I do not live out of fear for my future.
My value is less on the dollar than the personal
experience of the moment of the shutter.
Frankly, the type of photography I have done (and still do)
has had a quite an impact on me. As a direct result-
I am motivated by projects other photographers
turn down.
Not only is there work, it is work
I would pursue regardless.
What is "full price" anyway?
An organizations suggestions? The "going-rate" ?
My price, his price, your price, our price.
Emily, I am surprised..... coming from you,
actually--- there is no connection between what you pay and the thing
you bought!
28 more years - homeless, looking for candy bars, pushing a pig around
in a
shopping cart and sleeping with Art Hritis. I hope Polaroid will still
be making film
for all those SX-70's I will have in the cart. The 5x7 will be too
heavy, and anything
that requires focusing.....well forget it.
Not only can a person work for "peanuts", they can eat them.
There are as many
different reasons to hear opportunity knocking- as there are
opportunities.
My two pennies/.
Sorry for butting in on this thread. Its getting headed elsewhere,
I'll just lurk around...........
-Bobbie
"""At 2:15 PM -0400 9/6/03, BB wrote:
>Perhaps for you Les.
>
>Retirement is not on everyone's 'to do' list.
>
>Each of us has our own definition of success.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So when you're 78 and you've got crippling
arthritis or diabetes or a
heart condition (or cataracts) and can no longer
make a living taking
photographs, where's your income going to come
from? Love?
Sooner or later a professional photographer has to
think about the
future and how to pay for it. Maybe it's children,
maybe it's
actually buying a house, maybe it's getting frail,
but one can't work
for peanuts for ever and have anything for life
beyond the barest
necessities.
Those of us trying to or succeeding at making a
living doing this
really do love it, and telling stories with
photographs is what it's
about for most of us. What we're trying to say is
that you have to
think about these things sooner, not later.
When you pay a cut rate for something, don't you
wonder why it's less
expensive than the full-price thing? Do you think
there's no
connection between what you pay and the thing
you've bought?
No different with photography, nor with the
services of a skilled photographer.
--
Emily L. Ferguson"""
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