No to “Free” Art
Food for thought;
Have you ever taken any of your friends, relatives, near and dear ones “for granted” when you sought some help !!!!! If so, what was the intention behind it ? Whether the help sought was from the perspective of enabling/strengthening that person in terms of skill-sets, confidence or something related or was it just because you could avail their services to save some money. The point is was it money driven? Think about it…If the option was to avail professional services and instead of doing so, you ended up getting it done through a friend, relative or son/daughter just to save money. Was it worth it!?
I am, in no way suggesting or proposing either not to take the help from those who are within the reach or not to ask for help but all I am trying to point out is about the intention behind such action.
Many a times there would have been friends and relatives who would come to you and ask you to design something for them or paint something, or do a photo shoot or write some content for them. What is the thought behind it all? Why don’t they go to a professional for it?
Thought being “Free me ho jaega”
They would only come to you in the first place if you’re really good. Or else, why bother? Right? And since you know them, they think you won’t take any money from them, just because it’s very “easy”. So what’s the need to pay them?
Nothing doing. All the artists are uniquely gifted. What they’re doing is something only they can do.
One of my friend, an amazing photographer, was always asked by her friends to do photo shoots for them. She had the perfect equipment, skills and most importantly, vision.
The vision, to imagine the outcome she desired out of each photograph was what made her unique. Great amount of time dedicated for a single photograph. Her friends always said “jaldi kar, ek button hi to dabana hai.”
‘Sirf button hi dabana hai to baaki logon se kyu nahi kheechi jaati aisi photos?’
Great amount of time, effort and creativity goes into any form of art. A song of 3 minutes duration must have taken a month’s time to complete. A short film of 5 minutes would take 5 days of shooting, in various weather conditions. One poem could have taken the experiences of months to be formed into this mix of words and emotions. A single photograph would take 30 minutes of time, from preparing to capture and editing. A 5 minutes dance performance must have taken practice of months.
Hours of hard work and creativity goes into something which you enjoy just for a few minutes.
They invest their time to learn it, master it and gain experience. It doesn’t happen without any cost. They put in hard earned money and time to study, to get the equipment, to get the software, to learn, to compose and to finally execute. And besides all that, if you would’ve been able to do all that by yourself since “it is so easy and fluffy” you wouldn’t have approached an artist.
So when they ask for worth of what they are doing for you, do not deny them of it. Be happy to give them what they deserve. They don’t ask for anything more.
-An artist.
