Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/22
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At 09:24 AM 2/22/99 -0500, you wrote:
>And if, as Eric suggested, the NGO also "can't afford not to pay
> for it," then one can sympathize with the NGO facing that dilemma, no?
No. They should not be begging a professional photographer for freebies any
more than I should be begging United Airlines to send me to Africa but do
it for free because I can't afford it. Especially when the person asking is
being paid for their time. This is exactly what is wrong with the
publishing industry these days. The attitude that photos are not worth that
much is rampant. Photographers have to stop it now, or we won't be able to
make a living at it in the future.
There are times when it is appropriate to donate time and expenses to a
cause one believes in. But to approach someone who makes a living at it,
and ask for free pictures simply because they can't afford it is
inappropriate. But we have to be polite and explain it because people need
to be educated, not flogged.
For example, I have a friend who is a bookkeeper. He does the books for my
employer - hundreds of millions of dollars a year for all their properties.
Wouldn't it be rude for me to ask him to do my taxes for free, because I
can't afford it?
Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch
"People are inexterminable - like flies & bed-bugs. There will always be
some that survive in cracks and crevices - that's us." -
Robert Frost