{"id":1018,"date":"2008-12-06T21:51:19","date_gmt":"2008-12-06T12:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-12-06\/1018"},"modified":"2008-12-06T21:51:19","modified_gmt":"2008-12-06T12:51:19","slug":"a-rant-about-free-photography-rants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-12-06\/1018","title":{"rendered":"A Rant about “Free Photography” Rants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Here's a bit of insight that should not be too surprising...<\/p>\n\n

“<\/big>If your business model relies on charging for services that\nothers are willing and able to do for free, it's probably time to find a\nnew<\/span> line of work.<\/b>”<\/big><\/p>\n\n

It's not uncommon for professional photographers to have a policy,<\/span> on\nprinciple, to never work for free, so a recent<\/span> post by Strobist's<\/i>\nDavid Hobby suggesting that occasionally working\nfor free has benefits<\/a> has stirred things up. The one-sentence summary\nof David's post is:<\/p>\n\n

Use some of the down time this\neconomy has created in your photography business to seek opportunities to\ndo the kind of photography you actually want to do<\/i>, dangling the\n“I'll do it for free” stick to create a learning<\/span>\/experience\nopportunity for yourself that otherwise would not have knocked on your\ndoor.<\/p>\n\n

David knew that this would create a firestorm<\/span> because the word\n“free” makes the hair stand up on the back of a pro<\/span>\nphotographer's neck, although the kind of “free” he's talking\nabout is different than the “free” that commonly vexes pros. The latter<\/span> is that friends\/relatives\/“enthusiasts” increasingly\ntake pictures for free, just because they like it. For example, a pro<\/span>\nsports photographer bellyaches about his business\ndisappearing<\/a> because hobby photographers are providing the pictures\nthat he used to be paid for. The funny<\/span> thing is that he blames the\nhobbyists<\/i> as if they are unmoral thieves, rather than blaming his own\ninability to adapt his business, or even to recognize the need.<\/p>\n\n

The tide of technological advance brings many game changers: Henry Ford\ndecimated the carriage industry. Refrigerators put milk deliverymen out of\nbusiness. “Video killed the radio star<\/a>.” The Internet is\nmaking printed newspapers irrelevant. I guess<\/span> you can add to this list the\nbusiness model of a lot<\/span> of photographers.<\/p>\n\n

In this digital age, it's easier than ever for non-professionals to\ncreate “okay” pictures, and so those whose needs are satisfied by “okay”\nare opting for the abundant free \/ low-cost choices offered by friends or\nhobbyists. Those choices weren't available even 5 years ago, so 5 years ago\nthe market for a pro<\/span> photographer serving those needs was much bigger than\nit is now. Now the market<\/span> is smaller, and those not realizing the situation\nand adapting are hurting. And blaming.<\/p>\n\n

I can understand being disappointed that a business<\/span> model that has been\nprofitable in the past is no longer so, but bellyaching and finger-pointing\nare as silly in this case as trying to hold back the tide. Deal with it and\nmove on.<\/p>\n\n

What David suggested in the post I paraphrased<\/span> above is a different<\/span>\n“free” than this, but it seems that some lump them all together\nand have the same deer-in-the-headlights reaction. For example, Vincent\nLaforet, a great<\/span> photojournalist that I've mentioned before<\/a>,\nwrote a\nscathing<\/span> reply to David<\/a>, including:<\/p>\n\n

IF YOU ARE WORKING FOR FREE -\nsimply to get “a” job - you risk destroying the entire business for\neveryone. In fact - your dream job - that you do for free - will be a job<\/span>\nthat some qualified person will no longer be getting paid for. And you'll\nhurt that person's chance of feeding their family in accepting to do that\njob for free. It's quite<\/span> that simple.<\/p>\n\n

Come on, Vincent... destroying the entire business for\neveryone<\/i>... that's pathetic. Does this mean that you will go back to\nshooting film so that those who manufacture and develop film can feed their\nfamilies? I could<\/span> insert a thousand<\/span> similar analogies here, but the point\nis that technology has already<\/i> changed the entire business<\/b>.\nThe only “destroy” part is what those who refuse to recognize\nand adapt end up doing to themselves.<\/p>\n\n

I'm not a professional photographer; I'm a professional<\/span> computer\nprogrammer. I started<\/span> at a time<\/span> when computers and programmers were rare,\nbut now both are wildly plentiful, and there are millions of low-cost\nprogrammers available all around the world, instantly at your fingertips\nvia the Internet. Yet, I'm still<\/span> doing well; I never<\/span> seek work, and turn\ndown 20 jobs for every one that I take.<\/span> How on earth<\/span> can I be<\/span> so successful\nin the face of such a glut<\/span>? Because I'm a really,<\/span> really good\nprogrammer.<\/b><\/p>\n\n

Photographers that bemoan the plague of “free” should spend their energy\nbeing a better<\/span> photographer. Often, that doesn't mean “taking better\npictures”, but rather, convincing potential clients how much better than\n“okay” the pro can do, and that the client actually needs better than\n“okay”. This is probably most clear in the wedding business, where a lot<\/span> of\ncouples shopping for a photographer<\/span> simply have no concept of what a good<\/span>\njob actually is, and how much skill it requires. It takes<\/span> work to combat the “Wow, Nice Picture! You must have<\/span> a great<\/span> camera!<\/a>” attitude.<\/p>\n\n

I brought a camera to the last wedding I went<\/span>\nto<\/a>, and I got<\/span> some nice\nphotos<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n

But you'd be crazy to risk someone like me shooting a wedding<\/span> for real.\nYes, it won't be just luck that I get<\/span> a few<\/span> good shots — I'm sort of\nhandy with a camera<\/span> — but it will be luck if I get<\/span> more than a few.<\/span>\nUnless you plan on getting married often, I suggest<\/span> putting your\nwedding-photography eggs in a basket<\/span> that has a proven<\/span> track record of\ngetting great shots consistently<\/i> time and time again. It'll be\nexpensive, but so worth it.<\/p>\n\n

A wedding\/event photographer like Ryan Brenizer<\/a> isn't\nin demand because others refrain from shooting their friends' weddings, he's\nin demand because he's good<\/b>. In the same<\/span> way, I suspect<\/span> that Vincent\nLaforet will always be in demand, no matter how many people do what for\nfree. But those<\/span> who used to make a living<\/span> providing snapshot-like pictures\nfor family Christmas cards will find that people like me (who can shoot an\nokay picture<\/a> for their friends' cards) are making their business\nevaporate.<\/p>\n\n

If changing technology and the resulting business shift scares you, then\neither up your game, or get out. Just please, stop bellyaching about\nit.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here's a bit of insight that should not be too surprising...<\/p>

\"If your business model relies on charging for services that others are willing and able to do for free, it's probably time to find a new line of work.<\/b>\"<\/p>

It's not uncommon for professional photographers to have a policy, on principle, to never work for free, so a recent post by Strobist's David Hobby suggesting that occasionally working for free has benefits has stirred things up. The one-sentence summary of David's post is:<\/p>

Use some of the down time this economy has created [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}