This evening I did a wonderful assignment. It's not that the subject matter, per se, was wonderful. The client too, wasn't some "oh, my God, I'd give my eye-teeth to work with that group of creatives" either. It was - the prodigal client. In case you're not familiar with the parable, I shall paraphrase it here - In the "Gospel" of Best Business Practices, tell tale of a story of two clients - the one demands more and more services, and is critical when costs rise, and so, they go off to some other photographer, to ply their demands at a pittance. So goes that for a few years...
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Jim LoScalzo is a remarkable photographer. Probably much to Jim LoScalzo's chagrin, I call him that Jimmy Lo when I'm in a good mood, or excited. He probably doesn't like it, but, I have great regard for him, and his work, and I am just so damn excited for him I can't stand it!
Spend 9 minutes of your life (in two parts), below, watching what Jim has put together. Yes yes, he's award winning -- lots of them. Yes yes, he's produced amazing photos, but more importantly, he has grasped the reins of life and is living it, and he's realized it's not about the awards, it's about something as existential as his existence. Here's Part I:
And, here is Part 2:
In it, near the end, he voices over the images, in part-
"The [2004] campaign was...mine to have...fun as hell...yet this time, for the first time, it was easy to back out. Not a guilty concession, but what I truly wanted......Not time wasted, but time overplayed. Trying to inflate a finiteability through sheer force of will. How to stop moving. It was about accepting a simply truth, in the world of photojournalism, I would always be a man of minor accomplishments...."
After many years travelling to and fro, country to country, state to state, and empty remote hotel room to third-world trainstation floor, I too sought a reasoned, sanely-paced life, but, I did have a plan back then. Back in February, on this blog, near the end of this post about working hard early with a plan to take a breath after awhile, I said something similar in sentiment to what Jim said above, which is worth repeating, in parallel to Jim's, as insight into and an example of a path worth taking, a road less travelled that is worth seeking out to travel upon:
I love what I do. I can't imagine doing anything else. I am so very grateful for whatever station in life I am at, and wherever in life I end up. ...I am blessed that I am not so "nose to the grindstone" now, but, in some odd way, I had the faith that, just as a farmer does when he plants a seed...that one day, his hard work will be rewarded...that one day, it would be not so time consuming. So far, so good.
And, while I was busy writing my book, Jim put together this one - Evidence of My Existence which is coming out on November 1st, but which you can pre-order now on Amazon, so, go over, and click-it and get it! Jim's story, as teased in the videos, is about finding balance, and focusing on life, life is about living it, experiencing it. Jim has found evidence of his own existence. Yea!Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
An e-mail arrived yesterday, and I must say, I did a double-take on the date when I finished reading it. I thought, with absolute certainty that it was April 1st. Then I thought that maybe the former head of a high school pep squad had gotten ahold of the NY Post's photo department, holding tryouts like he did on the cheer squad, carrying out a "simulated assignment during your visit, so please come prepared", read the missive. I thought - oh, are they going to start a fire on the 33rd floor of the building to see how the assignment would be covered? Rent police uniforms and then beat down the interns to see how the photographer captures the intensity, and if they're wimps and use an 80-200, or are really committed and and get into the fray and use their 14mm, and then compare those that use their 14mm, with those that have a 14mm rectilinear? Play street rules basketball in the lobby and see if the photographer knows how to set backboard remotes on the fly?
Who gave this guy - David Boyle, a photo budget and the balls to call for photo tryouts! Try looking at portfolios, websites, or ask for some sample work. Heck, look at your own paper's credits to see who's work you like that you've already paid them for! Here's what he wrote:
Dear All,
As you know, we pay our freelancer rates based on experience and equipment. As such, we’re updating our equipment records in an audit, and need you to come into the office for one day to meet with David Boyle and Dave Johnston.
We will pay a day rate for this visit.
Please bring all of your equipment along with you, including your laptop
We will be looking for the following types of equipment:
Radio (for monitoring police/fire) Your Camera Bodies 300mm Lens and Converter All Your Lenses Your Flashes All Your Battery Packs Point & Shoot Camera Computer/Software Any other lights
You can schedule an appointment by contacting Jessica Hober, our new photo desk assistant, at (212) 930-8530
You will be asked to carry out a simulated assignment during your visit, so please come prepared.
Thank you, David Boyle
Bring lights? Like my arena strobe kit? All my Norman's? My paparazzi point-and-shoot? My digital bodies and my F2's I use as a doorstop? All of my equipment? What? You wouldn't take my list of insured equipment as a legitimate statement of my capabilities? As a journalist, I can't actually be trusted to be honest when I state I have the equipment I do? Perhaps if that's the case, I can't be trusted to not alter my photos either?
And what the hell does the fact that YOU are going to an equipment audit have to do with calling in freelancer's gear, unless you think they stole from you when you were practicing your home team cheers from days gone by and weren't minding the store? Are you logging all the photographer's serial #'s of their own equipment? How truly Orwellian of you! Is this 1984? Do you think that someone will forget that they lifted a 300 2.8 from your equipment closet and bring it on down and represent it as their own?
While you're at it, why don't you collect all the freelancer's Photoshop serial #'s to make sure they're not infringing on the copyright of Adobe when they are editing the photos for you, since every photo that you work on in Photoshop now has embedded within it's metadata the serial # of the Photoshop you used? Ditto for PhotoMechanic - make sure they're legit copies, what, since these freelancers can't be trusted! Ask them to prove they've registered their software!
I can only hope this is some grand scheme to mock someone (or me!), and this isn't the new reality.Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
Sometimes it's interesting to hear the perspective from other industries. While we may think that every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Jane want to be photographers, and will give up their eye teeth for that opportunity, we pale in comparison to the willingness to bend over that aspiring musicians subject themselves to. Here's an interesting segment of television with Elton's counsel. While the audio is a bit spotty in places, the message rings true - don't ever give up your copyright, it's yours, you should own it forever.
Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
As PDN reported "Conflict photojournalist Alexandra Boulat suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm and was in a medically induced coma Friday, according to her agency..." (continue reading). Boulat is a VII photographer, and visiting their site will tell you more about her if you're not already familiar with her. Lightstalkers, here, is listing updates about her status.
A call has gone out for support to help defray medical costs, and we must step up to the plate. I have done so, and strongly encourage you, dear reader, to do the same. Log into your PayPal account, and enter frank@viiphoto.com, and send what you can - and then some.
Also, please keep Alexandra in your prayers. While I don't know her personally, I know her work, and she's a remarkably gifted photographer, whom we must, at her hour of need, support - so, stand up and be counted on this one folks.
Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
A Monkey's business... - Reuters photographers have a great blog, and here's an excerpt from the most recent entry -
"I have never really quite understood those whose thought processes creak to the conclusion ‘I have a camera therefore I am a professional photographer.’...Nowadays it’s, “ have you got a camera and a laptop?”. And there you have it. Invest a couple of grand in some sophisticated equipment and you too can see your pictures in lights and call yourself a professional. I always wanted to be an RAF test pilot, so maybe if I bought myself a jump suit and a pair of raybans I could become a top gun? Being a musician, if I bought the right drum kit surely Paul Simon might let me take Steve Gadd’s drum stool for the forthcoming Royal Albert Hall gig? Somehow I think not……and so what is it that gives those with no experience or qualifications the right to assume the mantle of professional photographer?
business meeting.. - David Alan Harvey's thoughts on his upcoming Magnum business meeting, an excerpt:
"at some point all of us do have to face the undeniable fact that we are in business....we have to sell our pictures....just like a farmer has to grow tomatoes and then get them to market.....growing the reddest, biggest tomato is not the only part....you have to get them to market...because none of us are "businessmen"....most of us cringe at the thought and i, for one, certainly chose photography as a profession and a life to avoid the very business meeting i am about to attend...."
Cameron Davidson - Aerial Photographer - Aerial photographic genius (and my good friend) Cameron Davidson was interviewed about his work as an aerial photographer, and was excerpted into this 5-minute piece. If you know Cameron, you'll see that he's got no grey hair in the interview, and if you don't, you'll be able to tell that it's a bit of an older piece if you check out the age of the computers that he's using in it. However, it was only recently put online, the insights are timeless, and it's well worth the watch.
Now go! Check 'em out, and come back soon!Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
I've been involved in a dialog over at PDN regarding whether or not putting one's prices on one's website is good/helpful, or if it's bad. Since I wrote a fairly extensive treatise over there, I'll encourage you to check out the dialog, and participate there, or, just post a comment or two here! Here's the link - Posting Prices on Website.Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
One refrain I often hear is "how do you find the time to {insert activity here}...?" I have a few suggestions for your consideration.
Consider a few examples:
I consider driving to be a necessary nuisance. Sadly, I cannot find a better way to go from point A to point B when I can't fly or take the train. What I do not do, is enjoy going for a sight-seeing drive, what families in the olden days called "going for a Sunday drive." That was probably when cars were just a novelty for the well-heeled. I prefer the train to driving, as I can do something - anything - while I am on the train, whether relaxing, working on my laptop, or reading a book. The train almost always beats out the car, unless I have a ton of gear, or a schedule that doesn't work for the train.
I do not take take the scenic route, I use my GPS to find the fastest way between my departure point and my destination. If I can save 10 minutes on a trip, I will, as that is 10 minutes that I can be doing something else with. If I want to enjoy the scenery, I will stop to take it in, not glance at it going 55 down the road through a bug-splattered windshield.
These nominal times, 5 minutes saved here, 10 minutes there, accumulate to upwards of an hour or two a day, 10 to 14 hours a week. What would you do if you had an extra day every week available to you? I suppose, a whole lot.
I pretty well know how long it takes me to do everything...fast or slow restaurants...the fastest elevators in certain buildings...in short, I try to be very precise about everything that by it's nature is imprecise. My mind is a catalog of "quick cuts" which allow me to reduce the time-wasting vagueness of certain activities, or avoid them altogether.
You do this when travelling when you say "don't fly through Chicago in the winter, you'll be delayed", but do you apply this same mentality to the smaller time savers in life? McCormack goes on to suggest:
As a general rule for getting things done the quickest, do the things that everyone else has to do at the times everyone else isn't doing them. I leave so early in the morning that getting to work is never a problem. But I've heard others complain about rush hour traffic, then admit that if they'd left 20 minutes earlier it could have been avoided... Ninety percent of wasting time and standing in line can be eliminated with a little preplanning and some common sense.
Of equal value is how, by investing in the fastest computer processor, you can save on post-production time, or, as a stop-gap solution, set up and run a batch action of all your CPU-intensive processes just before you go to sleep or leave your office.
The fine folks who work with and for me in my office - my Office Manager and Post Production Manager were out on a big shoot with me, along with another assistant. That third assistant forgot one of my camera batteries back in the office, and the logistics of the day required the OM and PPM to go back to the office together to get it, causing them to each loose an hour of their productivity because they were running around being non-productive, fixing an oversight, when they could have been resuming their duties. As a result, their duties were delayed by an hour-plus, and, since I pay these folks on an hourly basis, I lost a good chunk of change in lost productivity, because someone wasn't paying attention. This frustrated me to no end.
By continuing to review your efficiencies means you can improve your own productivity. If you think this is overkill, feel free to go back to your oven and give up the microwave, cancel your TiVo, don't buy 133x cards since your 45x cards will do just fine, oh, and don't waste your money on high-speed internet - dialup is all you really need!Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
The dialog and criticism of OnRequest Images continues, and I have yet to find a suitable reason why they should continue to exist. There are so so many reasons against their long term viability, and it is the dot-com-piece-of-the-pie mentality that has caused the unknowning venture capitalists to continue to invest in this business model.
ASMP, who spends a great deal of time looking out for photographer's best interests did an analysis of OnRequest, and other articles in PDN having to do with The Art Director's Club, Daryl Lang also did a nice job in PDN back in early May with this article titled Revolutions That Never Happened,Once in a while, a smashing new idea forever transforms photography. These ideas didn't. Here are six would-be breakthroughs that missed a turn on their way to setting the photo industry on fire, noted that one of the "breakthroughs" was OnRequest, saying:
Sometimes bad ideas take care of themselves. OnRequest Images never backed down from custom stock, but the idea was hard to explain and held little appeal to art buyers. OnRequest adjusted its heading and began to focus on a more lucrative business, creating branded stock libraries for big companies. Another custom stock service, iStockPhoto.com's BuyRequest, also failed to capture much interest and was quietly discontinued last year.
Yet, as early as last year, some silly group of VC's had dumped $8 million into this idea, as StockPhotoTalk reports, along with many others about the folly. Photographers they approach, or whom hear about them, continue to inquire about what their deal is, so here are a few items for your consideration:
What isn’t typical of the industry is how quickly you get paid. When you work with OnRequest Images, a check will be in the mail to you no later than forty-five days after completion of a shoot.
FORTY-FIVE DAYS? Doesn't your credit card company require you pay them in 30? Your phone bill?
Feel free to read the articles in their Media Room where you'll see that it's all about cost cutting...on who's back? Oh, that's right, yours - the creative that is supposed to deliver. Some other silly VC's back in April of this year continue to pump their lifebood into this dead horse, according to American Venture Magazine, "the world's leading provider of OnBrand custom imagery" is what the red lipstick they are smearing on this sow. That's like saying "John Harrington is the world's leading provider of SixSevenDCPress custom imagery, where I've trademarked the phrase SixSevenDCPress, because I happen to be 6'7", live in DC, and am a member of the press corps! (I have not trademarked that, by the way!). That's pure folly to say your the world's leading provider of a trademarked name, when you own the trademark, and thus, no one else can actually be a provider of that, else risk violating their trademark!
One of their earlier suckers is quoted in the article as saying
"We continue to be a strong supporter of OnRequest Images' groundbreaking business model,” said Debra Somberg, managing partner at Maveron, an early investor in OnRequest Images.
Debra -- say something that isn't so self serving. As an early investor, you are fiduciarily compelled to say whatever you (legally) can to ensure a 10x return on your early investment. Hint - Getty got BuyRequest, a comparable version during the aquisition if iStockPhoto, so they're probably not going to buy your bacon maker. That investment is getting a little long in the tooth now, isn't it?
Do yourself a favor, and stay away from contributing to this bad business model. I am aware of few who care about photographers interests who would or have said anything nice about them, most (if not all) have, instead, advised you to steer clear!Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
I love food. I also enjoy the Food Network's programs, especially Unwrapped, which is high up on my Tivo Season Pass Manager, so it rarely gets preempted, except for, say, 24, The Closer, 60 Minutes, and a few others. What boggles my mind, is a post that keen-eyed PBN reader Paul McEvoy spotted over at the bottom-feeders resource that is Craigs List. Since the post may get flagged for removal or otherwise removed, I shall post it here for this commentary on it, but, while it remains online, you can read it here. It reads:
Food Network looking for Production Photographer 6/25 Food Network is filming a show about PIE in Rockland Maine on Monday June 25th and I am looking for a photographer to document our production. The pictures will not be used in broadcast but they will become property of the Food Network archives. You will not need to edit the photographs at the end of the shoot as I will make the final selection of 46 that will go to the network. I am looking for someone with their own camera who is friendly and non-intrusive. Photographer's assistants are welcome to apply as this would look great in your resume. Please reply with a short paragraph about yourself and experience and enclose your resume in the body of your email.
The rate is a non-negotiable $150 and you must submit all the jpegs via CD to me within a week.
Thanks for your interest. Only serious applicants please.
Wow, the photos become their property, and won't be used in the broadcast. But, they'll be used in marketing/promotional/advertising materials that will. While it'll supposedly "look great in (sic) your resume." The fact is, you won't have the right to use the photos on your website or promote yourself with the images, since they will no longer be your property, and thus, you will have no rights to do so.
Fact #10 - Just because you took a photograph under a work made for hire agreement or you transfered copyright of your work to your client, and you use it on your website anyway, and they don't stop you or sue you, doesn't make what you're doing any less illegal, it just means that the owner of the work you produced has chosen - at their discretion - to not pursue your infringement of their copyrighted materials. It's still illegal and an infringement. Make absolutely sure that the owner grants back to you the right to use your work for self promotion in your contract.
Scale for a unit photographer is roughly $750 a day, and the average number of images produced on a union production is 500-700 images day. While I recognize that Food Network isn't a union shop, paying someone - anyone - $150 for a day's work as a professional photographer where quality results are expected is just an insult.Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
Ignoring facts cannot change them. Far too many photographers, and aspiring photographers, simply ignore the facts before them, believing that the laws of physics and economics just don't apply to them.
I see these photographers arrive on the scene, and then depart in short order. Many not only leave DC, they leave the profession altogether. The sad fact too, is they also leave the state of the profession they tried to succeed in just a little worse off as a result of poor business practices.
Here are a few facts for your consideration:
Fact #1: If every time you produce images, the copyright to them is not yours, you will not earn money - any money - from them in the future. You're a day laborer, like a ditch digger with some creativity.
Fact #2: According to the IRS, if you are 1) required to comply with the employer's instructions; 2) the services are to be performed in a particular method or manner; 3) the success or continuation of a business depends on the performance of certain services; 4) the worker personally perform the services; 5) the worker have a continuing relationship with the employer; 6) the worker has to follow a work sequence set by the employer; 7) Can the worker work for more than one employer at a time? If you're a freelancer, and these sound familiar to you, then, perhaps you're entitled to be an employee of the employer, including benefits, and their paying the standard part of your taxes that an employer pays.
Fact #3: Taking standard manufacturers' statistics for the lifespan of equipment (camera and computer), coupled with the amortization tables for deductability, will give you how much you can reasonably expect to pay over each year. Combine this with other expenses (data lines, software, rent, and so forth) and this is what it costs each year to make pictures. When divided by 52, if you don't earn that much each week, you will most decidedly not be making pictures professionally very long unless your sustaining income comes from other sources.
Fact #4: If your time is not your own, and thus you are doing something at the behest of a client (travel, post production, planning, etc), and you are not charging your client for those efforts, you are short-changing yourself and taking a loss on that time.
Fact #5: If you charge for your time at an hourly rate, the better you get at completing an assignment, the less you are being paid for your talents. While an hourly rate may work when you are covering a luncheon, or all day conference, it doesn't work on most other assignments. Banish "day rate" from your vocabulary before it costs you.
Fact #6: Just because a client says they won't pay for something, doesn't mean you must accept, and work under, those terms. You have the power to say "no".
Fact #7: When you are working for just one or two clients, the loss of their work would have catastrophic effects on your revenue steam. You are overly beholden to them, and whatever whim they exert. Diversify your client base for long term stability.
Fact #8: If a client signs your contract, and then demands, after the fact, that you sign theirs to be paid, you do not have to do agree to sign, or actually sign their contract. Simply point out that you already have a contractual relationship for the assignment. They must pay, pursuant to your contract, or be in breach of contract (or copyright, depending upon the language in your contract.)
Fact #9: Operating your business without insurance is akin to gambling, every day, with the likelihood of being able to continue to do the job you love the most. A stolen camera bag, or an accident on assignment could easily put you out of business.
The truth of these facts may be inconvenient, but that doesn't make them any less real. Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
For some time, I've been critical of photo agencies who are not looking out for the best interests of those they are agents for. Photographers seem to forget that without them, agencies are nothing more than an office with empty file cabinets and blank hard drives. There are very few agencies any more that actually look out for photographer's best interests. Three that I know do are - Marcel Saba's Redux, Scott McKiernan's Zuma Press,and the one that represents me - Black Star. They truly do care about their photographers, and have a long history of doing so, or of being photographers themselves.
In a departure from my normal musings, I am presenting, with permission, highly regarded attorney and friend of many a photographer, Ed Greenberg's thoughts on this subject, and I commend it to you for serious consideration. Ed uses, for example, Corbis, and I would submit that Getty is also not really suited to the category "agent/agency". We have written and posted several times on the topic of “Why Words Matter,” and that the acceptance of the vocabulary of your enemies is dangerous to your economic health. Some of you may recall our post in March of 2007 regarding the importance of the word “agent” and the efforts by agents, agencies and reps to retire the use of the word. We referenced a large agency making a concerted effort to distance itself from reality in a distinctly Orwellian manner.
We wrote in part that: “A mere independent sales representative or distributor rarely is burdened by such responsibilities and legal obligations (as an agent). He/she can sell one product over another as is his/her whim. An independent distributor selling various brands of coffee, wine or widgets to retailers rarely has any obligation or allegiance to one brand over another. He/she may even give away product or services favoring one brand over another. A mere salesperson can act, sell (or not) anything he/she believes to be in his/her own self interest. It logically follows therefore that no one cares, not even the courts, what products a regular salesperson sells.
So recently a well known agency, whose name is known to you all, has denied by its lawyers, in writing (twice), that even though: its own contract heading identifies itself as the "agent", it promotes and advertises itself to its clients and prospective "content contributors" as an "agency and agent for content", it uses the word "agent" on its website --- it is NOT an "agent" for any of its contributors, content providers or partners.
Yes, it sounds illogical. Yes, it is counter intuitive. Yes, it is utterly bereft of a semblance of merit.
Mega agency Corbis maintains that despite the legal, industry and lay definitions of the words, “agent/agency” it is not. Corbis maintains that it, “does not act as an agent but rather photographers license copyrights in selected images to Corbis and Corbis in turn re-licenses(d) those same copyrights to various third parties”. I bet that as Johnny Carson used to say, “You did not know that!"
Such a position could enable one or more of these companies to avoid one or more of the numerous legal or tax obligations which are imposed on “agents/agencies” by any number of governmental agencies. Significantly, if deemed not to be an agent, its obligations to its contributors are reduced dramatically. Corbis is not of course, a public company.
Even though Corbis has been referred to by several court decisions and courts as an “Agent/Agency”, has used such words on its own web site, seeks to represent the works of photographers and illustrators and represents to clients and potential clients that it has the authority to negotiate and make deals with third parties on behalf of creators, etc., etc., it chooses to run away from the English language and countless obligations to its creators which agents by law, have.
Don't take my word for it. Look up the words “agent” and “agency” in any dictionary – legal or otherwise. Google “Corbis” and see if you come up with the words agent/agency linked to its name.
So maybe you are still asking why this matters to you. Well, if you license work outside of the US of A and the agent is not an “agent”, it may take the position that it need not pass on foreign tax credits on to you for your, heaven forbid, benefit. My guess is that you never knew that Corbis “re-licensed” to third parties “the very same copyrights that (you) licensed to Corbis”. Such are the positions that Corbis has taken.
Transactions made in foreign countries concerning the licensing of your work there and any monies generated thereby may be subject to foreign taxes. Agents, agencies, syndicators and others authorized to make these transactions on your behalf may pay the foreign taxes due in that country on such deals. You are entitled and ought to know the nature and extent of any taxes paid so that you can advise your accountant and he/she can then obtain the proper credits on your behalf when preparing your tax returns. You may be entitled to substantial savings resulting from fees paid in foreign countries.
If your agent, agency, so-called “re-licensor” etc. is too lazy to report such payments to you, it is time to speak up. Some agents refuse to disclose to their contributors the gross licensing fees earned by the image(s), especially on foreign “sales”. Such practices are engaged in frequently to your detriment and often for the convenience and benefit of your agent. The exact amount(s) of money that you are overpaying in taxes and/or the exact amount(s) of money that you are under- receiving in royalties resulting from your agent’s laziness, negligence, malice or stupidity will remain unknown to you unless and until you demand appropriate accounting procedures.
READ your statements. Review them with your accountant and/or attorney. The statement should provide all information as to how the net royalty paid to you is calculated. This includes the gross amount of the royalty paid to the agent by the ultimate licensee of the image, and all deductions and adjustments from that royalty, including, fees paid to the agent and subagent(s), and other expenses and foreign taxes, if any.
Request and insist upon receiving the name of a contact person who is knowledgeable about the net royalty calculation. You should compare these calculations with what you are entitled to under the provisions of your contract or otherwise what your understanding is.
Have all questions with regard to procedure, practices and transactions answered by your agency in writing in such manner as you are able to understand them. Do not do business with any purported agency whose practices your accountant and/or attorney are not satisfied with, period. If BOTH your accountant and attorney are unhappy with the business operations of your agency, run away from it like the wind. Such agents and agencies despite what nomenclature they want to impose on you dear "content providers", are out for themselves - only.
Edward C. Greenberg, PC 570 Lexington Ave. 17th Floor New York, NY 10022 (212)697-8777 I couldn't have said it better myself. Perhaps a second look at the likes of PhotoShelter or Digital Railroad would be in your better interests.
Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
Today's What the Duck demonstrates the mentality of everyone out there hungry for work "I'll do it for half!" The pathetic fact is that there are people out there with that mentality. Note that the semi-smart duck leaves the strip after the "long hours" information, the second duck leaves after "grueling hours", yet, after being told you're shooting for credit, as a "volunteer", then does our stupidity kick into overdrive, where it's announced that, at whatever the rate the client is asking, one numbskull will "do it for half", even when he's the only one still there.
Far too many people don't survey the landscape so they know what they're up against before making their offers. They don't know all the details of the work, nor who their competition is - or if they're the only one willing (or able) to do the work.
Competing on price, "for the glory", is an absolute recipe for disaster. The sad fact is, I don't actually have to convince you of that, facts and reality will do that for me.Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
USING MUSIC ON YOUR SITE, LEGALLY - Are you someone who has music on your website, or who uses it in multimedia packages? If so, starting here to avoid the long arm of the RIAA law is a good idea.
Music is also not a great idea unless there is an obvious “off” button. The ABs in the survey agree, with 22% saying music is “always annoying” and 39% saying it’s “annoying but okay as long as there is an ‘off’ button.” Remember, many of these people work in open cubicle environments so sound can be a problem in the workplace. Also, you may love Snoop Dogg but your potential client may hate rap music—why run the risk of offending? I’ve seen more than one person click off a site in disgust because of the music.
Photojournalists at 'The Sun' Launch Protest 'Strike' - From Editor & Publisher - "Eighteen Baltimore Sun photojournalists launched a byline strike today protesting Tribune Co.'s move to force reporters to become photographers and videographers as a way to cut costs." Smooth move. The pencil pushers seem to think they can take great photos, but, what if we make the argument that we could also write the articles, so just let go some of those pesky reporters? Would that idea fly? Didn't think so. Fight the power!
Now go! Check 'em out, and come back soon!Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
2 ... 2 ...
And, while I was busy writing my book, Jim put together this one - 
An e-mail arrived yesterday, and I must say, I did a double-take on the date when I finished reading it. I thought, with absolute certainty that it was April 1st. Then I thought that maybe the former head of a high school pep squad had gotten ahold of the NY Post's photo department, holding tryouts like he did on the cheer squad, carrying out a "simulated assignment during your visit, so please come prepared", read the missive. I thought - oh, are they going to start a fire on the 33rd floor of the building to see how the assignment would be covered? Rent police uniforms and then beat down the interns to see how the photographer captures the intensity, and if they're wimps and use an 80-200, or are really committed and and get into the fray and use their 14mm, and then compare those that use their 14mm, with those that have a 14mm rectilinear? Play street rules basketball in the lobby and see if the photographer knows how to set backboard remotes on the fly?
Today's Speedlinks.
The dialog and criticism of OnRequest Images continues, and I have yet to find a suitable reason why they should continue to exist. There are so so many reasons against their long term viability, and it is the dot-com-piece-of-the-pie mentality that has caused the unknowning venture capitalists to continue to invest in this business model.
I love food. I also enjoy the Food Network's programs, especially Unwrapped, which is high up on my Tivo Season Pass Manager, so it rarely gets preempted, except for, say, 24, The Closer, 60 Minutes, and a few others. What boggles my mind, is a post that keen-eyed PBN reader 
For some time, I've been critical of photo agencies who are not looking out for the best interests of those they are agents for. Photographers seem to forget that without them, agencies are nothing more than an office with empty file cabinets and blank hard drives. There are very few agencies any more that actually look out for photographer's best interests. Three that I know do are - Marcel Saba's Redux, Scott McKiernan's Zuma Press,and the one that represents me - Black Star. They truly do care about their photographers, and have a long history of doing so, or of being photographers themselves.
Today's