inteawetrust:

Since moving, I take a lot of photos.   More specifically, I take a lot of photos of local landmarks and can be somewhat OCD about tagging, mapping and titling them.  They become easy to find on Flickr, and as I live in a less traveled place, I end up with frequent requests to use the images in other projects.

Usually when I get a request to use a photo, it’s for a guidebook.  I’ve been printed in two already and have now gotten a request for a third.  However, this most recent one was for a book to promote local businesses, and instead of being free, it will be sold at shops in town here and also on amazon.

The agency putting it together is non-profit and says that proceeds from the book will go to re-print future runs, and if there is enough, to set up a fund to promote local businesses.   I think that’s great, but at the same time, I can’t help but wonder why I’m doing free photography for what is essentially, in the end, a FOR profit purpose.  In the end, if my photos are good, those people will make a lot of money, right?  That’s the idea?

How do you handle these kinds of requests?  Do you think they’re fair to the photographer?  Or is this question totally irrelevant because this is Tumblr and only 12 of us take our own photos and write our own content?

I have no idea how to answer this but I’m reblogging it in the hope that it gets to someone’s eyes who can help.

I recently lost a sale because I refused to bring my price down… I felt that giving away the digital rights to a photo for 10 years was worth a lot more than they were willing to pay me so I declined their offer.

Congrats on the other sales though… it’s always great when you see someone getting paid for something they enjoy and work hard at.