[Leica] Giving away pictures.

[images at comporium.net (Tina Manley)]

The reason it is so hard for photographers to make a living is that people
give their photos away for free!!!

Tina

On Sat, Dec 4, 2010 at 1:43 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin <lrzeitlin at 
gmail.com>wrote:

> Tina writes:
>
> "You are right, Peter.  I was there telling you not to give your photos
> away
>
> for nothing.  How do you know it had no commercial value?  I sell photos
>
> every day that would be considered throwaway home happy snaps.  If you give
>
> them away for nothing, you will never know if you could have sold them and
>
> you diminish the value of all photography by giving your creative work
>
> away..  Credit is worth demanding but only if it is accompanied by actual
>
> money!!
>
>
> I'll get off my soapbox now, but I hope no one ever gives their photos away
>
> for only a credit :-("
>
>
> Tina, I fully agree with your position but you are not describing the world
> as it is. It is harder to make a decent living as an independent
> professional photographer than it is as an actor or even a poet.
> Considering
> the number of professional quality cameras out there, only the tiniest
> fraction deliver pictures that are ever published. Given the quality
> standards imposed by stock agencies, vanishingly few P&S pictures will ever
> make the grade regardless of merit unless of a particularly newsworthy
> event.
>
>
>
> I serve as an art critic for several newspapers in the art rich northeast
> and visit dozens of art and photography shows annually. Far fewer than 10%
> of the artworks and photos exhibited sell. Those that do depict a narrow
> range of subjects, usually locally defined. Animals, children and nostalgia
> sell. Marine scenes sell along the Atlantic coast, western and frontier
> scenes in Texas, and faux Hudson River art in the Hudson Valley. But few
> portraits, or historical event pictures. Bright colors sell, muted grays
> don't. And forget about B&W unless your last name is Adams or Weston. To
> sell artworks, you must forget about your internal muse and conform to the
> desires of your audience. The virtue of a site like the LUG is that there
> are no jurors who filter the content. Many of the pictures are truly
> excellent but would be hard pressed to find a commercial outlet. But on the
> LUG they don't have to.
>
>
> So if a photographer is offered an opportunity to have his/her pictures
> published in a national forum, grab at the chance. Even if there is no
> payment. It may be the only way to get recognition in an overcrowded
> field. Isn't that why we produce the LUG yearbook?
>
>
> Perhaps it is harder to make a living as a poet than as a photographer. But
> not much.
>
>
> Larry Z
>
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>
>


-- 
Tina Manley, ASMP
www.tinamanley.com