The race to the bottom

Having written about the decline of income for stock photographers yesterday, I open up the discussion forum of a well-known picture library this morning to find a debate raging about one library now giving away certain work for blog and online editorial use. Naturally there is uproar on the forum and I do genuinely feel for those photographers who are going to lose out. I suppose it's another reason for me to be grateful that I don't rely on this particular aspect of the photographic 'industry' for a living or a major part of it. 


The stock library in question waffles about 'encouraging advertising' and 'monetising certain content' (whatever that means, sounds like marketing speak, something I have never understood). The bottom line for photographers though is that their work will be given away and used for free.

We understand that markets have changed and the publication and consumption of all kinds of art forms have undergone a radical transformation over recent years. However, there seems to me to be a basic right that the creators of works of art, in any medium, have a right to a reasonable return on their creations. They should also have a right not to see these 'stolen'. Breach of copyright is theft, pure and simple but the attitude is that if you steal an image from the web or copy a cd that it's ok. In turn this leads to a lack of respect for any created artefact and the notion that 'if it's out there' then it's public property. 

Until the 1988 copyright act came into force, photographers were very much discriminated against. The 1956 act's wording did not grant, automatically the copyright to the creator of a work. Markets and technology has changed dramatically since then so it does need tightening up now. However, the solution still lies largely in what creative people allow to happen.

Fish & Chip cafe sign, Conwy, North Wales

We know it's hard making a living and maybe sometimes we let work go 'on the cheap' to make a sale or build up a reputation. There has to be a limit though. If you think your work is worth something then you owe it to your own self-respect to hold out for a reasonable return. Of course there will always be someone who will 'do it cheaper'. There always has been and always will, that should not prevent the true professional from being just that, professional. That includes expecting a reasonable professional fee for work undertaken or use of copyrighted material. Unless of course you are happy to live on the breadline, or on fish and chips.