Why photography is not free

Some time ago I had a meeting with a client for a potential project that sounded very interesting. As it turned out though, discussions would turn out rather unpleasant, as the client was pretty narrow-minded and had already decided that he would not be willing to pay anything for my work…

Clients and photography

Most of the time I enjoy sharing positive news on this blog or through my social profiles about new projects and other fun stuff. I like showing you fine art prints that I have created, art displays that I’ve set up for particular clients or promoting entire exhibitions that I’ve worked on. A recent experience lead me however to write this rather negative article. Don’t worry, I won’t make a habit out of it. I do not like to complain too much, at least not in public… :-D

I pretty much never shy away from meeting a new potential client. Most of the time meetings are fun and interesting. And even if I do not make a sale or if I do not get to work with a particular client, for whatever the reasons may be, I never mind meeting new people and discussing ideas or potential future collaborations.

However, every now and then, I get to hear the dreaded proposal: “We love your photos! We would like to use them for our super interesting project. We would of course credit your name!”

Ah, working for exposure! Doesn’t that sound great?

Lately, some businesses have taken this practice even further, using special hashtags on social media which lead to strict terms and conditions. Basically, if you use that hashtag, you are out of luck, giving away your rights to your work in exchange for some meagre exposure!

As in every business I never really expect my new clients to know about the cost of photography. Most of the time new clients need to be educated about a photographer’s work. This sounds rather harsh, but it’s perfectly normal. I personally have no idea what some types of services cost. If it’s not at all in my field of work or if it’s a service I only rely on rarely, I am happy to be educated about pricing. Most clients are happy to pay for my artworks or services, although some seem to be surprised that photography comes at a price…

I have been working as an artist photographer for several years now. Business has been good and I have the luxury of being able to live from my craft. As every artist, I suppose, I have a fixed set of prices either for my fine art prints or for the services I provide. Of course, depending on the project, I keep an open mind, even if I have to consider the implications of negotiating my prices. Will my business still be profitable? Will I be able to pay my bills at the end of the month? Putting a price on art and photography is never an easy task! In my particular case, time as well as trial and error has taught me how to price my photography. But believe me when I tell you that I still get it wrong sometimes…

The art of negotiating

Every now and then, I get a call for an interesting project, which sometimes sounds too good to pass on. However, on some occasions, it just doesn’t work out…

Let me get back to that unpleasant meeting I had. Without going too much into the details, the project was rather ambitious and required lots of my photographs to be used in a rather interesting artistic manner. The client was no small company and clearly had already invested large amounts of money into the greater project. Though as I headed into the meeting, I quickly found out that there was no budget at all for my photographs. It is here that the dreaded exposure proposal came in once again. The client already had a clear and developed idea for using my images. He had spent time thinking about it. But his only compensation would be to promote my work to his own clients…

As I said before, the more a project is interesting to me, the more I keep an open mind regarding the budget. However, as enticing as this project was, the more this client kept talking, the more I became reluctant to working together. I do not mind negotiating in a respectful and healthy fashion, but this client’s whole reasoning and approach was very arrogant and hypocritical. You see, when a client unwilling to pay, tells you how great your art is, how much they love it, and how much their clients would love it and bring you new business opportunities in the future, don’t believe them! It’s a lie! Most of the time a client that does not even consider paying a small fee for your photography will not be a good promoter of your work. Once your work for them is done, they’ll forget all about you and you’ll most probably never hear from them again. I have learned this the hard way! The client actually gave a fun example of how his promotion of my photography would work, telling me that I would give him the images without receiving any payment, but as word-of-mouth would spread, I could ask the next client double, and the next one even triple. I do know the power of word-of-mouth, but guess what two times zero is? That’s right! I decided to cut the meeting short, declining handing over my photographs in exchange for exposure and finding better things to do with my time.

The exception rather than the rule

Thankfully, I do not experience these types of unpleasant encounters that often, although these practices have grown more and more common lately. Exposure seems to be that magical loophole for many clients. I always like to give this simple example: Would you go to your local bakery and ask for free pastries in exchange for telling other people how good they are? Good luck finding any business that would agree to that. It’s just ridiculous! Why should photography suffer from such practices? Work is work, and work deserves pay…

Most of the time though meetings turn out great! Occasionally requests to use my photographs in exchange for exposure land in my inbox, to which I answer and explain why my photographs aren’t free and why I respectfully decline the proposal. Quite often discussions end then and there, but sometimes a client thanks me for my explanations and it turns out they do have a budget to allocate to this type of purchase!

If you are serious about living from your craft, my advice to you is to never give away your photography for free. Don’t fall into the trap of promotion and exposure, no matter how prestigious or well-known the client is. Keep an open mind about pricing if a project is of particular interest to you, negotiate and find a mutual beneficial agreement that involves some sort of payment. But remember that you have bills to pay and exposure just won’t cover those! Even if you do not rely on your art to pay for a living, why not ask for an exchange of services if you see benefit in such an exchange? Art and photography deserve better!

But maybe you have a completely different opinion. What do you think about such situations? Do you think an artist should work for exposure on some occasions? Have you experienced this same type of situation regarding your art? I would love to hear your thoughts about it!