Re: [Leica] Tina/Reimbursement/Value Placed on Work?

["Dan Post" <dwpost@email.msn.com>]

Bob is a perfectionist! That's why he spends so much time in the dark!
He needs to get a website and share some of his work- he's really quite good
for someone who has just gotten back 'in the soup'!
Dan
- -----Original Message-----
From: RBedw51767@aol.com <RBedw51767@aol.com>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Monday, February 22, 1999 6:15 AM
Subject: [Leica] Tina/Reimbursement/Value Placed on Work?


>I am not a professional photographer but I certainly understand the value
that
>people place on outstanding photography.   Recently I was asked to
photograph
>the children of an acquaintance.  I am a real sucker for chlldren and I get
a
>tremendous amount of enjoyment capturing their activities.  If my work
shines
>it is in this area.  On this day I took about 120 pictures and of those
there
>were around 50 that were exceptional.  I must have spent at least 40 hours
in
>the darkroom working on these prints.  There was a lot of waste as I am a
>novice with the enlarger.  When I delivered the prints to the parents they
>were overwhelmed with the results and stated that they were much better
than
>they anticipated.  When the subject of money came up I told them that I
don't
>charge for my work but if they wanted to buy some paper for me to please
see
>my friend at the camera shop.   Several days later they brought me a pack
of
>25 sheets of paper.  This would hardly cover the cost of the film.    It
was
>not the money, it was the principal.  I spent two hours making the pictures
>using $20,000 of equipment, spent days in the dark plus paper and
chemicals.
>No telling what my total cost was.    They were totally ignorant of the
costs
>and they reimbursed me what they felt it was worth.   Since taking those
>pictures I have received calls from five other couples to take pictures of
>their kids.  I don't think so.  I would rather ask to take pictures of
>children and give them to them than to be depressed when I learn how much
>value they place on my work.  For me, when business is brought into it the
>enjoyment deminishes.   I appreciate the commitment that our professional
>photographers have made and hope that situations like the one that faced
Tina
>are not common occurences.
>
>Bob Bedwell
>
>
>
>
>
>
><< At 10:58 PM 2/21/99 -0500, you wrote:
> > If everyone else volunteers their time and energy, I'm
> >happy to pitch in and help.  If the staff is receiving a salary, then the
> >photographer should, too.
>
> Tina,
>
> Good for you. This attitude is the only hope for people being able to make
> a living with photography in the future. In essence, when they say "we
> can't afford to pay for the photography," they are denigrating what we do
> as less than worthy of compensation. That devalues our work and
> photographers who agree to that only hurt our profession. So stick to your
> guns and keep telling them if their work is worth the money so is yours,
> and they can't afford not to pay for it.
>
> Eric Welch
> St. Joseph, MO
> http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch
>  >>