Do I just say no?

syco wrote in post #12739382
A hobbiest wont spend $10k on gear. When they do they are not giving their skills and photos away for free anymore. Amateurs cannot produce the same consistent quality as professionals. If they can they become pro soon enough, buy gear and charge to buy even more.

The billions of photos on Flickr don't concern me in the slightest not do they affect my photo income. You're right that if they did, I'd be a pretty poor photographer.

I'm a hobbyist who has spent over $10K on gear and as I've mentioned, I have absolutely no desire to "go pro." This is just a hobby for me - relaxing and enjoyable. I intend on keeping it that way.

It's a fallacy to think that everyone doing photography has "going pro" as their ultimate goal. That is just plain false. Many do have that goal, but there are many that have no desire to "go pro" or get into dealing with money or bookings or releases. Just doing photography and enjoying myself.

Whippeticious wrote in post #12715930

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Absolutely excellent shot. You should go pro or at least start selling these.

spkerer wrote in post #12739448
It's a fallacy to think that everyone doing photography has "going pro" as their ultimate goal. That is just plain false. Many do have that goal, but there are many that have no desire to "go pro" or get into dealing with money or bookings or releases. Just doing photography and enjoying myself.

That's fine and quite okay, but this forum is "The Business of Photography," so it should be expected that the business of photography rather than the hobby of photography is apt to be discussed here.

Unfortunately in this case it is more like the Business Prevention Forum as having sought advice about a customer that wanted to pay her for her photos she managed to lose the sale by either :

a) going in too expensive, or
b) offering something that the customer did not want - i.e. prints

What a way to overcomplicate a business transaction.

Some of the pros here are so silly, no wonder "the industry is going down the drain" for them.

Congrats, you just lost a ton of potential sales. You had an amazing photo and the opportunity to use it as a loss-leader and you missed it because you took the wrong advice...

You could've given here the photo with a small logo/web address in the corner, along with full rights to print/distribute and ask her nicely not to discuss how much she paid for the photo with her peers.

I personally think the photo is great, something you'd expect from an experienced pro. A lot of her peers could see the photo on her website or facebook, along with her friends who may be running a buinsess in need of a good photographer, and if they want to get one photo like that for themselves - they would have seen your website, as well. If anything, you'd be getting paid in free publicity...In the end, you don't have neither money nor publicity, not to mention she now thinks you are jerk and maybe you also missed on getting a little something-something

atlrus wrote in post #12745494
Some of the pros here are so silly, no wonder "the industry is going down the drain" for them.

Congrats, you just lost a ton of potential sales. You had an amazing photo and the opportunity to use it as a loss-leader and you missed it because you took the wrong advice...

You could've given here the photo with a small logo/web address in the corner, along with full rights to print/distribute and ask her nicely not to discuss how much she paid for the photo with her peers.

I personally think the photo is great, something you'd expect from an experienced pro. A lot of her peers could see the photo on her website or facebook, along with her friends who may be running a buinsess in need of a good photographer, and if they want to get one photo like that for themselves - they would have seen your website, as well. If anything, you'd be getting paid in free publicity...In the end, you don't have neither money nor publicity, not to mention she now thinks you are jerk and maybe you also missed on getting a little something-something

Nice. The OP is female.

mmb wrote in post #12745615
Nice. The OP is female.

How does that matter?