The base problem across the industry is photographers - and other artists - who have no clue about their true costs, no understanding of business, and who are giving their work away.
Everyone says "well of course they have no talent", but that is not true in many cases. I have a friend who is a very good graphic artist. But he did one job where he drove 1 hour each way to meet the client, then drove 1 hour each way another day to shoot, then shot for 3 hours, then spent 2 hours compositing in Photoshop. All for $50!
Then the client slow pays him ..... I told him to go get a job at McDonalds.
Of course there were all kinds of promises along tge way - they would hire him to maintain the web for he company, etc.
And their are a ton more like him waiting in line, when he (inevitably) goes bancrupt and gets a job at a call center.
So it is stupid idiots like that who have no conception of their CODB, amortization of equipment, understanding why they need insurance, etc. who are particulary irritating. Of course in law you have requirements to pass a bar exam, etc., which keeps out the know-nothings who would offer to represent you in court for $5 an hour, draw up a will, etc. In retail you have laws against selling for less than the cost of goods sold, like milk at $0.25 per gallon.
There are three primary effects of these folks, in stick or any other niche:
1) it makes it impossible for young professionals to earn enough to support themselves while they build a business,
2) it takes away the bread-and-butter, day to day jobs that help local photographers survive between more creative, lucrative paying work, and
3) it conditions clients who would have the funds to pay realistic rates for what they are reqesting to have no clue as to what decent photography should cost. They waste a lot of our time, and it is too late to educate them about realstc rates. Like I am going to haul $15k worth of equipment and put in an 8 hour day for a job that won't even pay to cover equipment wear and tear?
I would get job offers for $150 for a day when my Canon 1DsII was renting for $250 per day! I found it more profitable to just rent out the equipment and stay home.
So the irritation isn't with the "laws of the economy", or gravity, or whatever. It is with idiots who don't have a clue babbling about their "profession" in photography. I don't mean to imply that any of tge folks here are like that. But there are certainly enough of those folks in most niches now - sports photography, senior portraits, stock, etc. that the economics really don't make any sense at all as a "profession."
And when I can make an average of $50 to $100 per hour - since 1995 at least - with some variation of my photography/Photoshop/digital imaging/computer skill set, I don't even self identify as being in that business, because I don't want to waste time talking to clients who want something for $25 to $100. I'd have to bill them more than that to cone out ahead answering their e-mails and endless phone calls.
As a "profession", photography is a mess right now.
Michael