It has been quite a while since I updated here and also quite a while since I did any photography, times are hard in the financial climate we live in and business is slow unless you are willing to work for free, which of course none of us really want to do.
This brings me to the reason for this Blog entry, I saw a post on Facebook by a very talented photographer stating that a band were using his images without giving credit, now this is something I too have personally been a victim of, and yes Victim is the correct terminology for this situation.
The said tog had agreed to supply the images he took of the band for free under the condition that his logo was displayed on the images used, and/or credit be given to him in the form of a note posted with the image on whatever site it was being used on.
This is a simple request by the tog and one I also use to protect my copyright ownership of the images I take, yes that is right, if I take a photograph of a band I own the copyright to the images unless previously stated in a written or verbal contract.
Is it too much to ask for bands to respect the photographers work and leave the copyright watermark on the image or at the least state who took the photograph, especially if the tog did so for free, which brings me to my second point.
For the first year I was taking band photo's I did a lot of shoots for free under the impression this would get my name and my work known on the local music scene, although this was true and I am quite respected among the local music community it was also my biggest mistake when starting stageside photography.
Because I had done so many shoots for free this was now expected as the "norm" from promoters and bands alike, once you start charging work begins to dwindle, over the last two years I have had only a handful of shoots with bands who were willing to pay for my services and to these I say thank you and I thoroughly enjoyed working with you.
Now however it seems the end for Stageside is nigh, I see many posts from musicians and bands complaining about "pay to play" venues or stating what they provide and that they should be paid for providing their music and performance, and while I agree whole heartedly it makes me wonder if there is some double standards going on here, musicians rightly expect to be paid, yet they seem to want photographers to work for free? what makes their service any different to ours? or less valuable?.
After all, who's images do the bands use for press packs and promotion, t-shirts, posters and even album and EP covers? without promotion bands don't get anywhere and so your music is left being played to a handful of people, take a moment to think what a photographer is giving you when they do a photo shoot..
Firstly their time, like yours, is precious the hour or two they spend photographing you could be spent on promoting their own work or on a paid job.
The equipment a photographer uses is rarely cheap, we have to pay for this ourselves this often includes, the camera's (one as a back up), lenses, flash units, tripods, secure bag for carrying the equipment, among many other gadgets and filters etc none of which is paid for by the client.
Insurance is another out going for the photographer, we have to have insurance to cover theft, damage to equipment as well as public liability insurance to cover any accidents which may occur during a shoot (rare but things do happen) this is more money out of our pockets.
Transport, fuel costs to and from gigs or locations again comes out of our pockets long before we are paid for a shoot.
And of course there are other outgoings such as food and drink (we are human and need this) while on shoots, props, models all cost money (the latter can be used for free but for a professional look a paid model is preferable) .
We also have household bills and living expenses to cover, after all for most of us photography is our job, our lifeline to surviving.
So now you have an idea of what outgoings we as photographers have before we even get to a photo shoot, perhaps you will stop complaining about not getting paid for a gig and start putting your hands in your own pockets and paying photographers for their work if you have a right to be paid so do we.
