PDN Pulse has a feature on the top-selling microstock pictures of 2009 showing some of the examples. It is more than depressing to look at them and think that this is how to make money at photography.
Or photography and bad Photoshop in some cases. One of the comments reads “hideous. I’d rather prize my teeth out with a butter knife than look at this garbage” and its hard not to agree. But these guys are making a good living from it, while many if not most good photojournalists struggle to keep going at the moment.
But as I keep telling myself, I don’t do it for the money, though I do need some money to keep on doing it. Some things are worth doing, other things just aren’t. Whatever they pay.
On which subject, from Twitter this morning I found a link to Dont Be Scared of the F-Word When Exploring New Business Models by London / New York based freelance commercial photographer Jonathan Worth on Black Star Rising, in which he argues that doing things for free can be worthwhile. It’s worth reading (sorry!) and I’m very much in agreement that it is sometimes a good and even profitable idea. But just not in the vast majority of cases, when people just want to rip us off and the chances of our benefiting in any way are close to zero.
And yes, I do a lot of things for free, not least this blog and my posting of work on sites including My London Diary, the River Lea/ Lea Valley, London’s Industrial Heritage and the Urban Landscapes web sites.
