revjim.net

August 25th, 2006:

out of business

Aug 25th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
8 comments

Push came to shove last night. I tossed and turned all night weighing my options. I almost didn’t go to work today. Then I sucked it up, took a deep breath and made a decision. I’m not happy about it. It leaves me with lots of feelings of uncertainty, failure, disappointment, and disillusionment. But, the alternative was worse, believe it or not.

So, from this point forward, I am no longer in the Photography business. It is still a hobby, a passion, and an art form. However, I no longer aspire to use it to put food on our table, clothes on our backs, and smiles on the faces of our future children.

No, I’m not selling my equipment and of course I’m still going to be taking photographs just as often as I used to. I’ll still be selling prints of my work, starting new projects, seeking exhibits, holding photo sessions, posting photographs online, begging for donations, and looking for people willing to let me point my camera at them and turn it into art.

So what’s the difference, then? If you have to ask you probably won’t understand, but I’ll try anyway.

I won’t finish designing the pamphlet I was working on to advertise a new niche service I was going to provide for newborn babies and their mothers. While the work was very interesting to me, there’s no reason for me to run around in my free time taking the same 15 photographs of perfect strangers if I’m not trying to make money doing it.

I won’t spend my nights worrying about the next big thing and how to get in front of it so I can get my business out of the red. As a hobby, it is, by nature, something that costs money not something that makes money. It’s similar to motorcycle riding, golfing, fishing, boating, and playing music.

I won’t be spending any more of my free time trying to find new customers and new business ideas. I’m still looking for people to work with, of course. When I see someone I’m interested in doing something with, I’ll be sure to let them know. I’m always happy to be approached with new projects as well. However, it’s no longer a requirement for me to look for work. If I don’t have a session scheduled or a place that I want to photograph, then I get some free time for a change.

I won’t stress out over the amount of work I have to do. I won’t get upset when I don’t have enough free time to do the other things in life that I enjoy. I won’t trip over my own words when I feel like a customer is slipping through my hands.

I probably won’t be replacing the studio strobe that exploded last month or the Expan Paper Drive that cracked in my last session anytime soon. As a hobbyist, my subjects can wait as I deal with less than perfect equipment. If they’d rather not, then they can find a professional photographer to take their photographs.

Most importantly, I’ll be keeping my sights right here at ground level where it’s safe and sound and uneventful.

My heart is broken.

hmmm… this article seems really familiar

Aug 25th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
4 comments

Dear “Bloglines”:http://bloglines.com/ –

No, I don’t have 1,350 unread items in my daily folder. I’ve read all of those already. The first time you suggested that I did, I reread all 1,350 of them. The second and third times I thought you were just trying to be certain. The fourth and fifth times you brought it up I thought you were being funny. Now this is just ridiculous.

(Actually, Bloglines claims I have 1,414 items in my Daily folder that are unread. But I decided to clear out a few of my subscriptions before taking a screenshot. A guy can’t give away all of his secrets.)

Further more, Bloglines claims I have 11,032 items in all of my folders that have not been read. That’s absurd.

I’ll continue to deal with this digging for gold to find interesting nuggets through today, but if it’s not cleared up by this evening, I’m going to find another RSS reader. I’m very tired of the problems Bloglines has been having lately.

okay maybe not

Aug 25th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
1 comment

Here is an actual conversation I had this morning:

*Me*: You look nice today.
*Her*: No. These pants barely fit me any more.

…blink…

*Me*: Ok then, you look terrible today. Especially those pants.

For Love or Money

Aug 25th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
No comments yet

David Hobby, photographer for the Baltimore Sun, writer of “strobist.com”:http://strobist.com/ and “small flash lighting GOD”:http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/06/developing-idea-part-2-compact.html, has written an article about “Photography’s Vanishing Middle Class”:http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/08/photographys-vanishing-middle-class.html that is well worth the read.

He notes that the Professional Photography market is in utter upheaval and makes this plea of his readers:

If you’re an amateur – learn all you can. Shoot for the love of shooting (“love” is the root of the word “amateur”) and have a lifetime full of enjoyment and great photos.

If you are a semi-pro, decide what side of the fence you want to be on. If that side is “professional”, then learn your craft. And charge a commensurate amount for your services. Otherwise, you are really kidding yourself about who you are and what you do.

While, I’m certainly not nearly as experienced or as well paid as he is, I couldn’t agree more. Photographers and artists who continue getting bumping the drug of being paid for their work (which I’ll admit is one hell of a ride) cheapen the market as a whole and bring down the collective value of the professional photographer.

The big dilemma for me, however, has to do with social tendencies, majority rule, and finding a place in a dirt cheap market. The royalty-free stock photography sites that David mentioned in his articles are certainly lowering both the quality and cost of stock photography by offering photographers a puny $0.20 per image sold. However, my question is, at this point, is there any way to stop it? With the more successful photographers making nearly $10,000 a month from various royalty-free stock photography sites, and the beginners jumping with excitement when they get paid $0.20 because a photograph of theirs was chosen, is there any likelihood that my not jumping on this bandwagon is going to cause it to stop? While I’m not even hoping for $10,000 a month in revenue from stock photography ventures, if it’s not my images that are being bought, it’ll be someone elses.

The same idea goes with my fine art prints and portrait services. While I’d like to place a high value on my work, my time, my craft, my equipment, and my experience, it’s a hell of a lot easier for me to sell 10 prints at $10 each than it is to sell one print at $100. And it’s a lot easier for me to stack up four $25 portrait sessions and try to make a few more bucks selling prints than it is for me to charge $100 and try to find just one.

That isn’t to say it doesn’t happen or that there aren’t people who find my work and my services worth my asking price. I’ve collected my $100 sitting fee and then sold $150 worth of prints in the past. I’ve sold an 8×10 for $100. It certainly happens. But, if I add up all the money I’ve made selling cheap, and all the money I’ve made selling right, cheap wins by a long shot.

It isn’t because I’m not good enough or because I don’t have the right equipment. It’s because I have a full-time day job that keeps me from being able to actively seek higher paying work and I lack the connections and network to help find it for me. At this point, I’m happy to have one more person in the world saying “I had my photograph taken by Daniel James and they look great”.

So I struggle with myself daily: do I do it for Love, or do I do it for the Money?