Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/03/12

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Subject: [Leica] Re: price of art prints (was re: kyle's fine art)
From: "Eric" <ericm@pobox.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 06:03:28 -0600
References: <310B62141943D111845E00600808E14E0240057F@EXCHANGE> <MBBBJHIBKCKEAEOKKBPOCEONCNAA.bdcolen@earthlink.net>

B.D.:

>when folks who don't depend upon their
>photography/painting/sculpture/writing/computer programing to make a living
>price it well below the market when compared to those who do those things to
>make a living, it makes earning a living pretty difficult for the
>full-timers: particularly when the seller is someone like Kyle, whose
>photographic work is better than that of a goodly percentage of the
>full-time "pros" out there.

I don't understand this line of reasoning.  Since you included computer
programming, I'll use it as an example.  Free software is abundantly
available.  For zero cost.  Yet, programmers are still needed.

Switching back to photographer, stock images are also abundantly available
for a fraction of the cost of hiring somebody to go out and take a new
image.

Your clients, B.D., in your "day in the life" hire you rather than sift
through cheaper-priced stock images.

Ted touched on this a little while ago when he related the tale of a client
that decided he could do the job himself.  And then came crawling back to
Ted, needing Ted's expertise.

I think the last phrase in the previous sentence is the key.  People are
willing to pay to have their problems solved.  If you don't have a problem,
you're unlikely to pay to have it solved.  I don't have a problem with my
wall space lacking a $6000 piece of art.  I'm unlikely to have a problem
that needs a $1000+ piece of art, either.  Yet, I bought the services of a
photographer for something between $1-2k a few years ago.  I had a problem.
I wanted quality photos of my wedding.  He solved my problem.  Doesn't
matter how many art prints Kyle is selling for $40, none of those were going
to solve my problem.  :)

Doesn't matter how many stock images you could buy for the same price as
your clients pay, B.D.  None of those stock images will solve their
problems.  Doesn't matter how much free software my employer downloads.  By
themselves, none solve problems.

Luckily, the 2nd law of thermodynamics guarantees that there will always be
problems to solve.  :)


Eric
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Replies: Reply from Alastair Firkin <firkin@ncable.net.au> ([Leica] Re: price of art prints (was re: kyle's fine art))
In reply to: Message from BOB KRAMER <BobKramer@COOPERCARRY.com> (RE: [Leica] price of art prints (was re: kyle's fine art))
Message from "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> (RE: [Leica] price of art prints (was re: kyle's fine art))