Everyday Philosophy for the Canny Photographer

Anouilh

This forum has helped me focus...

Not only on my images but on why I make them in the first place.

The discussion on Barthes seems to have died a sudden death, so introducing Zeno might be a bit OTT.

However, this article on the concept of "Free" and the new philosophies of marketing will probably entertain the commercial photographers here for a moment or two:

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free?currentPage=all

sheesh

brilliant article and free too!:D

Anouilh

sheesh wrote: »

brilliant article and free too!:D

I would be interested to know what you liked in particular in the ideas presented.

The new economic models may seem very distant from the photographer's everyday life, but they are gradually shaping the way everybody lives.

sheesh

Gillettes giving out razors for free so that people would buy the blades I thought was a bit of genius as at the time it would have been completely counter intuitive.

For pros there will always be a place for the high end photographic pro.
but we have all seen the blogs where pros give out yards about amateurs giving away for free what was once their bread and butter. This shows the way that new technology changes the way people make money.

My immediate thought was of a pro photographer instead of mainly taking photographs is teaching photography to serious amateurs, teaching printing or darkroom techniques to others.

in the giving out something free to hook customers department.I thought of Free voucher for a photography session targeted at families. In the that hope a certain amount of them will bring back paying customers maybe the free voucher entitles you to 1 free photo you get to see the rest but you have to pay for them if you want a print.

Although I saw on liveline last summer where it went badly wrong for a photographer in Cork. accusations of trying to rip people off were made ,I believe, on national radio against him. any promo like that has to be well thought out.

Anouilh

Your answer has set me thinking of how the current mood of total freedom to criticise in public, especially on radio, can damage reputations and the ability of many innocent people to earn a living.

The article was thought provoking because it goes against all the prejudices we are taught to have about "free".

The best analogy on the radio programme where the editor of "Wired" was interviewed was the one he made in relation to music.

"Music wants to be "free"; concerts want to be expensive."

For photographers, the trend, as you point out, seems to be that prints will be where livelihoods will continue to be made.

"Free" images are everywhere on computers now.
Printing costs money.

sheesh

Anouilh wrote: »

Your answer has set me thinking of how the current mood of total freedom to criticise in public, especially on radio, can damage reputations and the ability of many innocent people to earn a living.

Not really anybody that makes claims on the radio have to be able to back them up they are often taken to court

Anouilh wrote: »

The article was thought provoking because it goes against all the prejudices we are taught to have about "free".

The best analogy on the radio programme where the editor of "Wired" was interviewed was the one he made in relation to music.

"Music wants to be "free"; concerts want to be expensive."

For photographers, the trend, as you point out, seems to be that prints will be where livelihoods will continue to be made.

"Free" images are everywhere on computers now.
Printing costs money.

one of the good things about Photography is that your job cannot be shipped off to eastern Europe of the far east if you want pictures of your wedding, a house you are trying to sell or for a brochure for your local business and if you care about the appearance of the end product you need to pay for it.