The world has changed, has your photography business changed with it?
When I first dipped my toe into the photography world I had a dream — okay I know that sounds a bit fluffy, but stay with me. My dream was documenting wars with my camera. Alas, almost immediately I had to decide whether I wanted a career in photojournalism or a family, and I opted for the second.
Despite this, my true approach to photography has always remained from a documentary point of view, but I have since asked myself the question… is photojournalism a viable business nowadays?
My thoughts? Yes and no.
The number of photojournalists we saw twenty years ago is long gone, as is the same level of demand for their services. But as the world changes, we can adapt our business.
The “permanent position” in Italy in the ‘80s
The ‘80s was an amazing decade in Italy. A great economical boom, the real height of the “Dolce Vita” were all parts of a wealthy society. In this landmark, everyone’s dream was the “posto fisso” also known as the permanent position at your job.
Now, if you are not Italian, you might miss a small piece of the puzzle; in Italy, up until a few years ago, getting fired from a permanent position was almost impossible. People compared the “posto fisso “ to winning the lottery; money for the rest of your life.
Italian culture with its highs and lows is similar to photojournalism. As a documentary photographer you were hired by a newspaper, to cover the news, locally or even internationally. Your photos had a value, you had a job security.
But what happened in the 90's?
The crumbling of the system
The Italian economy crumbled in the ‘90s. Corrupt governments; lazy workers that knew they wouldn’t be fired; you could even blame the weather for all that it would matter, the result however would still have been the same. The children of the ‘70s were left with a less-than-desirable country when they left school.
In the same way the social and economical landscape of Italy changed, photojournalism experienced the might of the digital evolution and of the Internet Generation in full force. On the surface, photography become a much less challenging avenue. Piracy became an easy road to follow and the competition landscape changed suddenly.
An unequivocally niche career became available to the masses. Sort of.
Is photography that simple that anyone with a camera can do it?
Ask any professional photographer if what they do is simple, and they will likely scoff at you and proceed to inform you that you need experience in both photography and business to be a successful photographer. Yet, many still see a teenager with an iPhone as a business threat. Aren’t we undervaluing our knowledge and skills if we compare ourself to those who professionals are not?
I strongly believe that the career of a photographer, be it in photojournalism or commercial, is one in which skills and experience matter. If we are the first to set the bar low, comparing ourselves with the Amateur Joe who shoots a wedding for a few bucks, we become our own worst enemies.
When all the known roads are walked, we need explorers
As photographers, we each have tried to walk many roads, some of them work, others don’t. In photography we must try new things!
The way photographs are seen and treated today, is not the way it once was in the days before the Internet. We face an unprecedented quantity of images covering the market never before, and it continues to grow. The game has changed, and reminding everyone that once upon a time, we were the best when photojournalism was different, when the business of a photographer was different from how it is today, is not going to change the game.
We need to explore new roads, roads less travelled. Roads that are dangerous, as they can lead us nowhere — but they can also lead us somewhere unimaginably great.
Only the small take the risks
Why are these changes so difficult? Why are we walking in the darkness, not knowing how to get over the sea of mediocre photographs published by todays modern “celebrities” of the internet? Because, first and foremost, photographers are not marketers.
This makes our chances to find clients much slimmer. But for the companies who are making the money, for them is easier to sell images that come from sources who are able to market themselves better. It makes their job easier.
They are the establishment, the Goliaths, the “standards” who have the ability to recruit a photographer from Flickr and pay them 20% of what the image is worth.
phlow is the David to their Goliath.
Startups like phlow have everything to win and nothing to lose. They are the companies who can challenge ate status quo, they innovate, change markets, and make humanity better. They try their best to find the problem and offer a solution. That solution may not be shared by everyone; but I believe that the narrower the amount of photographers that trust the Davids of these situations, the stronger the message is going to be.
What does phlow stand for?
phlow believes in good photography, not good photographers.
Good photojournalism, portraiture, landscape... we switch the attention to where it really matters: our art and craft.
If you believe you are a good photographer, but that the market has undercut you, then you should be able to prove your worth.
With phlow, we have decided to let users, with their implicit or explicit behaviours, tell us what’s relevant and what’s noise. To do this we have had to look to the roads less travelled, the way no one else has, take risks, knowing we can change the world.
Why take a bet on a “David”?
A Few years ago, a brand on the brink of collapse, did two things that challenged the market: they produced a simple, old-feel style camera and they started to listen. That brand was Fujifilm. The change in the market was not the little X100, but the fact that they actually started to transform their products through listening to their customer. Something the big two, Canon and Nikon didn’t.
In the same way, other Davids are trying to change the world and give photographers more opportunities; we welcome such companies, even if they have approaches different from ours, even if we believe our approach can give more to the community.
Photography startups like EyeEM, Splore and phlow are walking one of the roads less travelled. You should invest your time and some of your great photographs in these companies. They may very well fail, their Terms and Conditions may be still in their early stages, but like Fujifilm we listen!
We are small and we need you. We need your trust and your feedback, because if we win, you win. If phlow is the key to help your photography business, your help will make our road the new standard, and for a few years we will make your life better.
And what after these few years? We will keep listening, because if we don’t there will be another David with nothing to lose that will take our place in making the world a better place!
Try phlow for yourself… change the world!
