Quote:
Originally Posted by waple
You have to realize that not all photos are put online to be sold at a profit, and not everyone is claiming to be a pro.
I have family galleries on my site that are sold at cost because I'm not going to charge my mom a profit on photos I took of her on mother's day. Granted, my family photos are hidden, but other people post shots they took while hanging out with friends and they aren't trying to make a profit. They just want thier friends to be able to print out photos too.
Another case, I shoot events and new members at my chruch and I do it for free as a service to the church. I post images of events and of the members in the galleries at cost and so they can even download them for free. I'm purposely not trying to make a profit off this.
Just playing devil's advocate here.
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Mister you are wrong in so many ways. The first thing I want to say is Don't take what I am about to say as me being mad at you. The comments will get pretty strong before I am finished but I don't want you, nor anyone else to think that I am intending to slam you. I will apologize in advance in case you take what I have to say personally. I don't know you and we could have been friends at some time or place. I am hot about this subject and you have touched a couple of buttons.
I want to state that I give plenty of my work away, depending on the cause. I am confused about the statement you made about
: "I have family galleries on my site that are sold at cost because I'm not going to charge my mom a profit on photos I took of her on mother's day.". Who the hell would even think of charging their mother for photos?
Son, you are way off base here. I never said not to share photos with your family or friends.
What are you doing posting photos with prices for your family?
Shame on you!
What I am talking about is people who, like you go out and get a website and give it a studio name. If your website is named "Your Studio" instead of Joe's family site, then you might think you are a Pro.
The whole goal in naming a website "Your Studio" and posting pictures (note I didn't use the term portraits on purpose) with a price on them, would be to sell the pictures. If you are selling pictures on your Studio website then you are trying to be a Professional Photographer. The problem is you are not being honest with yourself about what your real intentions are.
You talk about giving away photos, no selling photos to the church folk. You ramble about them buying it for cost but being able to download the photos for free. You then state: "I'm purposely not trying to make a profit off this.". I understand you are trying to recover your expenses. RIGHT?
Wrong!
I have been the official photographer for a local high school event where parents get together and produce and act in a play. I have been the "Official" photographer for the past 10 years. I take about 1200 photos of the parents in action and I then put all of the photos on a DVD and design a cover lable and I GIVE the photos to the group for FREE. They then sell the DVD's to the parents who were in the play and all of the money goes to the school. So far they have raise over 1.25 million dollars for the school. Not on my photos but on the money raised by the play, of which my photos are a small part, so the kids can have a better school experience and senior grad party.
Just so you have this straight, I don't post any of the photos on the website, I don't advertise to sell the photos. I just give the head people the first DVD and they duplicate it and sell it. I don't claim to be trying to recover costs or not make a profit.
I never said "Professional Photographers should never give or donate anything to anyone", but I guess you think you might have heard me say that. You should pay more attention. I said the wannabees are killing the Professional Photography business by charging Cheaper than Dirt prices for photos. What I said has been echoed by several people and most eloquently by Ed Sharpio. We, the Professional Photographers, are in this to make a living. Not to cheat others out of a way of life. Please share with us where you work so I can go get a job there for a little extra spending money. Maybe your boss will lay you off and give me the position you had. Then you would understand. If you want to be a photographer (I for one, would welcome you to the fold with open arms) then CHARGE for what you are producing. If you don't want to be a photographer then stop posting pictures on your website with CHEAP prices on them. Stop telling others you are not trying to make a profit. Tell them you are trying to take food out a Professional Photographer's mouth.