Photography for exposure – it’s a bum deal

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:56:44 +0000

Just been reading African ABC’s People die from exposure and I was under the impression that it was only photographers who get asked to supply photos for free and think of the exposure. I see musicians also get offered the same deal.

I have just spent about 7 days working on a barter deal. I did a fashion shoot for a magazine in exchange for credit on photos, Thats the bum part of the deal in my opinion. I have done work in exchange for credit and have never gained any benefit from such deals. If this had been all the magazine had offered I would have said no thank you and moved on. My barter got me a full page advert with photos taken on the shoot and my credit.

The benefits to me are still intangible, but the cost of a full page advert in a national magazine is costly. Every advert is a risk, Will it pay or won’t it. In this case the magazine targets the very market I want to target so in my mind the risk is mitigated. I’ll let you know if the results are telling on my bottom line.

If they are I may even consider paying for an advert in the next issue. Basically Why I say working for credit is a bum deal is because our local newspaper thinks photographers can eat credit. We have enough photographers happy to work for credit so there is no market for press photos locally.

I agree with African ABC, People die from exposure.

Guy McLaren » Exposure

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Photography for exposure – it’s a bum deal

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