yeah but to be honest its actually really quite easy to get a press pass. I got one for the bike show for years, took some photos had a good time for free, no tall people in the way of my view of the action, and never had anything published. Twas ace!

Good mornining

Sorry only just noticed this...

Interesting subject and a whole can of worms..

I feel a lot of its been answered here and by people who know.

Good luck with it all and enjoy!

I will try and add something a bit more constructive later


"Not sure if its true but MIlky sleep his way to the top if you know what I mean"

 

Sorry milk's I couldn't resit.. I hope your all good...

Dave

..never mind..

... which will completely devalue every professional photographers work and ultimately make it harder for them to make a decent living and also prevent anyone entering photography as a profession. Who will pay for images when they can get them for free on flickr? That's precisely the reason why it's so difficult!

That is true, I thought exactly that before I uploaded mine.  Apart from a few I've kept copy rights on my photos on Flickr.  Problem is how can you compete when things are so readily available?  If you can't beat them, 'should' you join them???

Hey!!! 

Milky, I understand your concern, I'm a member a few photographic forums too.  I've been getting into over the past couple of years as a hobby, and as I mentioned earlier have thought about doing it to make some money on the side.

The problem is with SLR photography becoming more readily available you'll find a lot more hobbyiests getting into the field.  A lot of these people will have full time jobs that they are happy with (just as in my case) and want for nothing but their photos to be published for recognition.  These are similar to people I work with.  They have decents jobs and don't need to pay for a living from photography.  If I remember correctly one of the guys has even had his photos published in a large reputable international magazine, he didn't ask a penny for it but was delighted that it was chosen.

I think it's something that you probably won't be able to get away from.  Obviously professional photographers have skills that hobbyists may not, but again, the difference between the amateur and the professional is slowly decreasing with the sheer number of tutorials onlines, magazines and books.  The main difference being the equipment of am amateur and professional as well as experience, and maybe down the line this will become less of a difference.  I know a fair few people now who have a 1D and 5D  with all the fancy kit, purely becuase they can afford to and they do get photos published for free, quite simply because they don't need the money.

This sort of thing applies to other areas and not just photography.  For example, cars.  Not too long ago you were able to complete a minor service on car yourself, i.e. changing oil, water, filters etc.  This is becoming increasing impossible to do with manufacturers building the cars in such a way that you need professional tools to do it.  I mean some of these newer cars you can't even change a bulb without having to take apart the whole front end of the car, which obviously needs to be done by the dealer or local garage.

And with the way things are going now, this recession isn't going to help much either.

Rant over.

Hi, I totally agree with what you're saying and from your point of view I think it's right that you should think and feel that way.  But, what I'm trying to do here is play devlis advocate.   I don't personally want to give my photos away for free and I haven't (not that anyone would pay for my photos anyway, i'm not that great  ).  What I said earlier was that I know people that have. 

What is a professional photographer?  Does a professional photographer neccasarily know more than someone who doesn't work full time as a photographer?  If look at it technically, professional merely means someone who does something full time.  It doesn't mean they're good at it.  You'll 'probaby' see more hobbyists creating creative photos as they're not pressured into meeting deadlines to get paid.  The only thing that is certain is that a professional photographer will 'generally' have more experience.  I'm merely a beginner relatively speaking and I must admit I've seem some really bad photos from so-called professionals.  Any Tom, richard or Harry can call themselves a professional.  Creativity is a personal thing, just because someone is a professional doesn't make them good at what they do.

If you look at recent tutorials and magazines you'll notice that many of them teach the basics, but also encourage creativity and 'bending' of the rules.  I don't think it's so straight forward and black & white as professionals are better.  Some people may look at your argument and say "he's just bitter" which of course you have a right to be.  You earn a living providing a service and some other bloke is basically "under-cutting" you and making your look expensive and not worth while.

Like I mentioned in previous postings, it's something that everyone is having to get used to, not just photographers.  Multimedia practitioners have been in this position for a very long time.  With the advent of free or relatively cheap software (or dodgy downloads) more and more people are learning to create websites, interactive cd's and the like themselves quite easily, some being really good.  Take local shops versus large supermarket chains, they complain that supermarkets may as well be giving things away for free because they simply can't compete.

I know I'm going on a bit here and no matter what I say, isn't going to change the way you think.  However, that's not my intention, believe me I feel just the same as you.  I get totally p'd off with people giving things away for free, but in this day and age it's something that I've come to accept and there's nothing you can do about it, you can't exactly stop them from doing it.  The people that I know who give photos away for free aren't going to stop doing it.  Like I said, they are mostly in decent jobs where money really isn't an issue, they have decent gear which they can afford because they quite well off.  To them it's not a business.

Off the top of my head the only thing that 'professional' photographers can offer is specialist expertise, specialist equipment and again experience.