Wow...I'm being published!

IndyJeff your points are all very valid. I couldn't agree with you more.

The funny thing is though (and this may come as a surprise to some), is that that "other organization" who is undercutting me (and any other league photographer I have ever seen) is the "big fish" I talk about in my other thread in the Business of Photography forum.

That's right. This "big fish" is a big corporation, they have a huge building off of a major highway. They are doing the league photos for $2.50. This is bull because I know that their product is inferior to mine.

It really upsets me. I don't care what lab equipment you have in your building, there is no way that you can really be making much money after paying off prints, employees, equipment, and TIME.

Jeez.

Ah, that's just predatory pricing. Drive the market down until the locals dry up, then jack the prices.

Well guess what, it isn't going to drive me out of business. Because I am better than that

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #2818829
It takes money for Pekka to maintain the servers, you know. And he's not getting paid for it.

Do you see any ads on the site? I don't.

Is he making a profit from the calendars? I doubt it.

Actually the guests have ads and if you sign out you will see ads.

I'm sure Pekka is getting some kinda perk from Canon. He's prolly out shooting pix with a nice diamond encrusted gold plated 1DMkIII.
Perhaps it would be wise for the OP to at least ask for something in return. Often dipping into the "expenditure" account is not possible for a certain org's department. So perhaps you can negotiate for other things... be creative.
For me, I've negotiated for free software to gift certificates.
Point is, you have prolly spent the time and effort to take the pix. Atleast dignify your photo by putting some sort of value to it.

delhi wrote in post #2820253
I'm sure Pekka is getting some kinda perk from Canon.

Pekka gets nothing from Canon. A few of us worked with Pekka a couple of years ago on getting the POTN straps up and running for the specific purpose of helping Pekka finance this board as he was doing it all out of his pocket. Just wanted to set the record straight on this one as there have been thousands of new members since this was discussed. I don't want to hijack this thread though so lets stay on subject.

I agree with Indy and those others that have shown that the OP has done the industry no favor. Now you say how can one photographer hurt the industry. They can't by themselves but given that there is virtually so many weekend warriors doing this that it is slowly destroying the industry. How many threads have we seen here with exact same story line. This thread got chosen for it to be debated.

I've had images used in many publications and even with full credit and I cannot recall one phone call where I heard "I saw your image in xxxx and we would like you to shoot for us". You get those phone calls from editors for a number of reasons, your work, your willingness to work within their constraints, you meet your time lines, etc.

How many times have you looked at a phone book or any other publication and you glean over the advertisements. How many of you actually have looked for a credit. I might say nice shot but never look for a credit. One I am not especially interested who took it and two it just isn't there. I took out my phone book this afternoon and none of the adverts with photos had any credit on them.

It is a huge boost to the ego to get published. I still remember my first one back in the film days. It was off of a paid shoot though. Things have chagned alot since then. The real question here is would the publisher of the phone book have paid market rates to use the image in question. No one will ever know.

Enjoy the good feeling but at the same time I hope that you take something away from this thread to learn from.

ssim wrote in post #2821045
Enjoy the good feeling but at the same time I hope that you take something away from this thread to learn from.

Learned something this thread?

Yes indeed...Let's see I 've learned that I am an "idiot". That all of you are going to go bankrupt and loose your homes because I gave away what was mine to give away. I have learned that being a "Professional Photogragher" does not mean that your debating skills have progressed past that of a thrid grader. To put it in terms that you will all understand "Sticks and Stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me"

Now on to the facts.... In my area my largest competior has owned the cover of the Sprint Book for 10 years, and became very notable because of it. I am sure she submitted again and this time I beat her. That is truly the good feeling I am enjoying.

Sprint does not pay for the cover work it is all done in exchange for advertising.

That's the spirit!

I never called you an idiot or anything else, nor did I say I was going bankrupt and losing my home because of you giving away one picture. What I will say is that if the same photographer had the cover for 10 years and you got it this year then Sprint has plenty of people who are willing to give away what they should be paid for and it wouldn't surprise me if the other photographer didn't ask to be paid, thats why they went with you this year. Of course because your wealthy beyond my wildest dreams I know that $2000 is probably a tip for a good lunch to you.

bcap wrote in post #2818905
I couldn't agree with you more chakalakasp.

Why oh why would an organization go with a company offering the standard $10.00 package when you have the imbesells offering it for $2.50?

Less expensive! Yeah that's a poor business plan... Quick someone tell Walmart before they go broke!

OH my god.

You have a solid grip on reality. lol

You know...what I think is really sad, one person's accomplishment or personal success is squashed by how it affects someone else's pocket book.

This is the real world people...there will always be competition...the sad part is when we lose the humanity in the process. And since you all have had your opinions, that's just mine, fwiw.

kendallphotos wrote in post #2821470
Learned something this thread?

Yes indeed...Let's see I 've learned that I am an "idiot". That all of you are going to go bankrupt and loose your homes because I gave away what was mine to give away. I have learned that being a "Professional Photogragher" does not mean that your debating skills have progressed past that of a thrid grader. To put it in terms that you will all understand "Sticks and Stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me"

Now on to the facts.... In my area my largest competior has owned the cover of the Sprint Book for 10 years, and became very notable because of it. I am sure she submitted again and this time I beat her. That is truly the good feeling I am enjoying.

Sprint does not pay for the cover work it is all done in exchange for advertising.

Nobody said you can't give your stuff away, only that people who give away valuable things to people who can afford to pay good money for those valuable things are not typically seen as "wise". I mean, what's next? Do I give my camera away to the next guy on the street who walks up to me and tells me how nice my equipment is? "Gee, thanks, mister -- here, take it! It'll make me feel better about myself!"

Again, it's a free country. You can give anything away to anyone. It's also a free country: anyone can tell you what they think about your doing that. If you're happy with your big fat zero dollar paycheck, good for you, I guess. Everyone else out there who doesn't have more money than sense is probably going to frown on you for being so excited about it. It's a free market, but professional photographers can't compete with free. I know the supply of photography has gone up in recent years, but it hasn't outstripped demand so much that the worth of a cover image far a phone book is zero dollars.

BTW, Sprint does pay money for commercial photography and videography. They do it all the time.

I hope they're giving you one HUGE ad. As in full color doubletruck right smack in the middle of the photography yellowpages. I think that would suffice for payment. Something tells me that's not what they had in mind though, lol.

Congratulations!