Pastor Martin Niemöller's quote
Scott Highton's Photo Business Fee Calculator
NPPA Independent Photographers Toolkit
Advertising Photographers of America Resource page
Common Cents Column On The Cost of Doing Business
Editorial Photographers Cost of Doing Business Calculator
Editorial Photographers Yahoo! Group
NPPA Online Discussion Group Instructions
Portions of this column were originally written for the May 2004 edition of News Photographer Magazine.
Mark Loundy is a media producer and consultant based in San Jose, California. Full bio.
The opinions in this article are those of the author alone and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Press Photographers Association.
By Mark Loundy
They first came for the Time Magazine staffers,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Time Magazine staffer.
Then they came for the AP freelancers,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't an AP freelancer.
Then they came for the Newsweek staffers,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Newsweek staffer.
Then they came for the New York Times freelancers,
and I didn't speak up because I was a staffer.
Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up
— With apologies to Pastor Martin Niemöller
This is about you. Whether you're freelancing for a weekly in rural Arkansas or you're a Pulitzer Prize-winning senior staffer for a major metro or a superstar shooter for a national magazine, this is about you.
In our increasingly visually oriented society, photography has, ironically, become devalued in the American consciousness. It's easy.
Not only can you mistreat freelancers, like Jimmy Olson, you can do the same to staffers. CNN effectively dissolved its union contract in New York by simply axing the entire unionized staff and rehiring about half of them at lower wages.
Newsweek tossed its staffers a few years ago. All of its content now comes from agencies and freelancers.
Olson hoped to become a fulltime staffer for the Planet. But he didn't know that an evil billionaire who planned to fire all of the staffers and replace them with freelancers had purchased the paper. Freelancers like Jimmy Olson, who would work for a fraction of the price of so-called "ace reporters" like Clark Kent. Olson would never be a staffer.
Less and less is freelancing a path to a staff job. Increasingly using freelancers is an object lesson for bean counters in how to do without staffers entirely.
Are you up to saving our profession? By the time you read this, I will have formally submitted three resolutions that, if passed, will fundamentally change the NPPA into an organization that sees the survival of our profession as its primary mission. If you agree that a new NPPA would benefit our profession, go to www.loundy.org/nppa/ and click on the "What can I do to make this happen?" link.
MAMM Magazine for their straightforward one-time usage contract.
The New York Times for remaining more than $150 behind inflation even after raising their rates by $50.
The New York Times for characterizing a 50% payment of NET revenue as being fair. Traditional agency rates are 50% of gross revenue. 50% of the net could conceivably be zero.
Please let me know of any particularly good, bad or ugly dealings that you have had with clients recently. I will use the client's name, but I won't use your name if you don't want me to. Anonymous submissions will not be considered. Please include contact information for yourself and for the client.
Leftovers