The Plight of the Freelance Editorial Racing Photographer
I will start this post with a mathematics example. When I began photography horse racing, as a freelance photographer, there was an editorial market in print magazines. The cost of an airfare between Canberra and Melbourne could be bought for $99 (return!) if you bought according to various conditions. The price of the top of the line Nikon camera was $4,500 and you didn't need a laptop. I was a few years off from being able to purchase the 300mm f2.8 lens I so desired, but it was on the horizon. I did need a film scanner, at about $2,500 and a desktop computer, and of course had to spend decent money at the lab. I used to get paid between $50 to $100 (plus GST) for a colour photograph to be published in a magazine, and if it was published outside this narrow editorial market, you could get up to $350 for the same image. A cover image was from memory at least $250 (plus GST).
Fast forward the clock 10 years to 2010. We are now in the digital age. My $2500 digital camera had to be sold after less than 3 years as it was producing rubbish images, and I finally replaced it with the top of the line Nikon Digital Flagship camera that was the digital equivalent of my trusty F5, and bought a D3. It's cost was $5850 and they now cost $6995. Even the crudest mathematician can see there's some inflation there. My laptop (don't mention the war) that is now an essential tool was $4000 and the screen $1500. My lens are $7000 and $12,000 for the two big telephoto items I now own (thank you CSIRO) and the other two zooms are $3000 and $2500, plus of course the flash. I can expect to need to replace the cameras in less than 2 years. They are wonderful cameras, but there will be something far better in 2 years time, and will need to move with the times to stay at the top of my game.
While there used to be at least 5 racing magazines, there are really now only 2 independent magazines left. They used to be monthly publications. One is now quarterly, and other still monthly. There are a couple of industry produced magazines, by Racing NSW and Racing Victoria. I'm on board with one, with the other shortly to follow.
So imagine my feeling of despair, when after finally getting back on board with one of the magazines still in production, that the per image fee is only $40 plus GST. This means that in the 10 years that have passed, the publication fee has dropped $10 per picture, and the number of magazines I can submit photos to for publication has dropped, as has the number of issues produced each year.
In addition to this, the cost of an airfare between Canberra and Sydney is rarely less than $200, there is a car to hire at the end of the trip (there is a limit to how many times you can plead poor and ask your family to pick you up from the airport, run you to the track, pick you up again, etc, etc, nowadays I just hire a car and be done with it), parking at the airport at my end.
The solution, of course, is to turn from an editorial to a commercial focus, but currently this is compromised by the fact that there are struggles over what you can and cannot do with the IP that is created on metropolitan racetracks.
Fast forward the clock 10 years to 2010. We are now in the digital age. My $2500 digital camera had to be sold after less than 3 years as it was producing rubbish images, and I finally replaced it with the top of the line Nikon Digital Flagship camera that was the digital equivalent of my trusty F5, and bought a D3. It's cost was $5850 and they now cost $6995. Even the crudest mathematician can see there's some inflation there. My laptop (don't mention the war) that is now an essential tool was $4000 and the screen $1500. My lens are $7000 and $12,000 for the two big telephoto items I now own (thank you CSIRO) and the other two zooms are $3000 and $2500, plus of course the flash. I can expect to need to replace the cameras in less than 2 years. They are wonderful cameras, but there will be something far better in 2 years time, and will need to move with the times to stay at the top of my game.
While there used to be at least 5 racing magazines, there are really now only 2 independent magazines left. They used to be monthly publications. One is now quarterly, and other still monthly. There are a couple of industry produced magazines, by Racing NSW and Racing Victoria. I'm on board with one, with the other shortly to follow.
So imagine my feeling of despair, when after finally getting back on board with one of the magazines still in production, that the per image fee is only $40 plus GST. This means that in the 10 years that have passed, the publication fee has dropped $10 per picture, and the number of magazines I can submit photos to for publication has dropped, as has the number of issues produced each year.
In addition to this, the cost of an airfare between Canberra and Sydney is rarely less than $200, there is a car to hire at the end of the trip (there is a limit to how many times you can plead poor and ask your family to pick you up from the airport, run you to the track, pick you up again, etc, etc, nowadays I just hire a car and be done with it), parking at the airport at my end.
The solution, of course, is to turn from an editorial to a commercial focus, but currently this is compromised by the fact that there are struggles over what you can and cannot do with the IP that is created on metropolitan racetracks.
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