Professional Photographers are the Problem!

People amaze me. Quick run down.
Local airport has some very limited warbirds come to town and will be here 4 months out of the year.

Small airports are usually a nice community. Planes arrive, I have my cameras and I am asked by one of the pilots if I would film him since he has nothing of him flying the P51. I said sure and I take some photos as well. 4 planes total, I get some great shots, some posted in Transportation section, and the pilots ask if they can have some copies. I said sure, I have 10 11x16 photos printed for them of various planes in flight.

I speak to the president of the foundation and tell him that the community loves the planes here and I will use my contacts to get a 15 segment dedicated to the planes, etc as well as on radio. I do the shows and people love it.

During the next day at the open house I talk to the president of the foundation who is a local resident, we chit chat and I show him the prints and the pilots love them. I offer to install some of my video cameras for free to shoot their mini airshow. He says he already has some cameras and is all set.
Well, the reason I offered is because the footage on his website is BAD, not borderline, but over the top bad. I didn't say anything about it but I wanted to offer my services since they are in town on a regular basis.

They will be bringing a couple of planes to another airport with an open house that I am involved with and ask about riding in the second seat for the flight down so I can film and produce a local tv show. He then goes on a rant about how bad the media is. He is pissed because another photographer took photos of the planes and posted them on his website and...............wait for it...............
put a water mark on the photos.
He said "The problem is when you take photos and print out only a select few to see OUR aircraft. If our planes were not there you wouldn't have any photos. We wish everyone would help share in this but this is not the case with professional photographers. This is why we have our own film crew."

My response was polite but firm, I said if you didn't have any media or photographers you wouldn't have any photos and told him that I can't afford to print off 1000 photos to give out but those pics were a courtesy for your pilots.

He said "Fine, I will give you back the photos."

I continued "I went above and beyond, printed photos, filmed and delivered it to the pilot, went on a very prominent tv and radio show promoting the planes and the museum, as well as helping during the day. My last comment was that he and his photographer don't work for free why should I?

Here is the kicker, he WAS a professional photographer in my area and now works for an extremely rich rich foundation.

Just blowing off steam and disappointed in some people.

I wouldn't sweat it. At times, the Warbird community has a very skewed sense of self worth...

Hell, I can't veven get the time of day from my own local CAF wing despite joining both locally and nationally (and, they have a disk of some of my very best A2A work which cost me a significant chunk of change to shoot but wasn't worth a piddly $50 membership in trade.)

<Shrug>

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #12947703
I wouldn't sweat it. At times, the Warbird community has a very skewed sense of self worth...

Hell, I can't veven get the time of day from my own local CAF wing despite joining both locally and nationally (and, they have a disk of some of my very best A2A work which cost me a significant chunk of change to shoot but wasn't worth a piddly $50 membership in trade.)

<Shrug>

WOW, sounds so familar. In fact, the group at the local airport spent more than $400 for a lobster bake for them as well as letting them use hangers for FREE. The pilots are extremely nice, it is the head golfer that thinks his $%^$ doesn't stink.

In most xases (that I am aware of anyway...) pilots USUALLY are OWNERS of the plane they fly. People usually like to use their investment themselves. Not excusing the main man here - he is probably employed to do what YOU did. What probably pissed him off is that with very little effort you did it MUCH better!!

If the pilots liked your "work" and they KNOW what was involved in creating it, then I would think you should let it be known that their "promoter" demanded that all your work be returned to you AND you should explain WHY. Let them make the decision whether to return the work you did or not. Then THEY can deal with the other guy.

Hillbille

Wow. This makes working with band dudes seem easy.

Telemov wrote in post #12948053
Wow. This makes working with band dudes seem easy.

LOLOL!!!!

Telemov wrote in post #12948053
Wow. This makes working with band dudes seem easy.

People who can perform are not usually interested in putting someone else down.

i understand the rant... i believe i'm on your side with the matter.

Playing the devil's advocate though, in reading the story, it sounded like you said you wanted to take the pics and promote the planes, etc, out of a passion for the subject. Everyone said, sure, go for it, and then AFTERWARD's you thought, after so much effort, the guy should have shown appreciation by offering money for the services you offered.

I think most folks with personal integrity would have at least considered offering financial remuneration in light of all of your hard work... but the other side of the coin could be, "hey you just asked could you do it... and had you asked to be paid for it, we'd have said, NO from the outset.."

please pardon me if i didn't get the intent of the story correct... i did read it twice, though.

hope you are able to get the pics into the pilot's hands at least. Good luck.

It really is a disappointing situation. They want people to donate, etc, but treat the people who can help them accomplish that like crap. This guy has a real ego problem and I knew it right away but continued to offer my services. The pilots are extremely nice and very thankful so I will just continue my relationship with them.

mikewinburn wrote in post #12948241
i understand the rant... i believe i'm on your side with the matter.

Playing the devil's advocate though, in reading the story, it sounded like you said you wanted to take the pics and promote the planes, etc, out of a passion for the subject. Everyone said, sure, go for it, and then AFTERWARD's you thought, after so much effort, the guy should have shown appreciation by offering money for the services you offered.

I think most folks with personal integrity would have at least considered offering financial remuneration in light of all of your hard work... but the other side of the coin could be, "hey you just asked could you do it... and had you asked to be paid for it, we'd have said, NO from the outset.."

please pardon me if i didn't get the intent of the story correct... i did read it twice, though.

hope you are able to get the pics into the pilot's hands at least. Good luck.

Actually I didn't ask for any compensation and I was not looking for it. I saw this as a great opportunity to promote these planes to make this a situation that they would like to come back to. They have the money to do this, the owner of the planes makes about $1,000,000 per day, I can not disclose any more.

kona77 wrote in post #12948305
Actually I didn't ask for any compensation and I was not looking for it. I saw this as a great opportunity to promote these planes to make this a situation that they would like to come back to. They have the money to do this, the owner of the planes makes about $1,000,000 per day, I can not disclose any more.

wow!! now its really clear... you only asked to help promote.. and that for free... man, that is sad on his end.

I'm glad to hear you're able to maintain the relationships with the pilots at least. They'll look back at your work with personal admiration and fond recollections.

While i understand the president's issue about having his own carmera system (legal obligations / ownership of content - and liability issues), to not go the extra mile for a fan with means to help is insane to me.

do what you can for what you love...

mikewinburn wrote in post #12948362
do what you can for what you love...

That's why I do it. I also believe that the promoter is threatened a bit by the way his was talking to me. As I had mentioned, the video that he thought was so outstanding will make the most seasoned sailor sick while watching it. They missed such a great opportunity because this guy is insecure.

In the end, at least you know that your better than the wannabe Pro photographer who doesn't give a toss about quality images.

you could be right! here's a few things i thinkk might be the problem
he needs something for his no-good son-in-law to do!
he wants all the credit for anything that comes out of this event
maybe you look like the guy that jumped out of his bedroom window the other day! LOL!
I had that happen to me more than once, I just suck it up and back off. keep my photos for my enjoyment! I had a few ask and bought my photo's and if i knew for sure that there would be no repocustions behind the sale I did it! not eveyone will welcome you with open arms thats just life!

Whoever is handling their media "professionally" probably has equally deep pockets but doesn't fly and helps keep them in AvGas...

There's a reason you often see empty back seats with warbirds. They prefer to only stick butts back there that are either paying for the ride or pay in other ways.