Re[3]: [Leica] Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 11:36:59 -0500

[Peterson_Art@hq.navsea.navy.mil]

     No, I must say I don't think it would be rude.  If you can't afford to 
     pay the guy to do your taxes, then you can't afford it; and yet if you 
     still need to have someone do your taxes, then you still need it.  And 
     so, you'd have to ask him (or somebody) for help, and to do that would 
     not necessarily mean you denigrate his value or worth as a bookkeeper. 
     Those who need but can't afford may ask, and those asked may accept or 
     decline the request.  And that seems the same to me for bookkeepers or 
     any other workers, including photographers.  (Where would charities be 
     if it were not for their "begging" for people's assistance?)
     
     Art Peterson
     
     
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re[2]: [Leica] Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 11:36:59 -0500
Author:  leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us at Internet 
Date:    2/22/99 9:53 AM
     
     
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