Quote:
Originally Posted by ophic
Unless he's counting on getting images for free, in which case there is no budget, and he might just use a similar image from someone else, and they get the credit instead of Trev.
|
True, sadly true. But say you are for instance a window cleaner and you've been cleaning windows and doing a good job, got the proper ladders, cloths and insurance and have built up a client base, advertised your services and built a reputation. One day you find out that another window cleaner, Fred, is now available in your area. You have competition. Well fair enough you think, I have to compete with him, I have to offer good but fair prices and provide an excellent service. That's the open market.
Then you find out the new window cleaner is actually a teacher/doctor/bus driver/insert profession of your choice. However he's decided to take up cleaning windows as a hobby, and clean windows just for fun, and he'll do it for FREE. In return people put a sticker on their windows saying 'Fred cleaned my windows, FREE! What a top bloke. Get him to clean yours free too!'
Now how can you compete with that - you wouldn't go and sit in his classroom teaching his kids/prescribe drugs for his patients/sit in the driver seat of his bus yet he is giving away the service you charge for. You may as well just give up.
And that's what it's about. The photographers don't mind the competition between professionals. They don't even mind an amateur taking a great photo that a publisher wishes to use for a fee. But what really really hacks them off is publishers offering a credit instead of a payment.