What is the best US city to work as a professional photographer?

For work I would say Vegas. Lots of weddings.

If I were a photographer, I’d film daily life and environment in small, rural towns before they disappear.

I guess it would depend on what you want to do.
If you want to make a lot of money, then I’d go with @Judi and give Vegas (or some other big city) a whirl.
If you’re interested in telling a story, then @Pachyderm_In_The_Room suggestion of small town America would be great.

After Wednesday’s SCOTUS decisions, wedding photographers in San Francisco are canceling vacations and gearing up!

Welcome to Fluther!

Two friends are professional photographers. Both have implied that location is more about what you want to photograph and having great connections.

One lives in rural Virginia and conducts most of his photo shoots on his property. Occasionally, he travels to exotic locations. His subjects are nude models posed very artfully in nature settings, so his secluded land makes an ideal location.

The other friend also lives in Virginia, although in a college town. His preference gravitates towards landscapes and objects, with occasional work with people. He has also discovered a knack for buying and selling items on eBay. While perusing the site for some props for his photo shoots, he found that people were selling items well below their worth. He’d buy them, use them in the photos, and then turn around and sell them. He enjoys doing the research to find out how much they are actually worth.

Depends on what kind of photography you do. News Events / Journalistic? Weddings & Portraits? Paparazzo? If you’re grabbing Celebrity snaps then you need to be in LA or New York. If you’re following news events – then you need to live in a airport hub city.

I have a friend who is a professional photographer in Tokyo who specializes in bands / PR photos – and he lived in NYC for a time because he felt is was an excellent city with tons going on (and great public transit) for a photographer…and it fits the two criteria above…so, I’d say New York City.