workingforfree

Why Photographers Aren’t Getting Paid

Photographer Jessica Kobeissi made this 5-minute video that has hit a nerve with many of her 1.3+ million followers on YouTube. She shares thoughts on why it's difficult for photographers to get paid fairly for work these days, arguing that by undercutting each other and working for little or no money, some photographers are lowering the bar for everyone else in the industry.

Why I Rejected Your Request for Free Photos

This post is dedicated to all the people who have completely lost their sense of common decency. I have a destructive humbleness that most people do not understand (myself included). I do not have a Patreon page, I do not run ads on my website, I have never asked for donations. However, for some reason, I get the feeling that this leads people to believe I do everything for free. This could not be further from the truth. You want to use my work? Great! How about you pay me for it? No? Of course not, what was I thinking. I’m sorry.

On Working for Exposure: A Truth of Creative Currencies

Try and make money through a creative endeavor, be it photography, music, design, or art as a whole, and you’ll go through a transitional lesson wherein you discover that some people will present you an opportunity to spread your fledgling creative wings, but financial gain isn’t part of the reward.

My Last Word on the ‘Working for Free’ Debate

Please allow me to introduce myself: I'm Pat Pope and I'm addicted to reading negative comments and abuse hurled at me on the Internet. For the sake of my own sanity, this is me going cold turkey.

Last week I made the mistake of writing one of those open letters you hear about. I wrote it in response to a request from Garbage's management company that they'd like my permission to use a photo that I took and I own in a book they intend to publish and sell for money. But they'd like to not pay me.