Collaborate with one another: These are the result of a collaboration with photographer Shipra Panosian. She shot, I edited.
As far as I can tell, there are two types of photographers. The business people (A) and the arty people (B). It’s rare to meet a photographer where the two worlds intersect.
As a member of Group B, it can be quite hard to establish your business in the first place. When you have a passion as big as mine, you have to be strict on yourself to not basically work for free every chance you get. The moment where you have to ask for the cash can be a tense one which takes time to get used to. More on that in another post.
Photographers with a hobby-turned-business are often guilty of doing things which aren’t, well, ‘good for business’ simply because we think with our passion, not always with our brain. Although I recognise those faults, I wouldn’t change them because the day my business becomes nothing more than a j-o-b is the day I lay down my camera.
Having begun to interact with other photographers, I have sometimes noticed a shocking amount of competition, slandering and suspicion coming from others in the field. The ever present “oooh you shoot Canon. I’ll just go over there and stand in my own corner with my Nikon” attitude or the sharp breath in when a photographer finds out that you share all of your photos online. “Aren’t you worried about theft?”
Here are some ways I think we can blur the lines between comrades and competition and make the world a better place:
I am a new Flickr convert. I have only just in the past year discovered the joy and artistic fulfilment of Flickr but I am completely infatuated. Having never taken a single class about photography, I can honestly say that there are only two places I have received any sort of photographic training, help, enlightenment or support. They are here at DPS (honestly!) and Flickr. Flickr is sooo much more than a dumping ground for ‘pics’. It is a community of photographers – hobby and professional – who share their art with each other, give away their textures, presets and actions and even give detailed ‘post production recipes’ for exactly how they achieved the look of a photo. They are not in competition, catty or mean. They don’t worry about losing money or clients. I can actually attest that one month of Flickr made me a better photographer than any other years I put into it. Why? Because the number one way any artist can learn more is simply to look at other art.
Share your mistakes and don’t be afraid to make them. I do. And then I tell you all about it! :) I’m not going to let my shortcomings be in vain. We should be able to learn from each other.
Help a beginner. I sometimes have beginners in the studio to watch me do a session or take on a work experience kid for a week. And, yes, I’ve said no to people who want to observe my studio who live in very close proximity to myself. It wouldn’t be wise to train up a competing studio. But this doesn’t always apply just because someone lives near me.
Most of all, stop viewing every other photographer as your competition. Every photographer has a style unique unto himself. None of us is like the other. You can only get an Elizabeth Halford portrait from Elizabeth Halford. Simple as that. If a bride wants my style, they can only get it from me. If they want your style, they should hire you. There is plenty of work to go around.
I fully understand the need to be savvy in business and protective if photography is your bread and butter. But sometimes, this can become a bit overkill and do more harm than good, most of all to yourself. After all, just look at this website. What a shining example of Group A and Group B working together to help enlighten the masses in the ways of photography. Let’s see what we can do about blurring the lines between comrade and competition.
Please stop killing our industry. Photographers pose in the dock at Bow Street Magistrates Court, on the day it closed. Photo: Shaun Curry
I have no idea why, but there seems to be an idea that photographs should have no value and be free. This attitude is from both in front and surprisingly, behind the camera. News organisations, PR companies, random strangers at events and so on think that they should get photographs for free, or in best case scenarios, for peanuts. I’ve often wondered if the same person ever tries the same tactic at a clothes shop or a car showroom?
Part of it is that most people have a camera of some sort or another, and feel they can take photographs and therefor photographers shouldn’t charge. I would hazard a guess that even more people can read and write; do these people go into a bookshop and demand free books or go to the newsagent and demand free papers and magazines?
Part of the reason that these image thieves get away with getting photographs for free though is that photography enthusiasts and citizen journalists, some of which are extremely talented, agree to giving away their work for free. It’s the thrill of seeing something in print and maybe even having a credit. It’s the thrill of talking about it at the pub and so on. I can understand the thrill; I’ve been a full time photographer for over 20 years now and every publication still gives me a thrill. However, food for thought might be how would the same individual giving away images for free feel if someone shared their profession, but as a hobby? If someone interested in accounting turned up with a shiny new calculator and a laptop with a spreadsheet and parked themselves outside an accountants’ office and started doing accounts for free, I’m sure those folks inside that office wouldn’t take too kindly. Use exactly this scenario and apply it to any job; van driver, postman, lawyer and so on. It wouldn’t be tolerated and no one would dream of doing it either.
Another point to realise from the enthusiast photographer’s point of view is that if your images are good enough to be published, then they are definitely good enough to be paid for. Simple. Do not give away work for free. By doing this, you are cutting into someone’s income and at the same time devaluing your own worth and the worth of your passion.
