Photography profession is in trouble if this is the future

This post was shared on a buddies Facebook page today, and I hope it's a joke.  If not, photography as a profession is screwed.  

"Anyone know or is anyone a wedding photographer and needing a 2nd photographer. I have recently started a business (photography) but want to get practice in seeing how weddings are done."

Hi Steve,

when I was a teenager, I was one of the very rare kids that
could play the guitar. As time went on, ever more new players
were coming in the crowd with guitars. The new trend brought
sometimes lower quality players to play in cafés and such.

Café owners and listeners quickly got more critical and only the
better ones were hired. It's the same phenomenon that extended
to so many activities.

Sure, the accessibility to the equipment and knowledge — such
as through fora like this one — will make unprepared amateurs
to jump for the "pro" tag but "it's all in the print" still applies and
in music too.

In the end, it will push out the not so good guys keeping the better
ones on their toes.

When I entered the scene a year ago, my first thought was “Wow, there are a lot of people taking good photos! I’m never going to compete with these. 

I am still hypercritical of my work. I am never satisfied. During the spring and summer I am taking hundreds, even thousands of photos in a week. I realize that this is how I am going to get better.

I am also one that won’t take a job unless I feel 100% confident in my abilities. One problem with this; most of us have have confidence issues until we have actual job experience. This means, at some point, you will have to take a chance, a risk, There are some that believe they should jump right in. It’s the old business tactic of “If you don’t know, lie and figure it out later” to take advantage of the opportunity. This isn’t always a healthy approach, and it can piss some people off, but it works for some situations, one I am about to tell you about...

I have a pretty unusual opportunity and took a chance. I was approached by my daughter’s riding instructor asking me for some photos. Locally, there aren’t many good horse photographers. We have some portrait photogs that do horse and rider, but not a lot that are all that amazing locally The ones that are are pretty stupid expensive, like in the thousands of dollars. Well, riding is taking off around here, in a big way. She wanted me to take on a project of horse head shots for her business. I had been photographing her horses for a month pretty regularly, and I was getting better, but was far from “good”. She didn’t care. Told me I was doing great and wanted to hire me. I gingerly agreed because we had become much closer and she was a pretty chill person. I took the job and ended up going above and beyond her expectations. Why? Because I was scared to death of failure and letting someone down. THe pressure was on. I busted my butt figuring out the best ways to shoot horses, and honestly, I ended up breaking some rules and coming Up with some pretty unique stuff. She is having me do some shots this spring that will be published in national magazines! I have also had several riders from the area asking about me now. 

I Never planned on photographing horses, but I saw an opportunity. Not to mention, I love animals and prefer them to people, honestly. Lol I am continuing because I will feel I am not ready for being published, but I will channel that again in to the next project to push the limits of my abilities, which doesn’t feel like much. 

Troponin  where you out of?  My sister lives in West Palm Beach and travels all around Florida photographing horses and any equine event she can get too.  

Have you photographed wild horses before?  

Jakov Barnes wrote: Troponin  where you out of?  My sister lives in West Palm Beach and travels all around Florida photographing horses and any equine event she can get too.  

Have you photographed wild horses before?  

I live about an hour from Houston Texas. 

Never had the pleasure, but I would absolute love an experience like that. I grew up in the North Eastern US, Pa/DelMarVa. I remember seeing the wild horses running through the sandy grasses for miles up and down the coastline, as we would travel back and forth. They were scenes that you thought only happened in movies. 

Troponin wrote: I live about an hour from Houston Texas.

Huh. You're not far from me, then.

I am of the same mindset: don't do it unless you know you can be successful. Over-deliver. Never be satisfied with your own work. (My mantra: "I'm getting better at what I do. All my photos suck.")

The thing is, what people want is not what you want. Delivering a product is not the same as fulfilling your artistic needs. When this is a job, what matters is the client and their expectations, which you have a certain amount of control over.

Just $0.02.

That sounds par for the course coming from people with cameras listing themselves on Facebook and Craigslist. I've seen it often enough that people get into charging for their photography, realize how much work it is, have to deal with upset clients, etc. and end up out of it in a couple of years or so. Might seem discouraging, but hopefully that person with a camera will become more realistic and either develop skills or move on to something else.

Troponin the only thing about doing photos for someone's business without charging is what happens now that the owner wants more photos, more usage, and it becomes time to start charging? It might be challenging to go from no cost to the going rate for that type work, which if it's good is apparently priced high. Of course it's fine to start out exchanging photos for access to the owner's horses as subjects to learn and practice, but probably worth setting guidelines on how much/what will be provided as TFP (trade for 'prints' is the traditional meaning). And if you get referrals and opportunities that's great, but it probably will be getting necessary soon if you haven't already to start learning how to draw up contracts, license usage, pricing, etc.

Especially since your photos will be getting published as well as being used for marketing. Don't count on a photo credit; often photos are just listed as 'Provided' if the owner is providing photos. For magazine publication usually they should contract with you for usage of your photos, and if they don't then probably they'll be provided and your name won't accompany the article. Look up the magazine(s) and see what the articles/photos look like. Try asmp.org or PPA for info. on licensing usage, contracts, etc. and a link to a pricing guide. 

icepics wrote: That sounds par for the course coming from people with cameras listing themselves on Facebook and Craigslist. I've seen it often enough that people get into charging for their photography, realize how much work it is, have to deal with upset clients, etc. and end up out of it in a couple of years or so. Might seem discouraging, but hopefully that person with a camera will become more realistic and either develop skills or move on to something else.

Troponin the only thing about doing photos for someone's business without charging is what happens now that the owner wants more photos, more usage, and it becomes time to start charging? It might be challenging to go from no cost to the going rate for that type work, which if it's good is apparently priced high. Of course it's fine to start out exchanging photos for access to the owner's horses as subjects to learn and practice, but probably worth setting guidelines on how much/what will be provided as TFP (trade for 'prints' is the traditional meaning). And if you get referrals and opportunities that's great, but it probably will be getting necessary soon if you haven't already to start learning how to draw up contracts, license usage, pricing, etc.

Especially since your photos will be getting published as well as being used for marketing. Don't count on a photo credit; often photos are just listed as 'Provided' if the owner is providing photos. For magazine publication usually they should contract with you for usage of your photos, and if they don't then probably they'll be provided and your name won't accompany the article. Look up the magazine(s) and see what the articles/photos look like. Try asmp.org or PPA for info. on licensing usage, contracts, etc. and a link to a pricing guide. 

Woah, back up. Why am I not getting paid? I appreciate the advice, but if I lead anyone to believe I wasn’t getting paid, or that I was just giving free photos to a magazine without credit, they are greatly mistaken. 

Then I got the wrong impression, I thought it was being done as a favor. The description didn't sound like a typical procedure for paid photography work or having photos published. If it is then it sounds like a good opportunity.

"started a business (photography)" - what in the world is this person thinking?  Well people like this only make us look better! 

There are idiots like that in all professions.  Nothing new here.  Just darwin awards for professions.  

Just don't feed the animals.  Seriously there are so many examples of people like this in every walk of life.