I read an interesting article today that was talking about the fate of horse show photographers. I must say that, frankly, I agree with many of the statements made by the author. Indeed, it is not just horse show photographers, but professional photography as a whole that is facing a crisis. Why is this?
The author of the above-referenced article makes several good points. First, is that fact that many people will take and use proof prints and never bother paying the photographer for the use of these images. Doing so, regardless of the forum (website, photographer's Facebook page, etc...) that the photographer posts those images in is theft. If a photograph has a watermark on it, then that's pretty good evidence that the person using it is doing so without permission. This is a situation where there's no good excuse. Personally, I have taken every effort to prevent photo theft by purchasing a website that allowed me to both right click disable and watermark photographs and by pretty much only sharing photographs (of client sessions) to social media via blog posts. The social media part of that came when I did have photographs downloaded and put on timelines without my permission. I'm glad that you loved your photographs, but I put a lot of time, money, effort, and creativity into delivering that quality to you, so please don't take money out of my pocket by not only downloading and reposting my photographs without permission or compensation but by doing so without giving proper credit.
A second point that this article made ties directly into the first, the fact that the full-time professional photographers are being replaced by hobbiests who may or may not have the equipment and skills to deliver quality. This is multi-faceted.
First, yes, the article is right, quality is worth the price. But, have we priced ourselves to the point that people cannot afford and, as a result, no longer realize what that quality truly can or should be? There are many, many expenses involved in being a professional photographer, a point that is especially relevant at tax-time (yes, if you are doing this the right way, you have to pay taxes on what you bring in, both at the federal and state level and sometimes even at the municipal level). With all of these expenses, the full-time photographer must charge an amount that covers their expenses and gives them a living wage. And a session (or horse show) is not the only time that a photographer will spend on those photographs, there is so much more involved with pre-session planning, post-production, etc...). But, how much does the pricing of the photography industry reflect the "because I am worth this" mentality? I know that I have heard that line many, many times in my studies of the business of photography.
You see, it occurs to me that the professional photographer has become its own worst enemy. By setting the prices for quality work as high as they have become, a large part of the population or market has been excluded from our services and the faux-tographer has been given a foothold. If someone cannot afford the high quality that our industry touts as standard, then they will settle for whatever they can get. Do that long enough, and they no longer realize what true quality looks like and the value of all photography services is diminished as a whole. This ties directly into the mindset that allows people to justify just downloading and using photographer's images without purchasing those images (this statement in no way suggests that it is right to do so). If our customers do not value our work, then they will not be compelled to respect that work or to spend money on it.
I spent some time helping a show photographer at an event. One thing that I did not realize prior to that event was that many times a show photographer is not paid by the event; the only income they receive is from the sales that they make. This is something that, if known, should certainly give show participants more incentive to make purchases at the show. That said, I can certainly understand why show participants might choose to either A. forego receiving photographs from the event, or B. shoot their own, realizing that they are sacrificing quality. With the shows that I attended as an exhibitor, many times by the time I paid the show fees (which is a whole different can of worms for how people are being forced to pay so many fees that they cannot afford to show), entry fees, travel fees, etc... I simply did not have the extra money to then spend on show photographs. Plus, there are show photographers and there are show photographers. Some of the shows I attended, the show photographers were very good about getting good quality photographs of all of the participants in the class. Other shows ... not so much, and my money would have been better spent hiring a photographer to come out sometime to just shoot me and my horse individually.
Second, with regard to the hobby photographers. I find that many times there is an unfair grouping. You see, there are certainly the hobby photographers who do not do quality work yet will charge as much as they can for such work. These are your faux-tographers or the shoot and burn photographers. They are a drain on the photography industry because they do not care about quality or building relationships with their clients or other photographers and will undercut and slice the throats of other photographers in order to make money. On the opposite side are your hobby photographers who have the skills and care enough about quality to deliver work that is not much lower (or sometimes even better) quality than that of the professional photographers. These are the people that truly care about the art of photography. They may or may not charge for their work, but they do it in an effort to help right the situation of the general public not knowing what true photographic artwork looks like. These photographers are not going to charge as much, not because they do not care about the professional photographer, but because they realize that people should not be priced out of receiving high quality. These are the photographers that should be welcomed into the photography community, yet many times they are shunned because they have a different view on being a photographer than your current pros. For the pros that do welcome these photographers, THANK YOU!.
The photography industry is suffering. But, there is hope. Yes, high quality photography is an art form and the artists that create that work should be fairly and reasonably compensated. But, we must not forget that our art is most powerful by helping people preserve their memories and, to do so, we must make every effort to make our art accessible. As we do so, we must also educate the public about what true quality looks like and why it matters.
No comments:
Post a Comment