Photographer Learned Helplessness

One of the things I enjoy is my daily read of the Consumerist website. In this piece - Do You Suffer From CLH? (Consumer Learned Helplessness), they write, in part:

After getting shocked from every angle for so long, with credit cards' shrinking due dates, flagrant violations of our privacy, rebate scams as acceptable business models, and "it's company policy" as the magic wand to excuse it any time a company screws us, that we just lie down and accept it.

So too, does this apply to photographers.

(Continued after the Jump)

Thus, I've evolved the term from CLH to PLH, or, Photographer Learned Helplessness.

When your client, or a proposed client says things like:

• You're the first photographer who's ever raised a question about our contract
• We require original receipts for all expenses
• Our contract is non-negotiable. We haven't modified it for anyone else, so we can't for you, sorry.
• Of course we own the reprint rights to the photos and article. We paid you for the assignment.
• We can't pay in 30 days. I know your contract that we signed says that, but we pay in 90 days.
• We can't promise adjacent photo credit, or that it will be accurate, but we'll do our best.
• We don't pay a digital processing fee. Don't do any processing, just burn the photos to a CD and send it to us. My assistant can pick out the photos and work on them.

Simply just laying down and accepting eggregious terms is what results from PLH. It's as if there are no clients out there who you think respect you, and so you just have to take whatever scraps and morsels of assignment work this client has.

Don't believe these things. I have drawers full of contracts from clients that counter the above. I have FedEx receipts from clients who paid in 30 days (and I have collected administrative fees for those who have not paid within 30 days). I have clients who respect me and what I bring to the table. Did they take time to become my regular clients? Sure. And I surely declined assignment offers where the deal did not show me the respect that a reasonable person should expect.

Avoid PLH. Don't accept deals you know are bad. Sometimes it's easier than others. But in the long run, it's what will sustain you.

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