Author wanting free photos for book

Jimbers wrote in post #11271676
poets give away poems to publications all the time.

If that's true, how exactly do they make a living?

Acute Exposure wrote in post #11271679
Who wants to buy poems? They have to give them away.

funny, i feel the same way you do about photographs; i would never go out of my way to purchase any directly from a photographer.

zagiace wrote in post #11271691
If that's true, how exactly do they make a living?

why would i say something that isn't true? i don't lie to strangers. very few poets make a living directly from the sale of their works.

Jimbers wrote in post #11271728
funny, i feel the same way you do about photographs; i would never go out of my way to purchase any directly from a photographer.

I'm going to go WAY out on a limb here and say the photo market is substantially bigger than the poetry market. I'm not a professional poet or photographer so I'm not being defensive as I have no stake in it.

Acute Exposure wrote in post #11271750
I'm going to go WAY out on a limb here and say the photo market is substantially bigger than the poetry market. I'm not a professional poet or photographer so I'm not being defensive as I have no stake in it.

the limb you are going out on is quite true, but probably throwing a bit too much shade on this thread.

Jimbers wrote in post #11271728
funny, i feel the same way you do about photographs; i would never go out of my way to purchase any directly from a photographer.

I had to check the forum topic again: Yes, it does still say "The Business of Photography."

Why would someone who has no interest in the business of photography--and apparently holds it complete contempt--expect to see anything other than business-oriented responses in a forum entitled "The Business of Photography?"

RDKirk wrote in post #11271815
I had to check the forum topic again: Yes, it does still say "The Business of Photography."

Why would someone who has no interest in the business of photography--and apparently holds it complete contempt--expect to see anything other than business-oriented responses in a forum entitled "The Business of Photography?"

my response was on topic. i don't hold the business of photography in contempt. i just said that i, personally, would never directly purchase a photograph from a photographer. i have, in the past, however, supported photography via subscriptions to magazines that pay for and exhibit photographs. however, with the advent of the internet and the amount of images i can look at for free, i don't pay for anything except photography gear now, especially since i recently developed a much greater interest in the physical creation of photographs.

I don't want to get flamed for this but.... if you're starting out and need recognition, there's no better way to get your foot in the door than to let your photographs be used without giving away your rights to the photo. I've had a magazine publish a photo of a lighthouse I took sometime ago without any payments just recognition and without giving away the rights to that photo. If you want to do this for a living you can't expect to get recognition by charging people right of the bat, it takes a little time.

Have you been able to track any subsequent paying jobs back to that publication?

Sure you can. People do it every day.

Jimbers wrote in post #11271747
why would i say something that isn't true? i don't lie to strangers. very few poets make a living directly from the sale of their works.

That seems to be true, judging from this article:
http://poetry.about.co​m …ryhistory/a/poe​tswork.htm

OTOH, there are quite a lot of photographers making a living from photography, so the two situations appear to be too greatly different to suggest that what doesn't work to earn a living for one would work any better to earn a living for the other.

As I alluded to before, the heading of this topic is "The Business of Photography," so the point is to discuss how to make money in photography, not to discuss how not to make money.

RDKirk wrote in post #11272034
That seems to be true, judging from this article:
http://poetry.about.co​m …ryhistory/a/poe​tswork.htm

OTOH, there are quite a lot of photographers making a living from photography, so the two situations appear to be too greatly different to suggest that what doesn't work to earn a living for one would work any better to earn a living for the other.

As I alluded to before, the heading of this topic is "The Business of Photography," so the point is to discuss how to make money in photography, not to discuss how not to make money.

I think the two are related. Yes, it is nice to put on rose glasses and talk only about possible ways of making money from photography...but there is just as much good info discussing how not to make money from photography so that people not waste their precious time trying those avenues. I see nothing wrong with that.

Hogloff wrote in post #11272086
I think the two are related. Yes, it is nice to put on rose glasses and talk only about possible ways of making money from photography...but there is just as much good info discussing how not to make money from photography so that people not waste their precious time trying those avenues. I see nothing wrong with that.

Well, then, they should be clearly labeled as such, like the road signs that have a red circle with a red slash through the inadvised action.

RDKirk wrote in post #11272111
Well, then, they should be clearly labeled as such, like the road signs that have a red circle with a red slash through the inadvised action.

I think people can make up their own minds regarding the nature of a thread and just skip by if they have no interest. Since you have contributed to this thread on numerous times, I take it you have an interest on topics of "How not to make money through photography"...right?

send him this: http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

OR just give him the freakin photo to use and get the credit/ego boost (its better than the photo living its life in your drawer).

RDKirk wrote in post #11271951
Have you been able to track any subsequent paying jobs back to that publication?

I don't have a care in the world what they did with that photo, I'm not loosing any sleep....

Sure you can. People do it every day.

Yeah, I know you can and perhaps I didn't mention that directly but I put myself in other people's shoes, and I wouldn't pay a photographer to do a job for me unless he/she can demonstrate he/she has the capabilities to get the job done right and having a photograph you took published in a book or magazine goes a long way in your resume, is the price you have to pay for advertising, that's at least how I see it. Way to many rookies out there with a DSLR thinking they can make money and if you can prove to stand above the rest, you're a step further than those that don't have any work to really show how good you can be.