the marriage of art and commerce can be so tragic. this is why nothing beats projects where no one is after money.

Such is life. It is quite tough out there anywhere but the toughest is to know how to get payed.
First by being the best in what you do, then to show the point of the iceberg and ask to see the money if they want more.

I'm surprised this hasn't illicited more constructive responses!

But then I don't know the answers either really. When I left art school I worked for a top photo agency for a year or so. There was never any question that I wouldn't leave to be the photographer I knew myself to be, but for the year I was there it was like being at a kind of finishing school - I got to meet a lot of my idols and ask them how they worked. One in particular told me he'd spent 10 years subbing for local newspapers before he could say he was just earning an honorable living as a photographer, and then becoming member of one of the most reknowned agencies in the world sometime later didn't necessarily mean things were much easier for him.

If all you're interested in is a fast buck, maybe you're going about it the wrong way. If you love photography you'll hang in there. Photographers do have rights, that have been hard won and need to be continually defended, but whoever said making it would be easy? Nobody owes you anything. Strive to be the best photographer you can possibly be - but learn to be good at business while you're at it. The two aren't incompatible. Your anger is though.

wish I could add more concrete advice, but this is an issue I'm still working on myself...

P.S. 990000, I hope for your own sake you're independently wealthy, because you're up you're own A!

f:lux, I think you gravely missed my point. did you assume I meant working for free?

It certainly sounded that way. So what's the point you were trying to make?

that trying to make a living out of art can be costly. and that it is better to do what you love *not* for money.

It's perhaps irrelevant now anyway. This subject was posted over a month ago, and after responding I noticed that ben morris is no longer subscribed. Who knows where he is and what he's doing now. Shit.

Do you know of Damien Hirst? I really like what he does, on the whole, and from what I've heard he doesn't put out for less than £25,000 - £250,000. Passion can have a price.