Re: professional photographers

[Simon Nathan <simonwide@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

dear ron-you've got a good handle on this and i compliment
you for speaking out. i have given photographs when i believed in the project.
flashback to latter seventies. fred conrad, staff photog at ny times told
me some photographers were gonna help coordinator baruch katz on a photo
way of fighting replacement of part of the west side highway along the
hudson river midtown to the george washington bridge and, truthfully once
foot got in the door,beyond. we had green riverside park, we westsiders.
baruch got paul hosefros to take a paul hosefros stab at it. would i take
some simon/wides. sure, i lived 79th & riverside and when i sold my
co-op i advt'd "river view." i didn't even know hosefros till couple year
later. he called from ny times on another matter. baruch said nice pictures,
simon, but what we have is what others have done, the obvious. if we got
few bucks together for small amount of helicopter time, would you? gotcha,
i said. didn't take the money. next day i had helicopter  job, g&w
at columbus circle.i didn't radio in for permission, but i took us 8 minutes
out of the way to shoot 8 frames. pilot
took us  down and i could see kids waving to us
from riverside benches. i waved back. simon/wide 1964 model has interchangeable
lenses and interchangeable film magazines. it left 57th st  area,
airborn with both magazines loaded because time was money, and shhhh, not
my money. baruch told me that they were using four of my pan shots. two
wraparound on outside cover and two as front and back inside covers. bonus
for simon was that designer got close match and butted two pictures together
and they looked to be one. title of this book was "who needs parks? subtitle
"people need parks." bruce davidson was walked by baruch into central park,
two darn blocks from 86th and Broadway. mary alfieri had a photograph in
this book from a single toll of tri-x, but that's another story.

Ron Klein wrote:

I’m listening to all the chat about free images needed for publication and
shaking my head.

First, let me assure all of you that Bob Erickson will indeed get all the
free pictures he needs for his book.  Certainly there are a lot of people
out there in chatland that are flaming mad about it, but the simple fact is,
they are out numbered.

 If you are a “professional” photographer and strongly feel that you must be
paid for every piece of work you do, I tip my hat to you and wish you the
best.  Just remember that even among professionals there is competition.
Someone is always willing to do YOUR job for less money.  Getting mad about
it and stomping your feet will get you nowhere.  It is far better to simply
ignore Mr. Erickson’s request and get on with your own business.  Decent
photographers should have all the work they want without worrying about
every little job that pops up.

As far as amateur photographers are concerned, anything goes, and it is
probably fair that they should try everything at least once.  I’m willing to
bet that before most “professional” photographers became “professional” they
did the exactly the same thing.  By the way, what is the official license
that one needs to make them “professional”?  It’s not exactly like a bar
exam for lawyers or a state medical board review.  It seems to me, most
people in photography simply print up a business card and away they go.

If you are interested in Bob’s offer, go for it.  It isn’t much, but that is
what he feels is right.  Just remember that just because someone is writing
a book about panoramic photography it isn’t automatically going to be a best
seller.  In fact, most books like this are losers ending up on remainder
tables in bookstores.  (Please don’t take offense Bob)

What really counts in photography or anything else is a good reputation.
This is accomplished by doing good work over a long period of time.

Enough said, let’s talk about pan photography instead

Ron Klein
practicing “professional” photography for 30 years