Strolling around the stupa. Modern dressed teenagers and a Buddhist monk. Nice mix of old and new. © Morten Svenningsen, 27 July 2008.
The media world is changing and I am sitting here thinking about where it’s going. In-depth journalism is getting rare, everything is happening so fast and no-one have time to dwell on issues from around the world. Professional photojournalism is getting squeezed by market trends, staff photographers are getting laid off and in the US there’s now only 4 (yes, four) newspapers with a foreign editor’s desk! Their presidential candidate, the “experienced” one, McCain, apparently thinks that Iraq and Pakistan are neighbours. And the other one, Obama, is believed to be a Muslim by a large portion of Americans! There clearly is a need for spreading awareness. And what can I do. I’ve become tired of pitching stories to magazines and newspapers. I have reason to believe that most of them never even look at my emails. I know, I should call them in stead. But they are always in a meeting to discuss the appalling sales figures or something.
Meanwhile the web, Google, flickr, blogs like this and all that, they flourish. And it’s all very democratic. But material is unedited, facts and opinions are mixed up and sometimes dubious. I and many other serious photojournalists are left to wonder how we can make a decent living this way. I am thinking of slashing my prices, I don’t like it but lately I’ve mostly been turned down because of one thing: Your price is too high, we don’t usually pay that sort of amount etc. Editor’s expectations are that they can get the material almost for free. Hey, I have expenses too. And try sending your staff photographer to Nepal and get the same photo as me, the same level of background information, then compare the prices.
Stuff is going on in my mind. Perhaps it’s all for the best, the world was never perfect. I just need to figure out a way to get through. Despite the downward spiral, I’m actually ok. Still trying to work in-depth and do some quality reporting. Customers come and go. I have a small but steady revenue stream and enough saved up to get the mythical 5D Mk II camera when (if?) it comes out. September perhaps.
Fingers crossed, gotta run. It’s a high-pace world we’re living in.
1 comment:
Hang in there Morten!
The downturn and price slashing is happening everywhere, not just in the photography sector.
Dropping the price for your services may not work-overheads still have to be met.
Diversification is how I'm coping-and getting into markets I'd never considered before. Interestingly, newspapers don't pay as well as some of these new customers. So you could say that commercial work is subsidizing the work I do for publications.
I'm not sure how the newspapers and magazines can expect to keep readers and sales figures if they don't pay attention to the quality of their content.
Not paying sensible remuneration to experienced contributors is just another way for them to slide down the slippery slope of not caring about quality.
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