While agreeing to a point I have also witnessed many occasions when I have provided photography and the designer has simply dropped the images into last year's design and charged many more times my fee for far less work.
Norman Childs has often mentioned on this forum that it is easier to get photographic work direct from companies than to deal with design groups and agencies. While pitching direct to the company there is nothing to stop a photographer also pitching for the whole package including print. Those photographers who have a streamlined working relationship with designers and printers can take the initiative and the profit.
Competitive bids wouldn't come into it if it was the photographer's business that was doing the bidding.
Photographers are learning many new skills. A few years ago they didn't need to touch a computer but now have skills including scanning, digital conversion, digital retouching, colour management, CMYK conversion etc etc.... The computer has become the ideal tool to create a vertically integrated business. A photographer can write a book, design it using his/her own digital images, proof it and send it to a printer without leaving their own desk.
There seems to be this odd assumption that designers commission photographers but not the other way round.
Yours
Bob
On Saturday, October 4, 2003, at 12:32 am, Jeff Smith wrote:
Having successfully straddled the fence between commercial photographer and designer for nearly thirty years, I can assure you that what may seem like a modest amount of work generally involves a whole layer of hard work that most photographers never see. From developing the initial concept through design and layout of the piece can be long road, frought with pitfalls and demanding a level of understanding of everything from strategic marketing concepts through physics, and, on occaision, self defense.
Getting 10% on the printing most of the time barely covers the time required from getting competitive bids, negotiating prepress requirements, doing color approvals and press proofing sometimes for days at a time, often in the middle of the night, and always in places that aren't that comfortable. Now and again, things go smoothly, and the markup includes a little bonus, most of the time it's a wash between taking the markup and charging an hourly rate to ensure that the client is happy and ready to use both the designer and photographer on his next project.
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Jeff Smith
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