I picked this photo solely on the basis of what it represents, a mess.

A friend of mine put me onto this recent article titled First, Get a Million Dollars…. The article come onto James’ plate at an ironic time as we were discussing the cost of compensation for photographers. The article by Kenneth Jarecke touched upon how difficult it is to be a SUCCESSFUL professional photographer and how photographers are effectively screwing themselves over with their lack of foresight in pricing their work accordingly. Mind you, I’m not on the same side of the table as people that shoot for a living so I was read intently regarding Jarecke’s arguments and cost breakdowns for your average photographer. The concluding paragraphs perhaps sum it up best:

The market is set to explode. There’s plenty of work to be done, and plenty of people that are willing to pay for it, but we can’t make the same mistakes.

We all must be careful to not devalue or underprice our work again. Whether you’re marketing your own projects directly to the consumer, or working with a publication. Do not cheapen yourself. It starts with me. It starts with you. If someone is paying you to make pictures for them, double your prices today.

While I understand the perspective of a photographer looking to get paid, there are some unfortunate factors that surely don’t help the situation of a trade that was essentially destroyed by the progress in technology. We all know the proliferation of digital cameras these days has given the tools for everybody to be a photographer. Of course the notion that good work deserves to be paid out accordingly comes into the picture. Quality has a price but determining quality in the world of photography and photo-journalism is rather difficult. A fundamental grasp of taking a photograph through the numerous educational mediums at our disposal ensures that it’s easy to develop past a photographic newb into somebody that can take a half-decent picture. You have what I consider a pretty vast group of relatively competent individuals all vying for jobs. So there you have it, a massive supply pool of photographers that may not be great but they are probably not THAT bad (my opinion of course).

So from there, the act of determining good work is yet another difficult aspect of photography. Any creative medium is always subjectively judged, there is no ability to say this work is X% better than that work. Coupled with this, I can’t see why clients would necessarily pay more for a relatively (but in an un-measurable context) better photographer. Lets not forget that the majority of the time, the general population has trouble deciphering everything in between the really good and the really bad.

One thing now versus the past, those who arrived early to the party in ALL industries had the ability to make a name much easier. The world is so much more competitive these days that becoming a successful photographer (I’ll admit, I even know few of them) or any sort of world famous and successful personality is much harder than the past. A famous photographer went on the record to say that being the first to document a subculture made it easier to get her name out, in a time where photography was very much a time-consuming act not available to all.

So back to the topic at hand, for many online media sites, paying for photographic work has its place, but based on the Internet media landscape, the price is driven extremely low on the basis that not only Hypebeast, but the Internet in general moves at a lightning pace. Paying top dollar for something that will be gone in a matter of a day or worse, a few hours doesn’t compute. The whole issue of photography and their subsequent compensation is so intertwined with many parts of society that I quickly wonder where the answer or solutions lie. The shifts that need to take place are gargantuan and in my eyes, seemingly impossible to re-align.

-Eugene