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 p.3 #10 · Unoffical Photographer selling event photos | |
butchM wrote:
"Besides, it can hurt them more with unauthorized sales of images that(sic) {than?} myself."
That sounds like you get paid the same, and/or paid by the event organizer, no matter how many pictures sell or don't sell. Perhaps similar to full time staff editorial assignments, where you are sent to cover an event, and whatever pictures the assigning editor uses or doesn't use, doesn't really matter.
I'll bet that there are some respondents to this thread that have much more at risk. They are the designated photographer, but the event organizer is paying them nothing. In fact, the opposite is true. The designated "pro" photographer actually paid the event organizer to be there, in exchange for special access to the event and the privilege of selling pictures to the participants.
If PWCs are afforded the same access that the pro photographer PAID for, that reduces the potential market the pro was counting on when the payment amount was conceived. If the PWC, while standing in the privileged access area, not only take pictures for themselves, but also take pictures of their friends, neighbors, teammates, and at random, and furthermore give them away, than that further erodes the potential market value of the fee that the pro photographer paid to cover the event.
I've witnessed several situations where the pro photographer paid as much as $2,500 out of pocket, up front, for the rights to photograph a single event with less than half that number of participants. There is most certainly something at stake for that photographer when PWC's are given the same floor/stage/sideline/trackside access that the pro had to pay real money for.
Where there is something at risk, the feeling of being threatened might be more pronounced. Even if the quality of the pro's pics is solid, people by nature would often rather receive something for nothing, and more often these days, with the improvements in technology at a lower price point, the pics from the PWC are good enough, especially when free.
It is difficult for both the pro and the event organiser to boot PWC's off the special access area. No one wants to engender the ill will of the participant's parents. Most people identify with the inalienable right of access parents have with and to their children. Most people stand behind the ideas of freedom. So it is always a tough and uncomfortable call to ask an enthusiastic hobbyist who is also a Dad to leave the sideline and go back into the bleachers, while saying nothing to the other Dads on the same sideline who don't happen to have DSLRs pinned to their faces.
In random answers to this thread, there is a hint of a high falutin' attitude akin to "as a pro, my pics don't stink, therefore no other real pro should worry about who's got a camera nipping at their heels." To that I have to wonder how much experience that pro has in today's climate of event photography.
It cost's big bucks out of pocket up front, not only to pay the event host, but just to show up with shooters and computers. Hotel, airfare, car fare, and food for all the staff, plus their day rates... the event software license fees, web hosting, and office time post processing deliverables... the convention center bill for the power drop used to plug in the computer, plus the phone line drop to process credit cards... it adds up to the kind of costs that threaten bankruptcy to the event photographer, that is quite a different experience than a PJ running in with a back pack, a 70-200, and the surety of a check in the mail by the end of the week.
I can still see why an event photographer would feel threatened. One of the very best photographers that I've ever had the honor of meeting gave up event photography because of the cannibalization that PWC's handing out freebies eroded his market with. He had the official "exclusive" rights to a horse park for equestrian events. His pictures were gorgeous. His reputation for quality was impeccable. His equipment investment was unmatched. His permanent booth onsite was built more attractively than custom homes. His attention to detail in the prints was beyond reproach. His single shot timing of the horse's peak action was uncannily superior to a swiss metronome.
There was no possible room for improvement in his work. But there was plenty of room ringside for the PWCs to shoot. There was plenty of room in his prices to be undercut. There was plenty of room for affordable technology to make "good enough" attainable in average hands. There was yet enough room for him to call it quits... to the loss of everyone, sadly. So the idea that quality rises above all did not in this case manifest itself to be a reliable peg to hang a hat on.
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