On 5 Nov 2004, at 15:01, andrew mcarthur wrote:
It can! It's happened a lot to me but that's because I have been teaching photography and imaging for 14 years P/T at the University of Wales. I have three students who are now professional photographers in my area, even though they said they had no plans to set up here! I have pulled out of most teaching apart from two advanced courses now for exactly this reason.Sharing knowledge does not lose clients!
A potential student, desperate to get onto one of my oversubscribed courses proudly announced in my gallery that he wants to get feedback from me so that he can improve and sell more of his prints of a local landmark bridge - he said this with five of my A1 gigl�e prints of said landmark behind him on my gallery wall. Is he blind to what it takes to survive as a full-time pro with diminishing numbers of commercial clients and many customers thinking they can "do digital themselves"? Now his images may or may not be as good as mine, they may or may not be as good technically, but at the end of the day he is still selling his images to customers that would otherwise at least consider purchasing from my gallery yet he is a complete amateur.
Making sweeping comments is not particularly helpful. Successful photographers in big cities are never going to face the same sorts of amateur competition as those of us in the country. Few serious clients would entertain the idea of employing Joe from the local camera club for a major campaign, but they do round here, this is NOT myth, this is reality. Helping Joe Bloggs with expert advice to convince his employer that he's just as good is (around here) economic suicide. You are obviously not living in a regionally assisted, work desperate area like ours, thank your lucky stars! :-)
Respectfully,
Glyn
Art Photo Wales www.artphotowales.com
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