Talking Heads
Once in a Lifetime (1984)
And You May Find Yourself Living In A Shotgun Shack
And You May Find Yourself In Another Part Of The World
And You May Find Yourself Behind The Wheel Of A Large Automobile
And You May Find Yourself In A Beautiful House, With A Beautiful
Wife
And You May Ask Yourself-Well…How Did I Get Here?
read on…
But here we are.
Incidentally, about the US vs. THEM…ah yeah. If it didn’t have a catchy title it would not be much fun would it? My intention was to provoke thought and debate about the sane and the insane in current business practices. I am copping the standoffish attitude as an affect. The THEM is definitely corporate GREED.
On a personal note, I have had the privilege of knowing a few photo editors in my career that I can honestly say I would go to the mattresses for any day of the week. They are my friends, more than co-workers, and they have literally given me my career, that has to be said. You should be so lucky.
I am hoping that the way that the internet spreads information will be beneficial. You see, I really am a dreamer…how else could I be a photographer? Already from my webstats I see the two articles have been linked across many list-serves and individual blogs. We will see what we will see. I also understand that many feel that rocking the boat is not a good idea. I think it is unfortunate that being sensible about business is confused with being “difficult” sometimes. You should always make it clear that you are committed to the work first. The money issues do need to be decided on, you need to estimate, do your due diligence, and decide, do I take this assignment or not. I hope I have shed some light on the real costs of making that decision.
Photographers now have the means to dispense with much of the infrastructure built up around photography, the labs, the rental houses, excepting perhaps studios, much of the production to final print can be profitably run from in house. If you look at it this way, we should be doing much better than we are, yet, we are not-which is another reason why I don’t actually think it is all the photographers fault, I think it is the price fixing and resulting irrational economic behaviour by all the players that have created the “income distribution disparity.” If I had my way, the photographer would have total control over all stages in the image producing pipeline. Accepting that you don’t need the most expensive P39 back for much of the territory editorial covers, and with realistic billing that recognizes my autonomy as a contractor like any other, I believe editorial would be as viable as many other area in photography. I am not going to argue with you if you can get them to pay your phony rental “receipts”, maybe it puts us on a level with other “star” photographers who book everything and show up in Armani and a t-shirt:) Or maybe it makes us look like chumps, I’m not sure.
In summary, don’t accept the old myths, that photographers “do it to themselves” for example. I think I have made a case that the current situation is a least in part the product of the magazines own doing. Rates may be the same since Dorothea Lange, but costs of third party services have ballooned. That says to me there is a lot of money in this system but no one really wants to acknowledge what it actually goes for. Do yourself a favour and take pride in what you do, photographers are not interchangeable widgets. You can use the system to your advantage, just don’t get sucked into the “gonna make it or break it” in magazines. Your career is a lot longer probably than you imagine, you will have to reinvent yourself many times. What you do for “THEM” is only a small part of the picture. Treat “them” as the niche player, not the monster, and diversify. You will be happy your kept your perspective.
The only thing I can think to say now is, no matter what your job or career is we always want more. I think the only way that is possible is to take control of our/your situation and make it happen.
My way of doing things has been to watch what the masses do, and then do the opposite. While everyone scrambles over each other for the attention of their favorite magazines, I’ve moved out of the way and found other sources of revenue. I sell stock direct, I sell prints from my website, I do a variety of commercial photography, a few portraits, and editorial jobs.
Any time anyone tells me, “the exposure will be great. It’s free advertising!”, I generally run the other way. It’s like dealing with a used car salesman. I just don’t trust them.
In the (relatively) short time I’ve been a photographer, I’ve already had to reinvent myself, and I don’t have a problem with it. It keeps things interesting, and I’m constantly challenged. The whole time, I’ve kept my personally projects on forefront, and used the photography assignments as an enjoyable means to an end.
This is so much bigger then photography.
care to elaborate? are you speaking about the writers strike?