Land-and-seascapes

By tondrijfhamer

Photographing is one, is writing the next?

I was invited for an info meeting about a book for photographers that is to be made.
A dutch book publisher is making a series of 4 books filled with the best photo locations in The Netherlands, roughly divided in 4 regions North-East-South-West.

The first part, the South, was published in March this year and is a huge succes according to the editor. It's their plan to publish the next part, the North, later this year, just before the holiday season. And East is due in March 2020. (or the other way around) They know what marketing is..

For the new North-book they are on the look out for photographers, and I happen to be one. So I was invited a few weeks ago and tonight I went to Haren (near Groningen) to attend the meeting.
I didn't know what to expect. How many people would be there?

To my not such a big surprise two other very familiar photographers walked in as well, just after I'd arrived. Haha. Of course. Ron and Ron were invited as well. The three of us didn't mention anything beforehand, so it was quite a laugh when we found out we were all there. 
We've recently been working on another photo assignment together.

The meeting was interesting, and I like the idea of the book very much.
I also like the idea of participating in making it.

What I don't like, and I must confess that was a rather big dissapointment I can't get out of my head, was the fact that the financial compensation for the work that has to be done (delivering photos, and writing accompanying texts) was very minimal. Very minimal. Did I say very minimal already? Very.
The book can not be made without us photographers, so why not value that financially a bit more. And yes, I know other overhead costs are expensive as well, but still.

That seems to be the case everytime it comes to selling pictures and prints. Everybody likes your work, but hardly anybody is willing to pay the costs. Exceptions do exist of course.

Before I went tonight, I said to myself that I wouldn't participate when the proceeds were too little. So, according to that promise to myself I should say no to it without blinking my eyes.
But.... I do like the project, and I do like the fact that the Ron's are in on it too, and it will look nice on my CV and website when I can refer to the book as being one of the authors. So, I guess I'll sleep a few nights over it before I decide what to do.

I don't have to make my living of photography of course, so maybe I should approach this as a hobby, but somehow that doesn't feel right anymore.

Of course the editor had all kinds of arguments telling us why the compensation can't be higher. But when I calculated a few things on my phone I couldn't agree with him on all of his points. But this evening was not the time and place to argue about that.
Maybe later. Maybe.

The fact that I'll also have to write (short) articles as well, telling the story of the photo and the region it's in, is something that I know will consume a lot of time. And time is valuable.
A quick calculation made clear that I'd have to fill 6 pages with photo's and 3-4 articles of max 200 words within 1,5 hour. Impossible if you'd ask me.
But, once again, maybe I shouldn't be building my opinion just on my calculations. To be continued I guess.

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