Joan, here's a good exercise for you: Try paying your bills with passion and not money. I would love to hear how that goes.

It's the difference between being an artist and a sell-out.

If you continue looking at your profession like that, you will end up with a huge hole in your heart because you always seek returns of your passion in the monetary form.

Very, very good point and something to think about.

You do realize that before blogs, where people write content for free, there were newspapers and magazines?

They are now firing their creative staffs because they can buy their content cheaper of free from amateurs, or are closing their doors because they can't compete.

It strikes me that you did not consider the bread that you and all the other rock star blogger photographers are taking out of the mouths of photo industry journalists, by devaluing their work and words, by giving your words away for free.

Oh yeah and I bet you use the same excuses - it's just marketing, I'm just getting myself out there.... etc.

@Kevin N:

The first time I read your post, I got a little upset. You're that f****** doctor/engineer/software programmer who "doesn't need the money" who is taking away opportunity from the people who DO need the money. You're the guy who, just this morning, was chosen over me to shoot a job for a theatre company with a $1.5 Million operating budget because you were willing to do it for free.

But then I realized that I don't compete with free, and the "clients" who place a value of $0 on my skill, expertise, equipment, and results are exactly the clients I want to avoid.

Patient: "Dr. I have pains all over, my throat hurts etc etc"
Dr: "Ok, here's an antibiotic! Have nice day!"
I guess it pays to go through med school so after that you do nothing for the rest of your "Physician" life!

Photographers actually move a lot more AT their job!!!!!!!!

For a physician, you lack basic education & common sense!!! I fell sorry for you!

This is the reality and it sucks. But it is the reality nonetheless.

A SMART PHOTOGRAPHER knows how to work a shoot if they are smart. I have photographers come out to one of my events for a free meal and a spill tab and they've turned it into paying gigs and licensed photos to the musicians they shot. Be smart, or be bitter and your days will be numbered!

And if you are trying to become a professional, then why are you helping to destroy the industry. And if you are working for free you obviously have no insurance. Anyone working in another profession like this would be in deep trouble with the authorities.

Theres very few photographers out there these days anyway. To be a photographer you have to be skilled in working with film and chemistry. Digital imaging is not Photography.

And when a company asks you to work for free with the promise of paid work later on, they will simply try the same trick with another photographer once they are done with you. YOU WILL NOT GET ANY PAID WORK FROM THEM.

If you start your business working for free, then its not a business and when you start charging you will loose all your contacts as they will then look for another free photographer. You have to charge a fee from day one and if you don't get any work then it proves one thing. Photography as a profession is dead.

Outsourcing to India. The IT-industry has been there. You get ... quantity, no quality. If you want quality, you have to pay the same wages as you pay your local professionals.

There will always be an neighbour kid or a boss' nephew that sells cheaper than the IT professional and you, as the professional, have two choices: either you gain the insight that the thing you are marketing is a dead horse (hey, let's build a webbrowser for private usage that costs 10$, or even better - a operating system for 200$) OR you snort and move to another client because that one will cause more trouble than worth because he can't recognize quality.

There. The word. Quality. Your work, as a professional, should be visibly better than a local IT guys dabbling with a hobby. Hobbies can be quite expensive but that is their, that is my problem, not yours. If I, as a IT guy taking photos of my friends for free, am your problem then you are not worth your money and wouldn't be recommended by anyone.

paid work = GOLD, free work = STUPIDITY

Here's my business policy:

1. You want to use my work, you pay.

2. Any questions? See point number 1.

You sound like a prima donna who forgot her roots.

There are numerous other photo-editing programs out there that are not only cheaper (e.g. Paint Shop Photo Pro), but also FREE (e.g. GIMP).

By your logic, Adobe should have been driven out of business long long time ago. Yet it stands.

Ever heard of "Microsoft Office"? Yes?

There are numerous other "office" program suites out there that are not only cheaper (e.g. WordPerfect Office), but also FREE (e.g. OpenOffice).

By your logic, Microsoft should have got out of the "office" program market. Yet MS Office remains one of the flagship products.

If you can produce a good product and/or service, and market yourself properly, there is no "danger" or "threat" coming from the "cheaper and/or free" crowd. You define where you stand in the market.

These people are flat out DUMB!

Otherwise, why in the hell would you "work" for free? I for one did not realize that we're back to slavery!
WORK FOR FREE - SLAVERY!!!!!!!

People have worked long and hard to ABOLISH that, but apparently some are that stupid to not realize what they're doing!

Bottom line, there is NO justification in one right mind to do ANY work for free, and that is basically simply because GAS is not free, FOOD is not free, CLOTHING is not free...Should I go on?

These poeple who "offer" their "work" for free are nothing more than a bucnh of idiot who will never work 1 hour for free at their DAYJOB! yet they have the nerve to step into someone else profession and destroy it without regard that there ARE people in this world who want to make a LIVING out of photography.

Being Digital has nothing to do with the QUALITY of a photograph, and in no way shape or form excuses the fact that there is STILL quite a bit of work involved.

All you all are doing by offering these questionable services is to LOWER the expectations businesses have across the world and go "ehh, good enough, it was free after all"!!! which is pure BULLSHIT because this is how some business will LOOSE clients because people will realize that the image of that company looks like crap and will skip it in order to go with someone else's that respects their IMAGE!!!! THEREFORE PRODUCTS AND SO ON.

You think you're good enough? great, LIVE OFF YOUR GOOD ENOUGHNESS THEN! don't go to a day job, live off you photography you say you're sooooooooooooooo good at! let's see how many camera's will you buy then! It is easy to talk when you make $100k and $1500 is cheap change, it is another story when you're asked to "work for free, because they don't have a budget, and Joe Schmo did it for free" , and THEN try to spend $1500 on a new camera!!!!!

This is HYPOCRISY CENTRAL!

You should be embarrassed at best for not only offering pure crap quality photos, not providing clients with Legal documentation of their rights and yours, and for basically being a SLAVE!

You miss the point here that you're doing something that is mutually beneficial to all involved to build something. When you shoot someone for free that then utilizes that photo for profit or promotion, then you have just screwed yourself out of a lucrative deal.
I have an events company that's a "Not for profit that is looking for someone to donate their time"
That is bogus as hell. They may be a not for profit, but I am not! Not to mention, they themselves as individuals are not doing the events for free.
While their offer of a "complimentary ticket valued at $50 as part of compensation" is their hook, it is absolutely an insult and slap in the face to any dignified photographer.
Working for free begets more free work in over 90% of scenarios.
It is incumbent upon everybody to demand at least a reasonable amount of compensation.

While you say your day job pays for everything, then great, go do favor work for friends and stay out of the professionals client base. It is nothing more then ignorant and asinine to think that just because you have a job already that pays more than enough for your own equipment, that you shouldn't expect to earn money from your services. You then are stealing money from those that need it.
Furthermore, take your day job and go do that for free at night or on the weekends for someone else. Would you do this? Does that make a bit of logical sense?

If you are goign to do anything for free, then it should only be done on a basis of collaboration. Not for someone to be exploiting of you regardless of whether you feel you are or not. The difference is that you haven't done enough free work to feel the results of it yet.

That's a pretty sweeping generalization, isn't it?

There are "professional" photographers that produce CRAP, just as there are "hobbyist" photographers that produce GOLD.

I'm a hobbyist, since I have a "real" day job that pays for everything. Moreover, I never went to a photography school or took a photography course.

Through "free work" (aka TFP), I've built up a fairly good network and gained much experience that I otherwise would have to pay A LOT for. Yes, I *WOULD* have had to pay for the numerous models, make-up artists, and (hair) stylists. But, I did *NOT* have to, thanks to the generosity of everyone involved in our mutual portfolio building.

The only things that I really lack now are my own indoor studio and lighting equipment. That's about the only difference between me and a "professional". I can rent a studio and the equipment for the occasions that I need them. The results I can produce are certainly not CRAP.