The market value of photography

Many years ago I took a small business class and even though I didn’t go into business, there were a number of valuable lessons that I learned. One section was pricing and value. The trick was to find the right price point where you could sell your product continuously, provide a good value for the public, and make a profit at the same time. If you price the item too high, you could make a large profit, assuming that anyone would buy it, too low, and you’d sell a lot of product, but not make enough money to cover expenses. Either way, you’d be out of business.

I was reading Joe McNally’s blog and this paragraph caught my eye:

I attempt to be coherent, and thoughtful, though it’s hard. When you hear about a recent cover of Time magazine being bought off Istock for $30, it’s easy to just think about reaching for the sawed off and giving them sumbitches what for. But this whole numbing process has been going on for so long it would be difficult to sort out the most deserving sumbitches, and truth be told, some of them be us.

Before I continue, you have to understand that Joe has a great sense of humor and his posts are often informative, but certainly always have a touch or more of humor in them. That’s one of the reasons that I read it. I usually get a laugh and who couldn’t use one of those every day!

So, back to business, markets, and such. I did a quick Google to find out about Time’s $30 purchase and found that it was true. They purchased the photo from IStock for $30. Now, the irony of this purchase was not lost on me. The label that was added to the jar of coins says: The New Frugality. The article featured on the cover was about how the recession has changed what we value and what we expect–even after the economy recovers.

When the photographer, Robert Lam, mentioned that he had gotten one of his photos on the cover of Time, most people where supportive … that is, until someone asked how much he got paid. When he mentioned that Time had paid only $30, then the support seemed to dwindle. Some thought that he got ‘screwed’, others thought that it was ‘terribly depressing’ that Time, a multi-billion dollar company only paid $30. In general, it seemed that some thought that he should get paid in the $10,000 range, just because of Time’s ability to pay. For most other things, the market doesn’t work like this, only taxes work like this … the more you make, the more they take! I pay the same amount for an automobile whether I make $5,000/year, $200,000/year, or $1,000,000/year. I may be able to purchase a more expensive automobile, but no one asks to see my income before I see the price!

I’ve seen this sentiment in numerous places about how photographers shouldn’t sell their work for such cheap prices and about how businesses like IStock are hurting photographers’ ability to make a living, etc. Perhaps photography books should cost several hundred dollars each because they hurt the teaching/workshop market!

I remember similar stories from the post office about how the Internet was hurting their business; however, they still survive, though postal rates are climbing more frequently. They had to make changes, streamline, and compete with the Internet, UPS, and FedEx. They aren’t the only game in town anymore. They had to find new ideas and new ways to earn money.

Pricing needn’t be emotional. Sure, we may think that our photos are worth more, but that’s only because of our own attachment, ego, and desires. In the end, a photo, or anything is worth what the market will pay. No more. No less.

What do you think?

Sacrifice or dedication?

I was watching a documentary, Half Past Autumn, about Gordon Parks. He led an extraordinary life. He was good at a number of disciplines: Photography, poetry, art, music, writing, and film directing. One could only hope to accomplish half as much as he did in his life. He was truly amazing. He refused to take no for answer. As an example of his audacity, he walked into the editors office of Life magazine and refused to leave until editor had a look at his pictures. The editor tried to get him to leave and make and appointment, but he remained there steadfast until the editor had a look. After the editor saw two pictures, he was convinced. He was hired immediately and given a feature story to cover gangs in Harlem, NY. He freelanced for Vogue, photographed Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, The Black Panther Party, and a host of other high profile assignments.

Yet, all through the documentary, you could see that he was losing pieces of his personal life. He was married 3 times: The first lasting 28 years, the second 12, and the final one, 6. In interviews with his various wives, they all loved him dearly, but they just could not compete with his dedication to his passion for photography. In a small way, this reminded me of Joe McNally’s story from The Moment It Clicks where he had to decide between going on assignments or being home for his daughter’s birthday.

At times, I know that I have a romantic view of what that type of life must be like. I see only the end result: The name and photo in print. However, there is a darker side. A side where dues must be paid. It was a great story and one that certainly helps to keep one’s perspective. If you have the time, it’s worth watching.

Reflections of self.

Q:
o.k. Let’s go back to why not every image made by a good photographer is a good photograph. Explain me that.

A:
Well: if photography is a reflection of someones being in the world, then it should be obvious, that during a lifespan this being in the world is an evolving thing, is changing, is going on; it is a process. If you cross a river, jumping from stone to stone to get to the other side, not every stone is the same stable and the same big. But every stone is necessary to making the bridge for you to getting to the other side.
Same in a creative process: sometimes a lot of work has to be done, and lot of sketches, of try-and-error has to be made in order to lead you to the point where you want to go, and where you want to arrive.

The above is an excerpt from an interview with Urs Bernhard. Honestly, I’ve never heard of the man before, but I just happened to be reading the website: The International Analogue Photographic Society. I rather liked their tagline: Film is not dead it just smells funny! In the interview, Urs is talking about how not every good craftsman makes a good photographer and, of more interest to me, why each good photographer doesn’t always make good photographs.

I’ve been doing a bit of reflection over the photographs that I’ve taken in the past year since my move to Charleston, SC. Overall, I feel that they are very much hit and miss. They are all over the place. Chaotic. This is, to me, understandable as that has been my state of mind, off and on, for nearly a year and my photography cannot help but reflect that.

Things have been changing rapidly and I have been quite disturbed at times, peaceful at other times. I’ve been away from home for nearly a year. There have been 2 major illnesses in the family (not the immediate family) and one fairly major surgery. It has been a rough ride. These are merely events and only my thoughts about those events make them ‘feel’ rough. These are not complaints, merely observations, for I know that each person that I meet on the street is going through their own trials. Each of you who read this have faced or are facing your own challenges. How does that affect your photography?

I think that Mr. Bernhard hit upon the major theme when he said:
Well: if photography is a reflection of someones being in the world, then it should be obvious, that during a lifespan this being in the world is an evolving thing, is changing, is going on; it is a process

We are all constantly changing, different today from what we were yesterday. We cannot help but to reflect our state of mind in our photography. It is probably not evident from viewing a single photo or two but may become readily apparent when viewing an entire body of work over a certain time period. I feel that a lot of my photos from pieces of this time period, the last year, are chaotic, both in choice of subject as well as depth.

However, there is a good side to this. That same lack of consistency, perhaps with words such as these, tell the story of a period of time in life where things were not settled. When that settling comes again, and it will, my photography will change yet again. In spite of this, I continue to shoot … perhaps, because of this. Perhaps I am writing and photographing my own autobiography.

That said, I have managed to capture a few decent ones in those quiet spaces. My favorites so far this year are the ones from this post and this one. This leads me to wonder, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Can one capture a peaceful scene only when feeling peaceful inside, or is the capture of the peaceful scene a wish to be fulfilled?

SoFoBoMo: Fostering community

Our Photo Walk Crew

You only thought that SoFoBoMo had finished. Well, let me assure you, it hasn’t. The e-mails are flying and all sorts of ideas are flowing through cyberspace about how to make it better.

One of the big topics is how to keep that sense of community that we had the first year. Contrast that to the thread that is talking about how to reach more people, other languages, etc. Last year, even though we didn’t have a central repository for books, we seemed to make the rounds to view each others’ books. This year, the response was so overwhelming that would be nearly impossible to have a look at all of them and get a sense of what is available. Personally, I’ve looked at dozens of books and found some of them to my liking. However, there is just not the time to view all of them. The puppy has grown into a full grown dog!

Also, it seemed that a number of photographers just wanted to get finished with the whole thing, myself included. It had lost its luster, that ‘new smell’, from the previous year. This year, it was just a hustle to get 35 photos, put together a book, and say ‘done!’. I rather prefer the books that have something to say, a bit of narration to go with the photos. It adds a lot to the story.

So, for those who plan to participate in year 3, what would make it better? If you’ve never participated, what would make it palatable for you? If this year was your first year, do you plan to do it again? How could we foster that close-knit community? Is that even possible anymore? Is it even necessary?

Where are the minority photographers?

From the photo walk. A typical downtown Charleston scene. Click here for more!

I’ve struggled for a title to this post that might bring people to the site to read it. I wanted the post to be somewhat provocative to generate interest and, even as I write this, I’m not sure that I have the title right. However, I’ll proceed with the post.

I must say that while I enjoyed the photo walk, I was a bit disappointed in the turn out of minorities. Put more bluntly, I was the only black guy there. Sorry, I don’t use the politically correct title “African American”. And I really don’t like to refer to myself by my skin color or country of origin, etc, but to make a point, I’ll do that here.

So, why was I disappointed? Let me try to explain: I believe that each culture is different. Not because of any predisposed genetic differences, but based on their historical culture and their shared experiences.

It’s no surprise to me that people from other countries come here and tend to huddle together in ‘pockets’. New York’s Chinatown is a great example. Many of the people from India that I worked with in Charlotte all live in the same neighborhood. It’s the same for Mexicans and Brazilians that I know. My wife, a Brazilian, has been kind enough to share her struggles with me about the difficulties of being an immigrant and trying to fit into American society. Further, of being a woman trying to fit into a male dominated career, software development.

It’s difficult to come from a culture having extended family where, for example, sons and daughters may stay home until they are 30. Then, when they do get married and move out, they stay in the neighborhood, or close by, and come to dinner every Sunday. Contrast this to American society where we celebrate individuality and independence.

Sometimes when I go into a new situation with the potential to meet new people, especially anything having to do with photography, I’m hopeful to see someone else who looks like me. It provides a comfort zone as well as some shared interests and an immediate connection. Also, I understand the approach better and friendships accelerate faster. There’s a common bond of experience. Most of the times, I’m pretty disappointed because it just doesn’t happen in the workplace or in photography. I just have to wonder why:

• Is photography not interesting to minorities?
• Is it a simple matter, perhaps, that we are not exposed to the possibilities? No well known, mainstream, minority photographers?
• Is it that the arts are looked upon as frivolous and unimportant?
• Is it because there are no role models?
• Is it an economic thing? Access to computers, digital cameras, etc.

Why is that I meet so few black photographers or software developers? I’m not a big fan of organizations that promote separation. So, I could not seem myself creating a group called “The Charleston/Charlotte Black Photographers Guild/Group”; however, I can see why it’s done. How else would you get into contact with like minded individuals? Now, one might say: What’s the difference? It’s all about photography and it doesn’t matter what color you are. Very true. Yet, if one were interested in race relations from a historical perspective, there might be a difference. I’ve only ever seen one point of view. Rarely do you hear the names of black photographers like Gordon Parks or James Van der Zee, who photographed Harlem intimately for 50 years!

Minority photographers offer a glimpse into lives, or ways of looking at things, that others simply cannot provide. I certainly cannot provide a detailed, poignant look in to the Brazilian culture, but my wife certainly could. Yet, she could not provide the detailed look into black middle class culture here in the U.S. I think that it is important that all sides be shown.

Sometimes, I just wonder what I could do to improve the situation. How could I encourage more minorities to explore their world with photography? It seems that this art form has so much potential for expressiveness that I just want everyone to become involved if they are interested. I just want to spread the word as far and wide as possible … to include everyone! Certainly, there is no one trying to stop this spread of knowledge, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone trying to spread it either. Food for thought.

The Photo Walk.

This was the second year for Scott Kelby’s Photo Walk. Last year, they did not have one in Charlotte, so I didn’t attend. This year’s Photo Walk had quite a few more cities, including Charlotte, NC; However, I signed up for the Charleston, SC walk.

I believe that the Charleston walk had 46 of the maximum 50 people signed up to walk. We met at Riverfront Park in downtown, milled about for bit introducing ourselves to one another, did a group photo, then the walk began shortly after 9:00 AM.

Periodically during the week I had tossed around the idea of shooting film during the walk, then back to the idea of shooting digital, then back to film. As I arrived at the parking garage, opened the trunk, reached my hand in to pick one or the other bag, I chose to shoot film just for the novelty of it. I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to be shooting a lot of photos. I figured that I’d be doing more talking and walking than anything.

As it is Charleston, the weather was warm and very humid. It wasn’t long before I and the other four guys that I was walking with, were starting to perspire. The guys that I walked with were named: Chrys, Kip, Robert, and Kazu. Mostly, we walked through the various streets, alleys, and parks and talk about a number of topics. Three of the guys knew each other. They get together once a month on Friday and go to a different barbecue restaurant to sample the fare.

Kazu, who is from Japan, was shooting film as well. He was shooting an Olympus XA and a Holga. Believe it or not, this was my first time seeing a Holga. He said that he really liked the Holga because he’s always surprised by what comes out of the camera. Surprised in a good way and lots of time in a bad way. He told me the camera can only shoot at 1/125 second at f/8 or f/11. That’s it. There is no way to focus it either. Talk about bringing things down to their simplest! I’m not so sure that I want to go that simple! He said that he was shooting Portra because it was so forgiving with exposure and that you need that when shooting with a Holga! As a side note, he is a local sushi chef and the restaurant that he works in is about 15 – 20 minutes from where I work. I told him that I’d stop by and visit him one day. I will!

We continued walking and shooting for the next 2.5 hours, finally ending at Tommy Condon’s, an Irish pub/restaurant. Most everyone from the photo walk joined up to sample some of the beers and the cuisine. Myself, I was not interested in beer, but all of the water that I could consume! My shirt was pretty damp from the humid morning and I was feeling pretty thirsty! After I had chugged back a fair amount of water, I had a local Southern favorite, Shrimp & Grits. It was quite tasty. Four of the five of us sat together. Kip had to leave. We spent the next hour and talked about cameras, films, family, photography, and whatever else came up.

As I figured, I didn’t take many pictures. I took about 3 rolls, or 45 pictures. I’ve not developed them yet and I’m not expecting much, truthfully, but I will share them later on this week. Then again, this was not about the photography, it was about getting out and meeting new friends, potentially. These photos are from my personal photo walk of downtown that I did back in March.