a fire is ignited.

The world of blogs has caught fire today...
It came first from Sean Cayton over at Black Star Rising
Then came David Hobby
Followed by Chase Jarvis
And as of this post Vincent Laforet

Anger coming from both sides of the fence...
No doubt that Hobby read Cayton's post and that sent him thinking along with each that followed.

Combing listings online each day looking for opportunities I see people wanting a photographer for free. I also see many ads for low pay. The low pay opportunities often feel like a slap in the face (I do understand that these people maybe on a limited budget and are wanting quality, which in itself is a good thing) and the free ones are people fishing for those who will do it for free which often means the quality will suffer. My intentions aren't to discuss whether one should work for free or not.

It is to discuss an issue I have that often comes from such.

This issue with photography in general come to my mind during my time as photojournalist at a daily paper. The issue was that the standard for what is quality work is plummeting each day. People are learning to accept lower and lower quality work as "good." This was true of my paper each day I learned I could get by with less and less an they were none the wiser...

So people continue to find "photographers" who will work for free because they are attempting to "build their portfolio" and it becomes a domino effect because in general the images they receive will with no doubt be better than what they could produce themselves but aren't necessarily "quality" images.

"You get what you pay for." Something that everyone has heard and it continues to ring true. If you care about the images that you are wanting.

There are points in ones careers when working for free coming up or they actually have to dip into their own pocket to do a job. These are career building opportunities where they will work there best and deliver images that they care deeply about.

And I love what Vincent said on the subject of working for free. He said it better than I ever could and it is what I was attempting to get out in my words above.

"What worries me - is that most of David Hobby’s readers - are not pros. And when they offer to do things for free - they don’t have Chase’s business acumen. And they may do more harm than good to our industry - that is already struggling. If everyone starts working for free - it’s OVER for everyone. So I think we need to make this more clear out there - and help define this more carefully for everyone - both for the pros and the advanced amateurs.

So if you want to - do it max once a year. That’s my suggestion. DON’T LET IT BECOME A HABIT."