a rant about the de-valuing of our trade

[Anthony Wood]

Flipping burgers is not the place to work if you wish to be or become a michelin stared chef although there is a lot more employment available in the burger joints than in hi end restaurants. Back in the day when photographic retouching was not so accessible there was no "burger joint" equivalent where you could obtain this service. Now there is.

The market place for hi-end professional work in photography and post production has not shrunk it's just the middle/low end work (where driving down costs is a priority) has grown exponentially. Musicians and artists have always lived with the understanding that there are relatively few lucky individuals who are well rewarded. The rest make do and are either enthusiastic amateurs with a day job or passionate professionals living and working within the vagaries of a competitive unprotected industry.

[plugsnpixels]

Good post Anthony!

[Godmother]

Originally Posted by Anthony Wood

with the understanding that there are relatively few lucky individuals who are well rewarded

I agree with everything EXCEPT the luck part. LUCK has nothing to do with it.

The cock And The Bull

A cock was standing in a field chatting to a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of yonder tree', sighed the pheasant, 'but I haven't got the energy, skills or strength."

'Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. 'They're packed with nutrients."

The cock pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree.

The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. And so on.

Finally, after a fourth night, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Whereupon he was spotted by a farmer who dashed into the farmhouse, emerged with a shotgun, and shot the cock right out of the tree.

Moral of the Story: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there if you don't belong.

[creativeretouch]

Natalia, I just finished my retouching work on this image couple of days ago:

http://creativeretoucher.com

Regarding to your theory, which could be right in the right economy, I should get some well paid job offers now …

From my own experience: few weeks ago I received an email from the magazine that I thought that they don't have an email as there is no way to get the address unless they will contact you directly. I was offered that they will print one of my images if I would pay the advert fee … They call it advertorial

I didn't reply. Anyway, I feel honoured I got this offer …

Your ideal theory has the other side aswell

Regards, Filip

----------------------------
http://shotworldwide.com

[Godmother]

Originally Posted by creativeretouch

Natalia, I just finished my retouching work on this image couple of days ago:

http://creativeretoucher.com

Regarding to your theory, which could be right in the right economy, I should get some well paid job offers now …

I can't offer a critique here, I will say however, I disagree with your statement.

I think you should be more critical with your own work.

Originally Posted by creativeretouch

Your ideal theory has the other side aswell

It's not a theory. I work in the industry I'm describing.
I don't think you understood what I wrote.

"Those who say it can't be done should stay out of the way of those who are doing it"

[creativeretouch]

Natalia, yes, I agree we always can improve our own work and do it better …

And I also think that everyone should be more critical to his/her own work.

Regards, Filip

----------------------------
http://shotworldwide.com

[angelique92]

Originally Posted by Imagocentric

I've just finished writing rants on 2 freelance sites about just this topic!
For over 13 years I've been retouching and taking pictures, always freelance. Due to cutbacks and the general recession, many of my clients have nothing to pass to me now, so I began using Elance and PPH to seek new clients. I was told these were 2 of the better freelance sites.
It's just unbelievable what people on there are willing to work for! Just today I lost a bid. A couple hours hours photographing a family, a couple more (at least) sorting and editing the images to end up with 7 to go to print. This will earn the (lucky?) bidder £50!! And that's before any expenses!!
I appreciate we're in a global marketplace etc, but this winning bid came not from the far east or India, but from right here in the UK, from London!
These people, probably untrained, ill equipped and inexperienced will do more to destroy this profession than anything in the past has ever done. Get a PC, a ripped copy of Photoshop, watch a few Youtube videos and off you go...
Me, I will NEVER join a price war. I like my work but would rather (and have) sit on my skinny ass watching paint dry than sell myself off for these kinds of prices.

Sad but true.
Because of technology and internet nowadays, the competition on looking for an online job is pretty fierce. It's unfair for most of us skilled candidates to be on the same level of those unskilled and inexperienced applicants.
In my experience on those freelance sites like odesk, people are willing to sell themselves short just to get a job, no matter how unfit they are. And the worse thing about it is that most employers are also willing to hire them.
This is why I've given up freelancing and decided to have a full time and stable online job. I got it from a great job site called Staff.com, they only accept employers who are willing to hire a staff full time. And the good thing about it is, we were hired because of our skills and not because of our rate.

[Mike Needham]

It's unfair for most of us skilled candidates to be on the same level of those unskilled and inexperienced applicants

In part true, the work should speak for itself; however, experience is itself valuable as industry/real world retouching speaks for itself. A foot in the door though...

This discounts any 'duffers' that may seep into retouching that don't know a curve from a [insert own word here].

[CapitalT]

Originally Posted by Heretic

we should band together and bid outrageous prices on these freelance sites, get everyone we know that is a retoucher. Might not do anything but fill up their site with spam, but might make me feel better.

Haha.. I like it.