Dean Treml
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Upload & Sell: Off
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mdude85 wrote:
Well, I have not updated that description in two years -- so that makes five years rather than three -- but regardless, it does not take twenty, ten, or even five years in "the business" to recognize the most efficient way to operate in a saturated market... whether that market is photography, law, medicine, business, engineering, IT, or what have you. It doesn't take a certain number of years to recognize that I am not going to put myself in harm's way, professionally, in order to merely appease my competitors on arbitration alone.
I don't have a problem having a working relationship with my competitors by which we can throw off the oppressive clothing of "the business" and have a beer at the end of the day. But I'm sorry to say that I do not tolerate requests from my competitors that I must alter my business practices just so that they can get a foot in the door in order to offer a product of lower quality and higher cost and then continue to complain to people like me that their businesses are failing at the hands of "under-cutters" or "prosumers". And I doubt you would either.
And finally, while I appreciate you checking out my website and I hope you enjoyed my work, please don't presume to know my level of business or professional experience -- including what kinds of contracts I have the ability to secure over more "seasoned" competition -- by merely reading an out-dated one paragraph afterthought of my photographic interests on a weblog of my personal photo collection. Please do your best to address the message and not the messenger.
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Ok, maybe you find my response to your initial remarks personally invasive, if so sorry, however my response is based on your “kill or be killed” critic to my post which was addressing the original message, and which sounds as if you have a rather draconian view of business and a negative approach toward others within.
Regardless of time in any industry or profession, there are ways of operating that vary from person to person, and mine has had plenty of happy relationships with clients and colleagues that have lasted years and still endure without the need to approach situations with cynicism and contempt for others. I have colleagues who I refer work to when busy and vice versa, and we share information or equipment if somebody has a problem or need, and we will share vehicles, meals and hotels if doing jobs on the road. I have clients who I have lost because they have decided to use somebody else for whatever reason, price or better quality, who knows, and clients who have started using me instead of somebody else for whatever reason. I have also had clients come back to me after using somebody else, but I have let these thing take their course without the need to kill or be killed.
Like you I would not tolerate competitors wanting me to alter my practises, regardless of the quality or price of the services they offer, and I also dislike under-cutters who virtually give work away because they get a kick out of seeing their name in print or getting a pass to a sporting event that allows them to lean across the advertising boards and cheer for their team while getting in the way of professionals trying to do their job. There are also the people who appear one day, like a retired lawyer who buys a kit of pro gear and offers his services to a sports club for free and instigates rules that only he can go to certain areas to shoot, but who can’t take a photo to save himself but talks himself up and looks the part with a 400 2.8. Obviously his contract only lasted the one season. Would it not have been better to act with a “bit of respect” for other photographers and work together?
There are people who turn up and work in with others and go the distance and then there are the people who turn up with “hot air and attitude” and never seem to last very long, and these are my experiences which obviously don’t involve you and were not directed at you.
Your work and variety on your website looks fine, but to generalise that there is no such thing as a bit of respect in the business of competing is incorrect. If I see this I will naturally wonder where such an outlook comes from and therefore look at your website and glean from that what information is listed. I will then respond based on this and my experience of 20 plus years as a photographer, and of those who I know, work with and respect. No grenades or napalm in sight.
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