anyway. – Stay tuned !
