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Free? Sure, should I bend over now, or later?
Posted : December 5th 2007By far my least favourite aspect of being a photographer (aside from non-paying clients – hey, you know who you are) is the constant deluge of people looking for free work, when by all rights they should be paying; it’s wearing, it’s demoralising, it’s downright insulting.
Seb Rogers posted a fantastic clip of Hollywood screen writer Harlon Ellison intimating the finer points of the how best to deal with the chancers looking for a freebie, in return for “exposure”, “highlighting your work” or the promise of “more jobs down the line”. By the magic of YouTube, it’s here too now:
What made me post this mini rant? The chancer e-mail I received this week takes the biscuit (names removed to protect the “innocent”):
Dear Dan
The staff of [magazine], the luxury magazine of [airline], is in the process of planning our Spring 2008 “Sporting Life” issue, focusing on many high-end products and articles related to health, sports, fitness, and wellness.
We are interested in showcasing ONE of your favorite images of mountain biking, preferably at a location within a couple hours of a destination [airline] serves. Several well-known photographers will be participating in this effort and we hope you might be one of them. We can highlight one of your shots from a past book or project, or from one of your new projects.
Written and designed exclusively for [airline]‘s First and Business class passengers, [magazine] offers readers the ultimate guide to travel and the good life. Each quarter 176,300 copies are distributed on board all [airline]‘s flights, reaching more than 3.1 million premium passengers. [magazine] is also distributed in all 43 [first class lounges], [airline]‘s frequent flyer lounges.
…
We look forward to the possibility of publicizing your work in the pages of [magazine].
Sounds innocent enough, right? Just an honest publishing house looking to purchase stock photography and a few words for their upmarket magazine (albeit one I’ll never even see given its placement). Look again – once you’ve had enough of these e-mails certain words set alarm bells ringing – “showcasing”, “highlight”, “publicizing” – they’re all clues that they’re trying to spin a freebie.
Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I reply stating that yes, I’d love to license an image for their use, expecting to hear nothing back. Credit where credit’s due, though, they did reply, with an all too familiar response:
Because of the size and scope of this feature, and because it exposes your work to potentially more than three million readers of [airline]‘s first and business class publication, [magazine], we are unable to pay for or in any way purchase an image from you.
Unable? One of the world’s biggest and most successful airlines is unable to afford to purchase photography for its commercial ventures? Or do they simply rely on enough chumps out there being desperate and deluded enough to believe a single photo in some fat-cat flick-through will be their breakthrough into the world of megabucks?
Take a wild guess.
8 Responses to “Free? Sure, should I bend over now, or later?”
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Hey Dan,
I couldn’t have put it better myself
Here’s the problem: photographers are their own worst enemy. Which other group of individuals (supposedly) running their own (so-called) business ventures can you think of who will effectively work for nothing? Harlon Ellison would doubtless point to screenwriters. Hey, guess what they’ve got in common with photographers?
The sad fact is that potential buyers like this one CAN get away with pulling stunts like this. Because enough photographers will fall for it. And they won’t see a dime in return.
Until and unless photographers shape up and learn to see their work as a BUSINESS, photography as a viable profession will continue to disappear down the pan. Frankly, I don’t hold out much hope.
I’m with Harlon ons this. ****ing amateurs, eh.
Re-reading my comments above… wow, that was grumpy even by my standards
Still, I rest my case. If we want to live in a world where some individuals have the freedom to earn their living from photography, we have to be prepared to accept that, by giving it away free, we’re undermining that freedom. Warm fuzzy glow or roof over your head? Hmm, now there’s a tricky conundrum…
“I don’t take a piss without getting paid for it”
– best link ever
welcome to the world of a pro photographer cock, I did warn you
cheeky fucking bastards, biggest airline in the world scamming, ask them for air miles to the value
How many readers does Bike Mag get? Come on they pay you and considering a issues is around $4 and a plain ticket is at the cheap end $300 for a economy seat (not the upper class ones they are talking about) over a year at 176,300 thats 705,200 issues a month at $300 totaling $211,560,000
So i’m assuming that when they make $211 Million +- there isn’t room in there FAT earnings to pay the Starving Artist?
Thats so stupid. and you know on the same had publicity of that type would be great…. If every one was looking for a photographer.
People seam to see a photo as point and shoot.
i read an article on Chase Jarvis a well known photographer, he was in a law suit against K2 http://blog.copywrite.org/2007/05/07/jarvis-v-k2-inc-decided-on-section-201c-grounds/
he basically had is work licensed to be used for a year and over the time of his relationship with them he took thousands of photos for them. in the end they didnt respect the license and continued to use his work well after it was expired. in the end it became a multi million dollar law suit.
I have thought and thought about this. I have been a National Union of Journalists member for nearly 20 years (I’m that old). I have been out on strike to fight for rights.
Now in today’s climate of free this, fast that, paying with a credit-line other, I have only one word for these people. Cunts.
I have others but none as accurate.
ooooh no! how selfish was that?!! i just really don’t like it when others take advantage in any ways!