Originally Posted by
stillanerd
Second, if you consider Spider-Man's origins, him being a photographer ties back to when he started out as an entertainer. Before he became a crimefighter, Spidey was putting on live performances in front of cameras; as a crimefighter, he's still putting on performances in front of a camera. Yes, as a superhero who has learned the value of using one's powers for the greater good, he's not nearly as motivated by self-interest as he was prior to his Uncle Ben's death, but he is playing to the cameras, in this case his own camera, in an attempt to literally sell himself as a hero. Notice how Peter, prior to going into a fight to stop the bad guys, sets up his camera in a place where he knows he can get the best angles and shots; in addition, it's been established that he placed a tracking device in his costume so that the camera will always follow and focus on him. He may no longer be doing stunts in a TV studio, or engaged in professional wrestling bouts, but he's still making himself center-stage.
Now you might argue that selling pictures of himself to a newspaper seems outdated what with the decline of traditional print journalism. However, in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, the internet, social media, YouTube, selfies, etc., Peter selling pictures of his exploits as Spider-Man is far more relevant today than it's ever been. Especially when you factor in how today's economy and how the "millennials" and younger generations are struggling even harder to make a living than those of their parents and grandparents. Just take a look at the movie Nightcrawler (no relation to Kurt Wagner from the comics) and you make a case that Jake Gyllenhaal's Louis Bloom is an amoral, sociopath take on Peter Parker. All you have to do is substitute Los Angeles with New York, freelance camera-person with freelance photographer, and the TV station with the Daily Bugle, and it's essentially a version of Spider-Man without the costume, super-powers, and moral compass. If Marvel was serious about revamping Spider-Man for a modern era, they could just give Peter Parker a video camera and have him sell the footage to a news station where J. Jonah Jameson rants about him on his own prime-time talk show (In fact, Jonah already has his own prime-time talk show on a faux Fox News channel in the comics).