Average wage for
Employment Levels
Around 13,000 people are currently employed as Trainee/Assistant Photographers in Australia. This is set to increase slightly to 14,200 people by 2019, according to the Department of Employment.
Employment by State
34.5% of all Trainee/Assistant Photographers are employed in VIC. The area with the lowest number of Trainee/Assistant Photographers is ACT, with only 0.8%.
Gender Split
This is a very female dominated industry with 40.1% of Trainee/Assistant Photographers being male and 59.9% female.
Age Brackets
The most popular age for people working as Trainee/Assistant Photographers is 35-44 years old, with 30%. A small percentage (5.4%) of people get into this career path older, aged 55-59. There is also a number of people who enjoy a career as Trainee/Assistant Photographers, with 9.1% aged 20-24.
Hours Worked
Trainee/Assistant Photographers work an average of 43.9 hours a week which is 3 hours higher than the average for all occupations.
Education Level
The majority of Trainee/Assistant Photographers have a Bachelor Degree qualification (41.4%) or are at a Year 12 level (17.1%). 82.8% of people have a Cert III or higher, whilst 17.2% have a qualification which is Year 12 or lower.
Trainee/Assistant Photographer Duties & Tasks

- Scout locations for photo shoots.
- Organise and maintain equipment.
- Stand in for subjects while lighting is set up.
- Hold reflectors during shooting.
- Take test shots.
- Clerical and customer service work.
- Process pictures for digital enhancement.
- Develop prints by using photographic chemicals or processing film.
*The information provided on this page is from the Department of Employment’s Job Outlook website. All salary ranges are from Payscale. Where jobs are not exact matches, job areas have been used. This information is to be used as a guide only.