3 days of peace, love, and photography ended Saturday evening, and when I asked those around how it compared to Visa Pour l'image, they said it was the same, except that the Visa event is much much larger, and is much more networking-centric. I'm not sure though, because even though there were not formal networking opportunities, the opportunities in an informal nature abounded. I had opportunities to reconnect with friends, and make new ones. In a previous post, one commenter posited that "...only people that will be giving any photographers any love will be the clients who think that you'll accept WMFH or spec. jobs." That really wasn't the case. One example was an editor at Audubon Magazine who's attitude couldn't be further from that the commenter made.
Photojournalists frequently are less versed in negotiations, and may find themselves accepting bad deals because they don't have the business sense that is required to remain in business. THAT, is what the book, and this forum is for, to be of assistance and provide insights for those folks!
Photography is not dead (as that commenter further suggested) - far from it. The Festival evidenced that, despite suggestions to the contrary, a mix of commercial photography that, in turn, sustains documentary projects, means that meaningful work is being done by these photographers. In addition, many folks who presented also give master classes and teach courses to others, which, in turn, sustains their own personal and book projects.
One of the takeaways was that, if you don't really love, and I mean really love, photography, and are commited to it, you will fail. There are far too many people who are willing to give it their all, and then some, to make it work.
I am already looking forward to next year. I think it will be even better than this year, and this year sets the bar very very high!
Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
No comments:
Post a Comment