A couple of things have brought this up, and I'm putting in General Martial Arts though it could be put a couple of other places, too.
More and more people today are taking better and better pictures IN GENERAL due to the increased availability of better cameras, with reduced processing costs since film has been so largely replaced by digital media. On top of that -- programs like Photoshop, GIMP, and even Paint can do a lot of photo editing and processing that used the be the province of professionals.
One thing I've noticed in MA as well as other sports is that some leagues/events hire a photographer who proceeds to take professional pictures during the event. Sometimes, they have a booth around, too, and do portraits. These hired pros for the event frequently post what amounts to contact pics on their websites, or otherwise provide people an opportunity to buy professional quality photos of the event. Often at kind of high prices... but prices that reflect professional quality work, and probably take into account that it's largely done on speculation, hoping that the pics sell.
Meanwhile, you get the photography buff team mom/dad who has a decent quality camera and starts taking pics during the events. But they post these pics up on Facebook or Flickr or some other photo sharing site and make them available for free to the teams/participants. Usually they haven't processed them much (maybe red-eye reduction or something like that... but not much beyond that).
Here's the thing... They're well meaning -- but they're also undercutting the guy who makes his living on it. And they encourage treating the real pros in the field of sports photography badly and unprofessionally because they've got these folks doing a "good enough" job, for free.
Not exactly sure where I'm going, because I can see the side that says "We're pros and should be treated as such, and paid appropriately" as well as the "these poor kids/parents can't afford all these fancy pics, and mine are nearly as good anyway" point of view.
Thoughts? Opinions?
More and more people today are taking better and better pictures IN GENERAL due to the increased availability of better cameras, with reduced processing costs since film has been so largely replaced by digital media. On top of that -- programs like Photoshop, GIMP, and even Paint can do a lot of photo editing and processing that used the be the province of professionals.
One thing I've noticed in MA as well as other sports is that some leagues/events hire a photographer who proceeds to take professional pictures during the event. Sometimes, they have a booth around, too, and do portraits. These hired pros for the event frequently post what amounts to contact pics on their websites, or otherwise provide people an opportunity to buy professional quality photos of the event. Often at kind of high prices... but prices that reflect professional quality work, and probably take into account that it's largely done on speculation, hoping that the pics sell.
Meanwhile, you get the photography buff team mom/dad who has a decent quality camera and starts taking pics during the events. But they post these pics up on Facebook or Flickr or some other photo sharing site and make them available for free to the teams/participants. Usually they haven't processed them much (maybe red-eye reduction or something like that... but not much beyond that).
Here's the thing... They're well meaning -- but they're also undercutting the guy who makes his living on it. And they encourage treating the real pros in the field of sports photography badly and unprofessionally because they've got these folks doing a "good enough" job, for free.
Not exactly sure where I'm going, because I can see the side that says "We're pros and should be treated as such, and paid appropriately" as well as the "these poor kids/parents can't afford all these fancy pics, and mine are nearly as good anyway" point of view.
Thoughts? Opinions?