I think I'll become a plumber...

We had the plumber in over the weekend, helping us finish off our new kitchen. He fitted the sink, and moved the dishwasher, and sorted the repositioning of the tumble dryer. He did a really fantastic job. In fact, we were so pleased with it that, instead of paying him, we suggested he sign his name on the wall by the taps and, whenever we have someone over to the house, we'd point out the fantastic plumbing and, in that way, he might get extra work from our 'showcase'! Well, he wasn't very taken with that idea! Not at all. In fact, the second word he used was "..off!" so, somewhat red-faced, we paid him and he left, seemingly a lot more satisfied than if we'd just offered him the chance to have his work seen by others! Weird!..

Now, you know as well as I do that we did nothing of the sort. It wouldn't even have crossed our minds to insult the guy by suggesting he do the work for nothing, on the off chance he gets another job on the back of it. So why, oh why do people think they can ask this of photographers? What is going on in the world, eh? When did photography become so suddenly undervalued? (Don't answer that! I think we all know when, and God bless the dawn of the digital age!)

I covered a PR event a couple of weeks ago and one of the companies who took part has since seen the shots, thinks they're "great" and has asked if they can use some of them on their Facebook page. "Of course you can .. " I said ".. and I'll only charge you ten pounds per image! Nominal fee, and all that!" Smile, smile! Their reply was priceless! (Ironic, that word!) They said, and I quote "We invest quite heavily in the show case as you can imagine so I don’t want to pay for photos of an event that has cost us hundreds to put on."

In other words, they wanted my photographs for free!

Oh sure, they'd put my name alongside the images - ooh, goody! - but, basically, they wanted my photography for nothing!

They won't be getting any of my photographs!..