A Picture is Worth How Much..?

Most of the entries I have written on this blog consist of me rambling about my latest project, or why “Cinematic Style” photography is the coolest thing in the history of cool things and how the entire planet should be digging it,  blah, blah, blah. This one will be a little different. This one is for all of us out there who call ourselves photographers – be it part time, full time, commercial, wedding, or what have you. This one is for all of us in the business. Because the business is changing.

Lately I hear more and more about litigious clients, people trying to pit photographers against each other, and stupid schemes to get photographers to work for free. Over and over we see people stealing someone’s photo, cropping out the watermark, and using it for their own purposes; as if that were a perfectly acceptable  practice among normal, thinking humans. The photography community is understandably confounded by this and is becoming increasingly (and rightly) vocal about these things coming to a stop. The big question so many ask is ‘Why is this happening?’

 I think I am beginning understand the underlying reason…

It is not strictly because of hard economic times, or consumer magazines admonishing people on how to negotiate sharply with photographers. (although both of those are unfortunate ingredients in the mix)  But I am beginning to come to the realization that many people just don’t place much value in images or their creation, as a skill and trade, today.  A picture might still be worth a thousand words, but not as many people rush to put a dollar figure on it so quickly. Especially now that digital cameras, and Photoshop, and smart phones have made it all so “easy.”  It is not so much technology at fault as it is an ideological culture shift. Well-crafted photographs have become commonplace. We are surrounded by them all the time now,  and don’t really even ‘see’ them anymore. Good photos are ‘a dime a dozen.’  And making those images does not seem as real a profession today, as it did when pictures were “harder” to produce.

Let’s do some math on this: If you handed someone a hammer and some lumber and told them to build a house, they would swear that they could not do it. They would tell you that building houses is a job for professionals. Hand them some sheet metal and a welding kit and tell them to build their own car and you would get the same answer. Not to mention how quickly you would hear it if you handed over a brand new scalpel and a “Surgery For Dummies” book. But give someone a digital camera? Instantly they are now a ‘photographer.’  The idea that photography is actually a skilled profession that requires years of practice seems hard to believe. I mean, anybody can take pictures, right? And with an iPhone! What’s better than that? So why would anyone pay genuine money for something that their uncle’s-cousin’s-neighbor’s-friend’s-sister-in-law’s-landlord with his brand new DSLR will do just as good – or at  least ‘good enough’ for their purposes? And why all of this complaining about someone using a picture with a name on it?  I mean, It’s just a picture, right?  Are some of the offenders people who should obviously know better? Sure, but since it seems to be going on so frequently now, even some of these people have convinced themselves that nobody is paying attention anymore.  

In short – we are living in times when the value of photography as an art, skill, and trade seems to be declining. The idea that creating images is simple devalues the reality that photography takes more than the newest gadget and some ‘lucky’ results.  Will this change? Possibly. But what does it all mean for photographers now?  I have my thoughts on it – but I have talked enough here. YOU tell ME what we need to do to correct this trend…