Hi,
I am jumping in late but just wanted to reinforce what some folks said.
When I studied photography, one of our instructors told us that, assuming
technical competence and good business behavior, and of course getting the
shots, it is a bad idea to undervalue your work, even from the beginning. I
took it to heart but it wasn't for a year or so before I had to put his
advice into practice.
I found an insurance company that bought stock photos for a publication. I
sent several photos on speculation for their review, after requesting and
receiving their terms and guidelines. I was very pleased that they decided
to use one of my shots for a color cover. It was a photo taken at night of
a firefighter outlined by a burning grainery.
To make a long story short, the check arrived and it was significantly less
than the terms and guidelines promised. If it had been a couple dollars
short I might have let it go. But they were several hundred dollars short
so I called the person who had bought the work and called him on it. I
politely and patiently referred him to the terms and guidelines and asked if
there was some reason they hadn't stuck to it. No, the terms were right, he
said. So I said, how about sending the rest of the money then? To which he
replied (and this is almost a quote) "OK, it's not my money anyway". Right
- it was my money. The check came and I cashed it and I have never looked
back.
I get requests from people to use my work. If they want to pay my going
rates, and they are happy with "non-exclusive, one-time publication" rights.
we do business. If they want to outright own the work or want it for free,
we end our conversation without doing business. I have learned that people
will pay what you expect them to pay, especially if your photography "works"
for them. I suspect you have gotten over seeing your name in print, so it
should be pretty easy to say "No" if you aren't getting compensation that
meets your needs.
And don't set the bar too low. My Mom drives me crazy because she sells her
work (pottery, paintings, hand-painted books) for the cost of materials "to
make more". She's in it for the fun, which is, I suppose, her choice. But
she could buy so much more materials if she charged more. Also, people tend
to place a value on your work that at least comes up to the value YOU place
on it. If you are giving it away, people (in general) will not respect it
as much if you haven't put a price on it that speaks to the quality.
Sure, I am a capitalist, but I think the Fairy pics are great. You should
mark them up enough to cover your time, and a little more to offset the cost
of throwing cameras and tripods down cliffs (so to speak) :-)
ppro
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