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?
