At 03:50 PM 11/13/2005, fotofx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Really. So How do I prevent and undercut or freebie from another
photographer when I find out after the fact?
You can't. But how can BestBuy deal with it when Circuit City
undercuts them with a one-day "manager's sale" and they find out
after the fact? This is basic marketing, it's not specific to
photography, and it's something you live with. It's not like it's
new. It's just business, and if you can't deal with it, then you
have to find something else to do.
So If I gain access to your boxing matches shoot from same vantage
point as you with equal skills you won't mind if I follow you around
and give away my images to all of your clients. You are banking your
statement on one image.
I've sold plenty of images from boxing. This happens to be one where
I have probably lost income because of unlicensed usage, I give it as
an example of things that I find truly onerous as opposed to things
that just happen in business. But I've done the business things that
will make it harder for other people to sell to my clients. I have
relationships with the boxers and with the gyms. I give a print from
each fight to the boxers, but the gyms have to pay. They call me
when they want something, they get me the access, and they send other
people my way. This last point is really important - the largest
single image sale I have came from a boxer referring a company to me
for a photo to go with a testimonial. He could have told them to
send a photographer out, which might have been cheaper, but he
referred them to me for one of my existing images because I have the
relationship with him.
A lot of things are changing because of technology. A lot of
photographers are upset that anyone with a digital camera can shoot a
photo and know they got it. Photographers don't like to admit it,
but one of the things they used to get paid for was "getting" the
shot. With film, you wouldn't know for a day or two, so clients
wanted someone they knew would bring them the photo. The quality of
the image mattered far less than most photographers thought, or would
admit. To the client, it was just having a photo. Now, with
digital, the (former) client doesn't need a professional
photographer. They can do it them self because they know from the
screen if they got it. Real estate pictures are a good example of
this - most agents shoot their own photos now for the MLS. It's
gone, so photographers have to move on.
Jeff Spirer
Photos: http://www.spirer.com
One People: http://www.onepeople.com/
Surfaces and Marks: http://www.withoutgrass.com
