| This topic seems to come up quite a bit lately and | | | | Beach State and Cal State Fullerton baseball |
| I am as guilty as anyone for shooting for free to | | | | games a year. Baseball America would call Cal |
| gain access to a great event or to hone those | | | | State Fullerton or Long Beach State and ask for |
| shooting skills. I have shot weddings (for friends), | | | | free baseball photos for its website or magazine. |
| for newspapers (a non profit I support), sporting | | | | By getting photos from the schools for free they |
| events (friends website), concerts ( for a | | | | wouldn't have to pay Larry for his photos. " |
| musician friend), and even have a couple magazine | | | | One of the challenges if photographers say no to |
| covers credit, all for no compensation. In fact, | | | | free or "I will not work for compensation", there |
| most times I have paid in time and travel | | | | are 5 other guys standing behind you, all lined up |
| expenses to shoot for somebody else. Consider | | | | to shoot that sporting event or concert. All for |
| me an avid hobbyist and I'm probably killing the | | | | the photo credit. The client then gets something |
| business as bad as anyone else. I love to shoot | | | | for free that he really doesn't value and the |
| and doing so for free, gives me full artistic control. | | | | products worth devalues to zero, the exact |
| But as Matt Brown points out in his article on | | | | amount required to acquire it. |
| Sportsshooter.com, "Free is killing me", it's also | | | | Just look at what has happened to the music |
| killing the careers of photographers. Matt obviously | | | | industry in the past few years. Music is virtually |
| makes a living as a photographer and I commend | | | | free and some of the garbage being put out is |
| him for that. It's not an easy road financially and | | | | worth only that much. If musicians were able to |
| technology changes almost yearly, requiring | | | | make a decent living on their songs as well as |
| upgrades every two to three years. Gone are | | | | their live performances, consumers would be a bit |
| the days when you could buy a Nikon F5 and | | | | more selective of what the studios jam down |
| shoot with it until it practically wore out. Now the | | | | onto the airwaves. |
| megapixel race forces one to throw away that | | | | I'm torn on this issue, personally. On the one hand, |
| old D1x and spend $5K on a D3. (I'm using Nikon | | | | I shoot because I love it and could care less |
| as an example here, because that's what I know). | | | | whether I make a few dollars here and there. On |
| And it's not always the photographers fault, | | | | the other hand, there are some amazing |
| publications and websites will do all they can to | | | | photographers who can shoot circles around my |
| circumvent the photographer to get images | | | | work and they should be paid and others shooting |
| without compensation as Matt points out in his | | | | for free sets and unfair precedent. |
| article. | | | | We need to do what we can to gain the |
| "As you know, we work in a small community, | | | | experience that only shooting can provide, but |
| which is getting smaller everyday. A good friend | | | | maybe we need to change our attitude so others |
| of mine, Larry Goren does freelance work for | | | | can make a living as photographers. We can love |
| Baseball America. He covers Major League | | | | photography, but can we not love it even more |
| Baseball, the minor leagues and college baseball for | | | | when we get paid for it? |
| them on a regular basis. Larry covers 4 - 5 Long | | | | |