photographers need a union

This tirade is not directed at anybody personally because I know photo editors at magazines have very little control over how/when we get paid as photographers but after talking to several of my moderately successful editorial friends lately who are constantly experiencing the same thing, I need to get this off my chest.

A common theme when you talk to other editorial photographers is “i’m broke, even though I have 25 thousand dollars in invoices out to clients right now”. This business is set up to screw us over and over and take advantage of us in so many ways and there is basically nothing we can do about it. When you get an assignment, you typically have to front ALL of the expenses. So, when a magazine calls you last minute to fly to who knows where, USA and the plane ticket costs 800 bucks, that is going on YOUR credit card. Then, after the rental car and hotel and food also go on your business credit card, if you are a halfway decent human, you try to pay your assistant quickly because Lord knows, they are more broke than you are. So after doing an assignment that I may make 800 to 1,000 dollars on, I am usually out about 2 thousand in expenses at a minimum. I have about a total of three magazine clients that every pay me on time and the other 90 percent are usually two months overdue at a minimum. Some magazines don’t pay for 6 months. 

I’m busier than I’ve been in the last year right now, yet I have about 800 dollars in cash in my business account and my business credit card is maxed out. I’m not alone in this. About a year ago I loaned a good friend 1000 dollars just so he could book a ticket for a job while he was waiting to get paid. Then, last month that same friend loaned me 1000 bucks so I would have cash to spend while on assignment in europe because I had so many outstanding invoices out to clients. 

This should not be normal. I’m sick and tired of sending nicely worded emails to people asking about money that should have been paid to me 60 days ago. The saddest part is, if you pitch a fit or complain about it, they will just hire the next 25 year old who is eager and willing to bend over and grab their ankles. My life for the last three months has been juggling credit card bills for shoots, paying assistants in a timely manner and paying my mortgage and personal bills while constantly being on the verge of crisis, even though I have been working non stop and supposedly have money coming in. It’s not just me, every editorial photographer I talk to is having this issue. 

We need to stop being ashamed to ask for advances and sticking to a hard line on overdue invoices. Once you send a magazine high res images, before you’ve ever seen a dime, you basically now have no bargaining power. 

Again, I recognize that this is not every single magazine and that photo editors are not personally responsible for this. I have some wonderful clients who are on top of their shit and get me paid in a timely manner. I also know maybe I shouldn’t be whining about shooting photos for a living but this “living” is getting harder and harder to piece together, even though I’m working more than ever. 

This is all too common.