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Archive 2013 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart

  
 
Carl Auer
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


As I am struggling to find clients here in Denver, I came across this article on SportsShooter by my friend Matt Brown. Matt shoots regularly for Long Beach State, has been the team photographer for Cal State Fullerton and is in his first season as the California Angels (No, I do not like change, I never called them Anaheim, or Los Angeles, they will always be the California Angels to me) team photographer.

http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/1989

This really got me as a few potential clients that have approached me in the past couple months were really pushing the fact that they really do not have the money to pay me anything. One potential client was a competitive youth soccer league that charges kids $200 for the summer. They had close to 1000 kids throughout the summer (500 at the beginning, 500 at the end of the summer). They wanted coach photos for their website, a few action shots, and photos of the kids at a Rapids game walking out with the players, holding flags, and a championship photo of each kid on the winning team (4 age groups, individual shot of the players with the trophy and a team shot with the trophy). The photos, with the exception of the team and individual would be for their website and their newsletters. I quoted them a fair price on everything but the T&I, and through the T&I in because I would get money from sales to parents off of my website. It would take me about 2 days a week for a few hours a day for a couple weeks to do this and while I will not divulge what I quoted, I will say it was very fair and of the $1000 kids, 8 to 10 kids would have covered my fee. This is not a non profit, and they came to me. They came back with "We will give you credit, you can advertise my website on their website and in their newsletter, and they would pay for lunch at the snack bar every day. $200,000 from these kids and they would not pay me. I asked them how they pay their rent, buy food, put gas in their car, and they said they were going to have to go another route. I ran into a parent I met at a high school soccer game (PWC), who shoots with a Pentax and a 5.6 lens (not sure of focal length) and he was all excited and told me about the soccer gig he got. Same gig I was asked about, and he was doing 100% for free and the experience. I asked him about the T&I and he was actually printing the photos and delivering them to the league at no cost.

One of the wires I shoot for has an issue getting credentialed for a specific NCAA Division 1 top 25 schools. In fact, of the top 25, it is the only school that will not credential smaller wires. BUT, they will take photos of their players and former players off of websites and use them on their website. We have a lawsuit starting against this school for stealing one of my photos. And this is a school that their ticket prices are crazy high compared to other NCAA schools...BUT, they gave me credit....never asked, but did give me credit....and did not bother to crop out my watermark....or strip my IPTC



Aug 11, 2013 at 12:05 AM
schlotz
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


Well, I can see what keeps you up at night and rightfully so

My morning coffee starting out with this read and it struck a cord. I just fired off a email to the AD of Purdue who was mentioned in Matt Brown's article. BTW, i'm a '75 Purdue Grad.
Here is the text of that message:

Good Morning Mr. Burke,

My morning coffee started with an email containing a link to the attached article. After reading it, I was struck by the simple fact that Purdue (and all other institutions of learning) have the moral obligation to lead by example, setting high ethical standards for itself and expectations for their students in regards to how they conduct themselves and their business with others. I was disappointed to see Purdue mentioned (ref: last section entitled LOOSING OUT TO THE WORKING). In my personal opinion, condoning this approach does not represent high moral character by recognizing the value of the business at hand. Purdue's action, in fact, degraded the work (and value) of other individuals who are professionally working.

While the article itself is a bit dated, I've recently read many others discussing the same issue all pointing to its continual spread. After a brief reflect, I truly hope you will come to the same conclusion and take the necessary actions to guide Purdue to a more ethical way of conducting business.

Matt



Aug 11, 2013 at 07:16 AM
ian408
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


The thing is, until you have no PWCs working for free, you'll always be up against this problem.

And when you look at the 1000 kids at $200, you can say "he made $200,000"-he didn't. He paid all of his coaches, referees, rental for the fields, uniform shirts, trophies, insurance, equipment, and all the other stuff you need to put a tournament on. Plus, he probably has quite a bit of time he won't get paid for too. In the end, I doubt he's rolling in the dough. So when you present him with a bid for work that is X and a parent who will work for free plus give you prints, what is he supposed to do? He can pick you and pay a few grand or the PWC and maybe make some money. If you were in his shoes, what would you do?

It sucks but it's market reality. And in the end, the summer league guy is going to get what he paid for.



Aug 11, 2013 at 10:40 AM
AndyD
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


Great article. Thanks for sharing.


Aug 11, 2013 at 10:52 AM
CW100
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


ian408 wrote:
The thing is, until you have no PWCs working for free, you'll always be up against this problem.

It sucks but it's market reality. And in the end, the summer league guy is going to get what he paid for.



yes, reality sucks.

the photographer didn't really want an answer to his question (turned another way) :
could a person could buy test tubes and petri dishes and become a bio-chemistry professor ?



Aug 11, 2013 at 10:57 AM
Carl Auer
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


Ian, the problem is, on the youth sports level, it is a PWC who just wants to shoot their kid most of the time. Not all the time, there are real photographers, but for the most part it is PWC or should I say, PW brand new C. In high school you start seeing PWC with a little bit of knowledge, which can be bad because they know the basics of what makes a good photo, but do not understand the business. But then when their kids graduate and either go to college or the parent still has the bug to shoot, and thats when they start offering publications or groups free photos just for access to shoot.

For me personally, I started photography while in high school, took a photo class and then went on to college to study photography and photojournalism. After college, while working real jobs, I did what I could to continue on with photography. Assisting, taking workshops, etc. The only time I worked for free was when working with nonprofits that I was involved with, or I was already getting paid as an employee and it was in my job description (I was the Senior Photographer for my engineering firm, and yes, I was the only photographer). I also did some photography continuing education, and continued with workshops. I never offered my services or photos in exchange for access. Yes, I would have killed at that time to be baseline of a NBA game or on the sidelines of a NFL game, but not for free or without the chance to get paid.

But today, you get people who just want the access, they have a day job that pays their bills, and so they do not need to get paid, where people like me who spent a lot of money on photography education, paying their dues, working on photo assignments that not only they did not want to, but maybe disgusted them (I did an forensic engineering assignment on asbestos removal that included dead, rotting rats, black mold, and broken plumbing pipes, in a dark location and I came away with some photos I normally would not want to get out of bed to go take). Assisting, marketing, self promotion, meetings with potential clients, submitting photos to professional contests, and even some consulting.

Since I have been in Denver, I have had 4 or 5 people ask me "if I ever need an assistant...." And when I ask them, "Where did you go to school for photography?" I usually get a blank stair back. Nope, PWC.

Another problem for working photographers, beyond GWC taking jobs away from someone trying to make a living is the GWC not understanding the rules. I can count on one hand how many known GWC I have seen at professional events just watching and cheering, to a point that they should be sitting in the stands with all the other fans instead of on the sidelines. Or standing where they shouldn't, or going into areas that they shouldn't.

While I despise unions, there are times I wish there was a photographers union with guaranteed minimum pay per job, etc, etc.



Aug 11, 2013 at 11:42 AM
Carl Auer
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


And on the 200K. All the coaches are local high school and university coaches or assistants that volunteer their time. They are unpaid. The deal from the organization is, get the kids to learn the correct way, when they get to high school or college they will be real good players. The city owns the fields, but donates the use of the fields to the group in exchange for use of the facility multiple times a year. The league also holds a invitational tournament with teams from all over the country with sponsorship from Dick's Sporting Goods, MSL, and other big donations, which cover the maintaining of the fields and facility year round. The only people paid are the owners (2) and a couple staff and then they contract with a single official who brings in young officials who want to be high school refs, college refs. According to one of the employees who put me in contact with the league, they are in the high 6 figures each year in profit, and being a for profit business, but looking for volunteers, or sponsors just so they do not have to pay for anything is wrong, but because of the good they do for the kids, it kind of balances things out, but that being said, if you want a professional to come in and make you look better, you need to pay for it.



Aug 11, 2013 at 11:52 AM
P Alesse
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


There is no way to control the problem. What we can control though, and where I have been most outspoken to a fault over the last couple of years is offering my critique and advice to those that give away their work for free. I'm more vigilant now than ever. Unless I know who you are and what your intentions are, I won't advise or critique your work on the forum or through PM. It's just the way it is nowadays.


Aug 11, 2013 at 12:13 PM
jspytek
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


Not sure where I fit in. Don't think I'm a PWC, but also not a professional with a photography education. I don't give my photos away for free, but also don't have anyone calling me to shoot any gigs for them. I've invested in quality lenses beyond the casual spectator, but they are not 200-400's. I've been shooting for 2 years, various sports / activities mostly not of my kids and paying to go to classes taught by sports photography professionals. I'd fit in the "if you ever need an assistant..." group, but the more I have researched that group they seem to be treated more as gophers doing text editing, photo uploading, and website maintenance. I've improved enough to be better than most photographers in the area, but not good enough to displace anyone or be added to a larger firms staff. I shoot for a local newspaper, very local.

So, all that being said. It seems to me that I'm in this newer wave oh photographers. I do have experience in several professions. I had proposed a collaborative sports book / ebook on a different thread. My basic thought was, in most industries it's not the professionals making the money, it's those people providing the tools. e.g. In real estate, the brokers, sign manufactures, website designers, "motivational speakers", etc. are the ones making the money, not the real estate agents that sell 2-3 houses a year.

I know there are many great photographers on this site (hey wait, I paid to be on here too!, add this to the list!) who's first love is shooting photography, but also understand the need to make money and the business aspect.

I say all that to ask the question, have you given any thought to making money in other ways? If someone wants to be your assistant, let them, but not for free, make them pay. GWCs are not going to be able to learn enough from you in 1,2 or 3 sessions to take your job. But they obviously have disposable income, help them spend it. What about offering private lessons? What about hooking up with a local photography store and offering lessons? The guys in our market offer about 45 lessons over a two month period, charge $50 for a 2 hour lesson, and get 6-10 people per lesson.

Can anyone else think of ways to monetize your experience?



Aug 11, 2013 at 12:15 PM
Carl Auer
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


There are typically two types of assistants in my experience. Paid and unpaid. And from photographer to photographer, assistants can do different things. I have assisted where I sit in a media room waiting for a runner to come in with a card and I download, edit, caption and transmit. I have assisted where I was the runner, basically running back and forth for a high profile photographer, taking cards to the media room to hand off, bringing cards back, grab water for the photographer and help him carry gear into and out of the arena/stadium. I have been an assistant shadowing a photographer carrying extra bodies and have them at the ready to hand over to the photographer. He might be shooting a football game with a 600mm, and as the action gets closer want a 400 or a 300, or if it is a big play, have a body with a 70-200 or short zoom ready to go. I have helped as a focus point for remote cameras, helped set up lighting for portraits and stood in to get the lighting ratios just right. I have been a sandbag holding lighting stands down and holding reflectors. Many of them paid, but many unpaid, to photographers I wanted to learn from.

As for other ways to monetize, I have not done this in over a year because I do not have the same client base yet, but I have done workshops, focusing on the PWC at the schools and youth leagues I photographed for, and I have done some photo restoration and repair of damaged old photos.



Aug 11, 2013 at 01:36 PM
gome1122
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


Really great article and it does have a point, and I'm guilty of a few things mentioned. I live in a small town and people regularly ask for photos, and up until this year, I usually gave them photos. I'm finally getting my act together and charging. Getting a website up too soon.


Aug 11, 2013 at 11:09 PM
Ben Amato
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


Carl: Thanks for the link. I remember reading this many years ago. It was one of the first articles that got me thinking about why I should be charging for photos. I spent many years as a PWC. I shot club soccer, aau volleyball, aau basketball, etc. I was also very involved with my children’s high school, taking photos and videos for the teams and yearbook. I must admit I really enjoyed my involvement with the players and coaches. They appreciated my time and efforts and it was a very rewarding experience. When they graduated from high school, I decided that I needed to graduate too. I would bow out from the high school and let a professional step in. The school already had a T&I shooter and I thought maybe he would fill the void. NOT! I let some of the other professionals know that I was no longer working with the school but nobody ever contacted the athletic department. Today they have another PWC that shoots for some teams and assists the yearbook staff but they went a few years with little help. Always felt a little guilty about that.

Meanwhile, I began working part-time for a couple local colleges. One of the schools has two full-time photographers but they wanted help with athletics. The pay isn’t anything you could live on but they are convenient and it’s a nice way to spend my free time. For me the biggest difference is you have much less contact with the players and coaches. You may be getting some financial renumeration but your certainly not appreciated like before. I still enjoy it, but I’ve determined that it will never be a solid part-time job in retirement. In fact, I’ve moved my retirement back because of the inability to make a living wage shooting for small colleges in the area.

This past year I went to a number of high school sporting events in my area. I chose to check out larger schools with the top athletes. Grand Rapids is a good size city (metro area 1.1 million) but their were almost never professional photographers at events (except press). I believe the first time I saw someone selling basketball photos was at the regional round of the boys state high school basketball tournament. This is a visual world. People want photos of their kids. So my question for all the professionals out there is a simple one… who is going to capture these other events? Who is going to help the yearbook staffs? If the professionals can’t find a way into the high schools then PWC’s and GWC’s will proliferate. The more they shoot the more they improve. Then they buy better equipment. Then their quality improves again. They gain confidence. Soon they are on the small college football fields and basketball courts. Then they are trying to network onto the division 1 courts and fields.

It’s easy to say… they shouldn’t be on the sidelines, they’re really not very good, they’re hurting my business. Kids, parents and yearbooks want photos! Every team doesn’t make it to the state regionals where they have a professional photographer. So what’s the answer?



Aug 12, 2013 at 09:49 AM
zSCOTTz
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


Carl I don't know how you do the full time photography thing, my hats off to you. Ive only been doing photography for just under two years and there is no way I can see doing it full time trying to support a family of five and paying my mortgage. I would love to do this full time and quit my job working in a factory doing 12 hour shifts in unbearable heat during the summer. Just got done working 12 days in a row, 12 hour shifts and while the pay isn't great I get 401k and a good pension that I could not get doing photography full time.

I didn't go to college at all, just straight to the military, so no journalisium or photography school for me. I didn't even do well in high school, just got in trouble and didn't take anything seriously. I learned how to operate a camera strictly by reading forums and articles on line, watching others getting critiqued, getting critiqued myself. In less than two years I know the camera like the back in my hand, can read any lighting situation, not afraid to shoot on the darkest fields or gyms so one dosen't need to go to college to learn photography if one wants it badly enough.

I now freelance for the local paper where I live in Michigan, caption, work on deadline. Shoot for maxpreps, just did a paid assignment for them, and have been published on line and in print. I make money doing this now, not enough to live off of, but my gear is paid, and I am going to be purchasing my third camera body here in a couple weeks. I only use the money I make in photography to purchase new gear. I consider myself a GWC or that is how I started anyways, I am probably beyond that now. I just wanted to say it dosen't take a four year scholarship from a college to get into photography and be somewhat successful. I have young people with four year degrees in other fields working right next to me on the factory floor making $10.00 an hour saying that can't get a job anywhere and they have these big loans to pay off. So its not just the photography side of things that is hurting, its everywhere.

I remember my first post to this forum and Paul really ripped me for the prices on my website. I had no idea what to charge, and I looked at other sites from photogs in my area and that is what they charge. Thanks to Paul I re-evaluated everything and I now charge a lot more when I shoot. I am probably one of the most expensive shooters in my area, and only a couple do action sports. Sports aren't the big money maker, senior pics are, but I still get a decent chunk of change doing action sports, whether the local paper is paying me, or I just go out and shoot some little league. So just wanted to thank Paul for slapping me around a little

I just wanted to say, still feeling like an outsider looking into your photography world, don't under estimate PWC's or GWC's or whatever they are called. Some can shoot and are very good at it. I see everyones point and it sucks that they are bringing the industry down, but this is still America, they have a right to charge what they want and are free to do it. I see photogs all the time complaining about their 1st amendment rights being violated but then complain about some mom giving away photos. Yes it does hurt your job but at the same time it is still her right as an american citizen to do so. Thats the problem living in a free society. You hit a roadblock, you need to find a different path or come up with a different strategy to make it work. No individual is entitled to earn a living and make good money just because they went to college, nothing is given.

Im not trying to make anybody mad, I just see both sides of the argument and wanted to add my two cents.



Aug 12, 2013 at 12:00 PM
Robert Way
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


I think the simple answer is to show support to those photographers that do get a chance to cover the local high school action. If there is enough support professional photographers will gladly cover "the event".... whatever that event is. I covered three high schools when we lived in Alaska and things started very slowly. Eventually there was enough support to warrant going to the games and doing photos. I think everyone appreciated the time it takes to get to the games, upload to the computer, makes necessary adjustments, etc. For me I covered more girls sports because the support and appreciation was there. When I covered football, baseball, etc for the guys there was no real support.

Sometimes the AD's at the high school level should be willing to take the time to talk to photographers. Case in point, when we lived in the Fairbanks area I tried on several occasions to have a meeting with the most successful athletic high school in the area. The AD never returned my calls, answered emails. There has to be some kind of relationship between the school administration and the photographer.

I could not agree more with your statement... PWC's or GWC's should not be on the sidelines. All too often at football games there was a sea of parents with cameras. The schools should mandate only press and working professional photographers be allowed on the sidelines.



Aug 12, 2013 at 12:10 PM
Stripper
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


Sports photography is a horrible place to make a living. For every professional there are 50 wankers, some of whom can actually shoot, who will work for nothing to have fun or to get experience so that maybe they can get a paying job. It will always be like this. The only thing to do is be rational about pricing and stick to your principles and try to get the wankers to charge for their time.

But...photography is like this in general. Somehow people think it is glamorous....until they start doing it for a living....and find out it is a lot of work.

JohnCote



Aug 12, 2013 at 07:31 PM
Jefferson
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


I have been approached on more than one occasion to shoot events at Road Atlanta with compensation amounting to Creds. & Credit… Turned them all down and will continue to do so… but the next guy will jump at the chance…

He’s got a camera too…

Money’s tight… competition’s everywhere… technology lets everyone take pretty pictures…. Standards have in many cases been lowered…. (Part of what lets everyone take pretty pictures).

If you want to make money, you have to market yourself better than others in your same market… and prove your value…

Going Rate… cost of admission … access… a burger and a beer… oh, and put my name on the photo… Whole lot of this out there…

Jefferson


Edited on Aug 12, 2013 at 08:48 PM · View previous versions



Aug 12, 2013 at 08:48 PM
Carl Auer
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


Robert,
First of all I grew up in Fairbanks. lived there from 75 until 81 before moving to Valdez for 3 years before moving outside. Moved back in 03 to Eagle River and was their until last year. My brother is one of the main guys at Pikes Landing in the kitchen.

My experience in the Anchorage School District is that the Athletic Directors don't do anything but deal with the coaches and report back to the principal. I just went through the boosters for the schools I covered. Another problem is the schools in ASD, and I am sure it is the same with the North Star Borough is the "schools photography contract" is bid on. You have to register with the school district and then when the schools photo contract is up, they can pick you. But then you do everything. Yearbook, ASB card photos, team and individual, all of it...So that is why I went through the boosters. We would bypass the contract by doing team photos for programs or tournaments that had to be done prior to when the school photog could come in, and individual photos were done for "photo buttons". My school contracted with Lifetouch and they hated them and Lifetouch hated doing sports, so it was no skin off their nose, but I hated dealing with the AD.

ASAA is no better. I have no love for them whatsoever, and I really believe that their executive director waited to retire until I left the state. There was no love loss between the two of us and we locked horns a few times. I will not talk in public about their photog. My main school, and one of the other schools I covered up there and actually most of the Anchorage Schools felt that the ASAA should be disbanded and a new, organized group modeled after the Washington State or Colorado school athletic associations should take over.

That being said, what schools are you covering? West Valley? Lathrop? North Pole? or is their a third FBX school now?

Robert Way wrote:
I think the simple answer is to show support to those photographers that do get a chance to cover the local high school action. If there is enough support professional photographers will gladly cover "the event".... whatever that event is. I covered three high schools when we lived in Alaska and things started very slowly. Eventually there was enough support to warrant going to the games and doing photos. I think everyone appreciated the time it takes to get to the games, upload to the computer, makes necessary adjustments, etc. For me I covered more girls sports because the
...Show more



Aug 12, 2013 at 08:48 PM
James L
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


Read the article and this is not anything new. Ive experienced this in other areas of the photo industry as well. It is not something isolated to sports.

I think you just have to have a diversified business model for yourself that reduces the impact that these occurences might have on your bottom line. By now we all know its going to happen.

I am not so sure that this is even an issue isolated to the photo industry. Developers and product manufacturers often give out trial or free products in exchange for feedback and hopefully long term customers.

I see it both ways but again from a business stand point you have to be prepared for something like this.

Good discussion!



Aug 13, 2013 at 12:48 PM
Stripper
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


James L wrote:
Read the article and this is not anything new. Ive experienced this in other areas of the photo industry as well. It is not something isolated to sports....

...I see it both ways but again from a business stand point you have to be prepared for something like this.


I agree completely with James (above). I was just getting ready to post the following when James posted. By the way, just so y'all know, I am a full time "professional" photographer and a good part of what I do is sports related. Also know that there have been times in my life when I have been a PWC and I have been what I call below a Wanker. They weren't often and I knew it was wrong but most of us are...human.

The topic “Free is Killing Me!” (see link posted original by Carl Auer above) surfaces all of the time in the community of professional photographers. However, if “Free” was really killing you it has been killing you since there were photographers and cameras and you would probably be dead by now. For as long as there has been a commercial market for photographs there have been PWCs as they seem to be called here or MWCs as they are called on the people/portrait forum or just wankers as I affectionately called them in my earlier post in this thread.

There may have been a more advantageous ratio of wankers to pros in some bygone golden era…I don’t know and I can’t take time to worry about it. Everything I do to make money has to do with a camera and I have to worry about making money right now. Even if I do believe the ratio is going South, I can’t do much about it and there are other things that are changing in my marketplace that I stand a better chance of doing something about.

I believe that the market for still images is growing and will continue to grow. At the same time the ability to use motion imagery becomes increasingly easier so this market will grow. The trouble is that the availability of images from a multitude of sources may be growing even faster. iPhone images solved the Boston bombings and GoPros can be put in every corner of a venue and fired remotely at very little expenditure of money or time. The market is changing…fancy that…it has always been changing.

A few months ago at an IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway a fellow paid/non-wanker photographer showed me some still images he captured from 2 GoPros he had mounted above the pit box of the team that employs him. I was blown away. The Texas Race is held at night and the lights are bad. It is hard enough to get good images with my Nikon D4s. All I could say to my friend at the time was some kind of WOW!

My thoughts about what I might have said to my friend, aside from WOW, have gone through an evolution since then. The race in Texas happened around the time the Chicago Sun Times fired its entire photo staff. My first thought after WOW was your freakin’ GoPro images are very cool but they are what got my colleagues fired and they are going to kill our gig too. It was a natural reaction and one I have had at other WOW moments in my photographic life. Take for instance when scanners went from $300,000 behemoths in prep-houses to cheap little desktop machines connected to desktop computers with big hard drives, and everyone who touched the film transparencies I made could own my images as digital files. Or how about when my clients not only accepted but demanded images made in cameras with sensors instead of film. Every wanker could buy a camera and shoot enough images so that one of them might be good enough to please these clients. Scary things indeed.

On and on it goes and each WOW moment at first seems that it will ruin my gig….but my gig, so far, goes on. So do the gigs of a lot of us despite the freakin’ Chicago Sun Times. Why do our gigs go on? Because at the root of it all we are businessmen…sales men and entrepreneurs. Our product just happens to be images. As human beings, the wankers and the constant change irritate us. As businessmen we adapt. We figure out what our clients want. We fire some wanker clients and constantly look for new clients. We constantly figure out how to solve our clients' problems in new ways. In short, we continuously strive to create more demand for ourselves than there is for the wankers…or whatever you want to call the college professor who shoots a whole weekend of events for a hundred bucks.

JohnCote




Aug 13, 2013 at 01:03 PM
Hammy
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · This is a great read that I encourage everyone to take to heart


Sorry...I don't know how to say this politely...but move on.

(most of this is a re-hash of what's already been posted)

If any of us were to complain about all the times that somebody did something for 'free' and 'stole' away our client/gig, then we'd all spend the bulk of our time writing about the wrongs of human society.

And IF there existed a world that had no "free" photographers, then we'd all gripe about the other guy/gal who was cheaper than us.

If we want to complain to somebody, call Canon/Nikon/Sony - they're making cameras that everybody can use, afford and take photos that are ... wait for it... good enough. The average consumer who is happy to put every iPhone photo on their Facebook account doesn't need a professional who went to school and has $30k of gear.

It's human nature to do what you love - and not get paid for it - that's not going to change, nor is their thinking of who their affecting.

Fact is, that I'm sure this happens in EVERY market. How many people with a lawn mower think they can start a lawn care business?
Would it be right for a contractor to complain about Habitat for Humanity? Dozens of volunteers just taking away a housing contract from plenty of other companies. Do the contractors feel cheated? Maybe, but did they really want that market of cheap housing for people that can't afford it? The reality of the situation is that the press, the public, and the majority LOVE the concept of unity and willingness to help without regard for compensation.


Move on.

Find a different niche, a better paying market, a different way of marketing/selling, etc - because there will be no shortage in the near (or far) future of PWaCs who will shoot anything for a press pass, cover shot, field access, etc..


(This it not intended towards you, Carl. This is a hot topic for many who feel undercut, but we all have to move past the 'rejections' and onto what we really can do - and do well)



Aug 15, 2013 at 05:32 PM





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