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I'm not clear who it was that the Everett Collection sought counsel from when they decided to sell/license/rent the intellectual property of others (as shown above), without their permission, or conveyance of monies from those transactions, but, well, they lost that battle.

In a press release from one of the infringed, photographer Michael Grecco reports on the opinion of Judge Colleen McMahon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Case #1:2007cv08171). In that 21 page opinion, issued on December 9, 2008, were the following: 1. The Everett Collection's copying of the images was not "de minimis" and was in fact actionable. 2. Everett infringed on Grecco's copyright by distributing the images to others. 3. That the mere posting of images on the website, even if they were not distributed to others, was an infringement and created liability for Everett. 4. Although not sought by Grecco, the court found that he was entitled to summary judgement as a matter of law with respect to 9 images. 5. Whether copyright infringement has in fact taken place is not determined by the amount of money received by the infringer. Among several notable aspects of the case, the court upheld the concept that an infringer's failure to profit on its infringement is no defense.

As a result, the court directed the matter go to trial with respect to damages on certain images, and that pre-trial discovery continue with respect to the balance of the images. This case, filed by Grecco against The Everett Collection, Inc. was, plain and simple, an allegation (now substantiated) for copyright infringement. Everett maintains a website archive at www.everettcollection.com which contains publicity materials that principally related to the entertainment industry. Grecco had alleged that Everett infringed on 23 of his copyrighted images of celebrities including Christina Applegate from "Married with Children," David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson from "The X-Files," Luke Perry from "Beverly Hills 90210," Parker Posey and Lucy Lawless - "Xena." The suit claims that without his authorization or consent, The Everett Collection posted Grecco's images on it's website and offered to "rent" them to third parties. Everett represented on its website that it "is not the copyright holder of the images" but nevertheless offered the images to third-parties in exchange for an "access fee" or "rental fee."

Everett moved to dismiss the complaint claiming, among other things, that although it admitted to posting the images, its unauthorized copying and offering of images was "de minimis," and therefore not actionable. Everett also claimed that the monies realized by it were "negligible;" and that Grecco did not have the right to bring a copyright action, such right being held by Grecco's clients and not Grecco.

So, it remains to be seen what the trial will determine damages will be. Further, and of greater importance to the industry as a whole, is what Everett Collection continues to do with copyrighted material. At one time, they had a distribution agreement with Fox, but that has apparently gone away, and unless they have distribution agreements with other studios (and that remains in question, to date), they are distributing images for which they have no right.

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So, are you wondering what to do next week- specifically Thursday March 10th, through Saturday March 12th? Wonder no more! The NPPA's annual Northern Short Course kicks off three days of AWESOME programming in picturesque Warwick, RI.

Not in the upper northeast? It's worth the flight (especially via Southwest!) to see:

Amy O'Leary teach you all about AUDIO

Eric Maierson teach you about FINAL CUT PRO

Darren Durlach teach you about how to tell a story in video

Tom Sperduto reprise his AMAZING location lighting workshop

AND TONS AND TONS MORE!

The short answer is - this is the best value for your dollar over three days - where you pay once and get to see as many seminars as you can. Oh, and Nikon and Canon are there to do free check-and-cleans of your equipment.

Oh, and Saturday, you get to listen to NPR's David Gilkey, Nat Geo's Karen Kasmauski, Washington Post's Marvin Joseph, and Reuters' Lucy Nicholson, all whom will inspire you to leap and bound forward in your career with confidence.

For more details on the over TWENTY programs and lectures, click HERE to get the details, and sign up!

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Often we wonder "what's next?" in our chosen profession, and the consensus seems to be "video", in one form or another. I just finished a 25 minute Ken-Burns-esque video for a client that I am delivering this week, which uses 400 stills from 5,000+ images from a recent assignment. In addition, we've integrated video capabilities into our service offerings to clients in DC, but the uptake on that segment of our business - at least right now - is minimal.

When we ask Adobe "what's next?" for upcoming versions of software, they demur and don't answer, or they are coy about exactly what will be next in a roundabout way, with a wink and a nod. Here though, is a cool video that demonstrates what they're working on over at Adobe - an example of the increased openness we're seeing from the company. This, I believe, is a good thing.


Interactive Video Object Manipulation from Dan Goldman on Vimeo.

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In an era where the printing presses are becoming dinosaurs of a (soon to be) bygone era, the value of niche media with a target audience, delivered in an online platform is becoming the new standard for content, and a valuable one at that. Almost since their arrival online, Photo District News, one of the several valuable properties owned by Nielsen Business Media, has delivered a partial set of their valuable content for free, with a greater set of content behind a firewall, accessible only to those with paid subscriptions to the print edition. This "nibble for free, pay for the whole thing" approach is one that is attractive to the prospective owners of Nielsen. The principal lead for Illyria is Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, who is not only known for continuing the same nibble-then-pay model at the Wall Street Journal, but is also looking to make a strong deal with Microsoft and their Bing search engine for new business models online.

Nielsen has a strong portfolio of publications, including The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and others. Of concern though, is this quote, by Nielsen, as cited by the Financial Times, “For assets that don’t hit the mark, we’re always looking to work them out of the portfolio.” PDN is not insulated from drop in print subscribers or drops in advertising revenues. However, it would be foolish for the Nielsen number crunchers to judge PDN on print subscribers alone when their online content is not only robust, but also pre-designed to continue the nibble-then-pay model that the Murdochs (rightly) see as the future of publishing. One interesting model is that used by The Hollywood Reporter, touted by them as "...an exact replica of the print edition with page turner technology...", and that may be one model that could spread to the rest of the Nielsen-cum-Murdoch lineup, post-acquisition. Interestingly, this model just may allow some of the high per-page advertising rates to be maintained, as opposed to the poorly established low per-pixel rates being paid for online ads that was set across the board years ago, and is not sustainable nowadays (actually, it was never sustainable, just underwritten by the print ad revenues).

As noted at the beginning, broad coverage, in an attempt to serve the masses, is not the future, niche media is. TechCrunch reported on a survey that showed that small town newspapers showed an increase of 4.3% in advertising, as well as local classified ads. Considering that a local newspaper is one example of niche publishing (i.e. local news for the local reader), this makes sense. One example (and apologies in that the town's name escapes me) showed that local (i.e. niche) focus pays well, with a circulation of over 100%, because the subscribers were giving their papers to friends in neighboring towns to read. While this may be an extreme example, consider the value of the free subscriptions given to doctors offices, in terms of the number of actual readers per issue.

In the end, it makes sense for Nielsen to not only utilize and expand the PDN nibble-then-pay model, but also to keep the quality of content and reporting that PDN has delivered for years and expand on it where printed page-counts are not the limiting factors to great stories, articles, and insights.

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Being a White House Photographer is an immense honor, and responsibility. While Pete Souza has returned to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for President Obama, resprising his role that he began with President Reagan, photographers Eric Draper (at right during the President's last State of the Union address in January of 2008) and Paul Morse (below prior to an event in the East Room in February of 2007) have exited the Presidential fold.

Draper, following the conclusion of his appointment serving the President, gave an interview - Bush gives fist bump as farewell to official photographer - which is worth a read.

While it remains to be seen what role in the photographic community Draper takes, he is no doubt weighing some options. President Clinton's former photographer Bob McNeely has had a successful career post-Clinton, and David Valdez's first post-Bush (the first President Bush) job was in service of Disney and the Magic Kingdom. Since then, he has pursued other photographic endeavors.

Morse, on the other hand, now has a successful freelance photography business in Washington DC (paulmorsephotographs.com), and was interviewed recently by PhotoShelter - Paul Morse: From Newspapers, to the White House, and Beyond. Paul has become a friend of mine over the years, and I know personally he's doing well. I have interviewed him for the upcoming post-inaugural wrap-up video, which will run shortly.

Being a Presidential photographer isn't easy, but it's the ultimate honor and responsibility to document history in the making.

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You can always spot the least liked person just off stage at every presentation of lottery winnings. They are the people who are not outwardly smiling, likely wearing a dark suit, and carrying a briefcase of some sort. This is the IRS agent, cooly waiting to advise you of the taxes you now owe, and you owe them now. (IRS regulations here). Your 25% or so goes straight to the tax man. So, that $100k oversized check? Actually not cashable. The real check will be just $75k, since the lottery payor has to withhold those winnings. Why? Because many lottery winners squander all their winnings, and then when it came time to pay the taxes, they had no money.

For some time, I have been trying to get into the heads of microstock photographers that they are running a business, whether they think they are, or not. No more 1040EZ forms, you must report that money you got when it was reported and you got a 1099. A rude awakening comes for the microstock photographer who sold 2,000 five-dollar-downloads, and collected their 20%, or $2,000. You'd think that was a sweet deal, until you had to pay half of it to the government, leaving you with $1,000. But, well, it seems that maybe more than a few micro-stockers are not paying their taxes properly, perhaps? Foreigners, who have been getting the full payments are - gosh, the shock! - not paying taxes on the income?

According to the IRS website (here), "U.S. source income paid to foreign individuals amounts to $140 billion each year. Most types of U.S. source income paid to a foreign person are subject to a withholding tax of 30%." Here's the big kicker - "The person making the payment is considered to be the withholding agent. You are a withholding agent if you are a U.S.or foreign person that has control of any item of income of a foreign person that is subject to withholding....As a withholding agent, the payer is personally liable for any tax required to be withheld, independent of the tax liability of the foreign person to whom the payment is made."

YIKES!

This is likely to mean that if there are several thousand micro-stockers who are foreigners and have recieved payments and - (again) gosh the shock! - not paid their taxes, the microstock company could be liable for that tax. Uh oh. The IRS stipulates "The penalty for not filing Forms 1042-S and1042 when due (including extensions) is usually 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month the return is late, but not more than 25% of the unpaid tax. Additional penalties apply for failure to provide complete and correct information or if you fail to provide a complete and correct statement to each recipient. The maximum penalty is $100,000 per year."

I guess maybe a few microstock agencies will be looking at a few $100k bills for the past few years, perhaps?

According to Microstock Diaries (here), "Shutterstock have announced that they’ll be withholding 30% tax for non-US contributors in order to comply with US tax laws."

Microstock Diaries characterizes contributor reactions by saying "Affected contributors are understandably upset." Then they outline several of the complaints (followed by our answers):

Q: taxes haven’t been withheld before, so why are Shutterstock starting now?

PBN&F Answer: Because it's the law, and they were not in compliance with the law, which will cost them a lot of money.

Q: other agencies don’t do this, so why is Shutterstock doing it?

PBN&F Answer: Because other agencies are making the same mistake, and just like everyone is now charging for a paper airline ticket, and checked baggage, the rest of the microstock agencies will fall in line.


Q: why do I have to pay tax to the US government when I have nothing do to with them?

PBN&F Answer: Because your assets earned money on US soil, among other reasons.

Q: why do I have to give personal information to the US government?

PBN&F Answer: Because a US company is paying you money, among other reasons.

Q: can’t Shutterstock pay for this themselves and not penalize foreign contributors?

PBN&F Answer: Because this is the tax on YOUR portion of the income, that YOU owe! Shutterstock will be paying their own taxes on their profits as well. You are not being penalized - you are paying what you owe, fair and square.

Microstock diaries then takes a slight (albeit deserving) swipe at the contributors, when they say "The demonstrated gaps in understanding of international business in these complaints extended to misdirecting blame and anger toward Shutterstock." And here, they are right. Shutterstock is not doing anything wrong here - in point-of-fact, they WERE doing something wrong in not withholding, and now they are getting in compliance.

Many members are apparently deleting their portfolios from Shutterstock. Good. A few thousand less images there means fewer $30 Time Magazine covers.

Microstock Diaries characterizes contributors thusly - "Most microstock contributors are in business so they’re used to doing things like filling out forms and paying taxes. However, a not-so-small number of contributors, it seems, are not so comfortable with this change."

I believe that if you look at the number of microstock contributors who actually earn a full-time living off of microstock versus those that just get their kicks from seeing their images in print and whose income cannot support them full-time, you would find that the vast majority of them are running their businesses very poorly - essentially at a net loss.

Oh, and one more thing - you can run your business at a loss, but not forever.

The IRS, (here), states:

An activity is presumed carried on for profit if it makes a profit in at least three of the last five tax years, including the current year (or at least two of the last seven years for activities that consist primarily of breeding, showing, training or racing horses).

If your activity is not carried on for profit, allowable deductions cannot exceed the gross receipts for the activity.

Welcome to the real world my fellow photographers.

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PhotoPlus Expo was enlightening this year, for a number of reasons. Among them, a big hit at the show when it comes to continuous-light sources, but more on that in a minute. American Photographic Artists (Yes, that's the new name for what used to be referred to as Advertising Photographers of America, or APA) brought myself and Michael Grecco in for a rousing discussion about the value in licensing, and how to generate revenue over the life of your image's viable (and valuable) time. PDNPulse did a very nice write-up on it here -
PhotoPlus Panel: Why Licensing Matters (10/31/11) so I won't recap their piece except to encourage you to read the review and learn a few of the tidbits that you missed if you weren't in attendance.) PhotoPlus Panel: Why Licensing Matters, summarizing the presentation by saying "making extra money on photographs you’ve already taken, that’s just a smarter way to do business."

On the technology side, several companies caught our attention.

First up, is the company ikan, which has an amazing array of CLS lighting. Just when you thought you had every strobe you needed, all of a sudden you're now "shooting just a little bit of video" for that still client (or branching into multimedia all-together) and realize that strobes just don't do it for your video needs. Enter CLS, and ikan, with amazingly reasonable prices on their lighting products with blindingly bright LED units that are small and mount on camera, to 1' x 1' units that seem like they could burn out your retinas. Sure, they also sell camera cradles, bags, and countless other production tools (all with a craftsman's approach to quality), but the lighting, that's worth a long look, because you'll never have to suffer under "hot lights" again if you go this route, not to mention these LED's are battery-powered and highly efficient, so that means no blown circuits with a few hot lights plugged in! Our go-to source for these units is Mac Business Solutions, which is a top-end boutique for all things mac (from computers to still gear to video, to, yes, even high end printers). Be sure to ask for Sonny, the owner, when you call.

Next was GoalZero which has some amazing portable battery power. We picked up a set of these packs, and have used them to power dying laptops, and hope to use them to power our ikan lights when they arrive! Not only can they provide a wide range of power, but they also have portable, small, and efficient solar panels to recharge your kit. No more looking for a shack with a bunch of car batteries when you're in the middle of nowhere to charge your gear. These babies do the trick.

Our last tech company that peaked our interest that we're featuring (trust us, there were many), is onOne Software. They launched Perfect Suite 6 on October 25, right before the show, and Brian Kraft, VP of Sales talked about how advanced this new version is, and we're a believer. The resizing, focal point features, and the portrait retouching capabilities make this thing a dream for those looking to save time. Further, there are plug-ins for both Lightroom and Aperture, so check the specs to see how these can integrate into working where you do, or, if you prefer, as a standalone application (or module of all of them combined.)





A worthwhile presentation was the always enlightening Sam Abell, who spoke at the Canon booth. If you missed (or didn't want to pay for the 3 hour seminar (which you should have if you'd have had the option), Sam Spoke for a brief period of time at the Canon stage, and if you couldn't make it to NYC, Canon was saavy enough to live-stream it. Suffice to say, I'm biased when it comes to Sam, but his stories are always so engaging and inspiring. Rumor has it he's in the Amazon working on a book project, so stay tuned.

All in all, I was impressed with the integration of the WPPI portion of the show, following the merger (or aquisition?) of WPPI by Neilsen/PDN, which was announced at the 2010 show. Well done, integrators. The show was, as always, not to be missed. If you did, don't miss it next year.

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Business is good? Business is bad? What's your answer?

There is a lot to look at these days, and to come up with an answer. Just as Chicago delivers its chosen son to become President, and one of its premier photographers to become official White House Photographer, both papers are joined in the pit of bankruptcy.

Life Magazine has, as Daryl Lang so rightly points out, devastated the value of a wide swatch of photographic imagery. I can hear the mantra now "heck, Life Magazine published the best images of the 20th Century, and if they are free for me to use, why should I pay for others?" (And, as someone who has been published in that magazine - one caution - I registered the work with the Copyright Office, so I await the infringers mis-step.)

a lack of money will eventually doom C-Registry as the roadkill of the Web 2.0 era.

Speaking of Copyrights, the C-Registry continues to hawk it's mea culpa to anyone who will listen. The problem is, they just were not transparent about the process, nor are they about their future intentions once they reach a critical mass, and they have been given many opportunities to dispel these concerns, and the silence is deafening. I predict that, just as with Digital Railroad, who promised they would never get into stock licensing, so too, debt and a lack of money will eventually doom C-Registry as the roadkill of the Web 2.0 era.

April 15th is just around the corner. Yes, friends, the tax man cometh. How many of you are sitting down right now and realizing that 50% of your profits are going to the government, and realizing that you didn't save anything to pay Uncle Sam, and are now wondering where you're going to come up with the money you owe?

To comment on another piece by PDN's Lang, it was written about the demise of Studio Photography magazine (that I will miss from my mailbox) that "The industry is shifting away from a business-to-business segment and more toward business-to-consumer, spokesperson Kathy Scott said in an e-mail." Hogwash I say. While B2C, in the form of weddings, senior portraits, family portraits, and so on, will remain steady and consistent, B2B continues, from this independent photographers' standpoint, to be a growth area. The higher likelihood is that their titles were not seeing the ad revenue necessary to sustain it, in print form. Photographers are getting their information from broader sources, much of it online. Previously, the print platforms were the gatekeepers of insights and knowledge, and now, as a critical mass (AC Nielsen reports Sixty-four percent of Americans age 12 or older have used the Internet in the past year...Almost half of these Internet users (31 percent of all US residents age 12 or over) report going online everyday) is achieved, sources for trusted and thorough knowledge are available to the masses with a few mouse clicks.

Two weeks ago, against the advice of my investment advisor, I took I bet out on a banking stock that was at $1, and now I have tripled that investment - because I was in a cash position to make (and, yes, possibly lose) that investment. If that investment (bet) had tanked, I would have been just fine, so it was as safe a bet as I felt I could make, with a significant potential upside.

Despite concerns in Q4 of 2008, we have staffing levels that we have not had to diminish, so as the calls are coming in for work, we have the post production capacity and logistical support to prepare estimates and collect on invoices.

It has been suggested that this blog is about hits and traffic, and as anyone who actually reads this knows, thats never been the case. The purpose for this blog is to give insights and analysis on the business of photography. Sometimes instructional, sometimes informative, and, yes, often critical. When we see bad moves by players in the industry, we call them out on it. Whether it was Xerox, PDN, Getty, Icon, Nat Geo, USPW, ASMP, AP, PACA, Conde Nast, DRR, Microsoft, or any of the other players regular readers have come to know more about. When these players try to slip a mickey to photographers, we try to be the antidote.

When the economy is down, as the saying goes, cash is king. The time to buy is in a depressed market - if you can. When you have no ulterior motive, the people standing around trying to figure out what your motives are for doing the right thing often would benefit from a bit of self-examination. As Ice Cube says (here), "check yo self before you wreck yo self."

Friends, the glass is what you make it out to be. From my perspective, the future is bright, and, for some, as they say, it is darkest before the dawn. For others, it's always darkest before it's pitch black. Go figure.

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Need to find a photographer for your assignment? The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) introduces its' Find A Photographer (FAP) iPhone application making amazingly easy to locate, from within the palm of your hand, photographers all over the country. The application is free, and instantly connects to a photographers' ASMP profile online, including their portfolio. Let's take a walk through the application:

Searching for "photographer" on the iPhone app store, "Find A Photographer" is currently the top result. Clicking on that, to learn more, and you see this:

Once downloaded (for free), the entry screen, with the map of the US attractively integrated with an image of an eye (courtesy of Hermann+Starke) and the ASMP logo is the first indication that this is a clean and professional application.

Following the splash screen above, you immediately see are presented with search options for location, specialty, and even by name, as below:

Clicking "New Search, connects, in real-time, to the ASMP database, searching for photographers that meet the criteria.

Here, the search results are returned. In this search, I am the fifth listing. I can't discern how the listing results order is determined. It's not alphabetical, and multiple searches for the same specialty returned the same results, so it would be interesting to learn how to optimize your listing to appear higher.

By clicking in the photographer's entry, their contact information, and profile comes up, scrollable in my case, since the profile is longer than one screen.

Clicking on the "View Portfolio" button at the bottom, and the images are loaded, again, in real-time, from the ASMP member directory online.

Once loaded into the app, you are able to browse/view images in the portfolio just as easily as you would browse images in your own photos application, and your captions are included below the image.

Once you close the portfolio, at the bottom of the photographer's listing, you can click "add to favorites", and here's the favorites listing.

If you're looking for someone that is a retail operation, or studio, and you need to actually go there, the application has a "map" feature, that shows you not only where you are (blue dot) but also the location and address of the photographer's business.

The application is seamless, easy to use, and I pray, will be a download that photo editors and art directors who get those late-night or on-the-road calls from their editors, will use to find a photographer when their rolodex is either empty or unavailable.

Hats off to ASMP for their thoughtful and well-designed application!

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If you've been a photographer even for a few months, you are abundantly aware of the absurdity of client arguments about lowering your rates. You roll your eyes, scream after hanging up the phone, or otherwise express (rightfully so) indigniation about the demands for less now, with a promise of more later. This video (with thanks to Leslie Burns Dell’Acqua for the heads up on this) brings to life that absurdity in other business exchanges, and is absolutely a must-watch. It's only two minutes, but after about the first minute, the message is loud and clear, and the remaining minute is just gravvy.

Hit the jump for two more videos....


When I Grow Up I Wanna Work in Advertising


REAL Truth In Advertising:


Harlan Ellison on Getting Paid:


Marc Focus on Being The Best:

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The refrain I hear from photographers often, when it comes to images they transfer copyright to is "what are the photos work anyway? They're just {insert justification here}...."

Often, photographers get assigned to cover a party of some sort or another. Then, the excuse is "they're just party pics, who would want them anyway?" Well, let's take a look:



So, at about $20 an 8x10, after about 10 prints from a single event, the magazine has recouped the cost of the photographer, and the use of the photos in the magazine is now, essentially, free. And since the magazine - in this case Washington Life - owns the copyright to the photos as per their contract, the photographer is not entitled to a dime of that revenue.

"But it's just a few prints..." you say. Who cares, what does that matter? Well, aside from it being work you created and are entitled to income from (that is until you sold your copyright for a c-note or two), it's just plain wrong, and, it's not limited to prints.

Enter Niche Media. Niche Media publishes a number of magazines: Capitol File, Gotham, and Los Angeles Confidential, among many others. Clicking on those links doesn't take you to the magazine's website, they take you to search results where images from their assignments are being sold/relicensed by Wire Image, again, without the photographer getting paid for those resales. How many sales do you think it will take before the assignment becomes a profit center? One? Two?

NIche Media in their press releases often writes:

"About Niche Media Holdings: Niche Media, a subsidiary of Greenspun Media Group, was founded in 1992 and is the country’s preeminent regional magazine company with the largest network of city-specific luxury publications in the United States. Niche Media consistently delivers the finest editorial content and advertising to a controlled group of influencers with the highest disposable incomes in each city. Niche Media reaches readers who maintain annual household incomes of at least $200,000 and have liquid assets in excess of $1 million, making the pages of these glossies some of the most valuable real estate in Publishing."

Valuable, of course, except to the photographers who don't earn anything from the resale/relicensing of their works. You're a creator of some of "the finest editorial content" yet you don't participate in the fruits of that labor?

When people take your copyright, or require you to transfer all rights in your images to them, they're almost always doing it because those images have value. Just because you can't imagine what the resale/relicensing value is to an image doesn't mean that it doesn't have any.

Think twice before selling yourself short.

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Of late, one of the best shows about quality and service I have found is Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. The restaurant business can easily be compared to the photography business.

Food = Images
Kitchen = Darkroom/Post-Production space/Image Management
Decor = Photographer attire
Servers = level of service
Hostess stand = initial phone call
Roaming manager = follow-up after shoot

And so on. What I like so much about Ramsay is his commitment - and demand - for excellence. He demands excellence at every turn. Here is a clip from his show:

You must unequivocally be committed to the highest level of excellence as a photographer for every client for every shoot.



Here's another clip:


And one more:


Ramsay makes no excuses for his level of expectation, and neither should you.

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Michael Jordan, on failure:


Michael Jordan, on becoming legendary:



How committed are you to being a photographer?

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Martin Luther King Jr. once famously said "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." But, how do you measure and weigh the good and the bad that one has contributed in weighing whether or not you have respect for them?

The timely example (we'll get to more specific ones in a minute), is to judge Michael Jackson. Now, he has met his maker, and been judged where it matters most. However, where does he stack up in ones' own heart and mind? The easy comparison is to pit his music against the allegations and resulting settlements for his 'issues'. Yet, that does not factor in the good he did for charities, nor the odd manner in which he raised his children. The pendulum swings back and forth, and I could go on with hundreds of pluses and minuses. Thus, you get the point. Measure and celebrate just his music, and you have a hands-down showcase for any number of musical halls of fame. Add in other issues, and the matter gets decidedly cloudy.

While we don't have unions, per se, how do you qualify a "scab" in the world of photography? And, when you do, is it okay to break bread with them and play nicey-nice? What would a reader of this column surmise if they witnessed me having lunch with the greatest proponent of work-made-for-hire, or microstock? I don't know if any one individual or company fits that bill, but what would a reader think?

Without knowing the topics of conversation, it would be hard to draw a thoughtful conclusion. Suppose, I was trying very hard to convince them to step away from the dark side? Sometimes, these types of conversations are incremental, or relationship building. Successes can be measured in inches, and are sometimes imperceptible to the untrained eye. The President, regardless of administration, meets with other world leaders to find places of agreement, not to argue (at least not at first) over matters of disagreement.

What, however, would be your reaction if a friend did a job you had turned down, because it was a work-made-for-hire job, or a $1k job that paid $100? And, if this same friend seemingly was echoing your anti-WMFH attitude, but you knew they had signed a WMFH contract to do that job, how would you react? Does your personal friendship survive and your business discourse with them get short circuited?

If, for example, Time Magazine had named Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden Person of the Year, would you cancel your subscription? Was American Photo's celebration of the work of Robert Maplethorpe (a long time ago) enough to get people to cancel their subscriptions? When news outlets get metaphorically 'spanked' by fake news (like the fake reports of George Clooney's death) does the mindset "you reap what you sow" enter into the equation?

As newspapers begin to actually rely on 'citizen journalists' for their content, over their journalistically trained professionals, will you accept the occasional assignment from them and lend your credibility to the publication, knowing that it adds to the credibility of the free 'citizen journalist' content? What if you got sent out to do the cover assignments for the publication every issue, but all the inside pages were filled with 'citizen journalism' and the frequent bad image, would you associate yourself with that?

Lots of questions here, what do you think?

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