Barack Obama and John McCain have Joe the plumber from Ohio. We have, let´s call him, John Smith, a friend of mine who used to live between New York City and Los Angeles.
I saw him again after a few years in LA during my last trip. He told me: I have to reinvent my life which wasn´t bad.
Until a few years ago, shooting stock, I used to make a couple of thousands with one of the big three and another couple of thousands with an english photo agency.
I also used to have assignments for 3 or 4 thousands and my life wasn´t that bad.
Now , when I´m lucky I make 200 hundreds bucks with the american agency and the same amount of money with the english agency.
Assignments? When I´m lucky I get one a month.
I´m 53, he continues, and I´m seriously thinking to go back to university.
What I´ve heard from "John Smith", it´s the same I´ve heard from a lot of photographers around the world.
It´s useless to try to hide the reality and the problems with agencies like PhotoShelter, Digital Railroad and others. The situation is dramatic and it was like that even before the recession which is now plaguing the world.
Pino Granata
Pino Granata is the founder of Italy-based Granata Images. Granata Images is now run by his sons and Pino works as an editorial and stock photo consultant. He is been working in this industry since 45 years.
Related:
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- "Is There A Future For Stock Agents?" (Sept. 20, 2006, by Jim Pickerell, Story 873, subscription required).
- Pino Granata: "Is there any future for photographers and agents?" (Sept. 16, 2006)
- Jason Pagan Launches Alternative Photojournalism Agency Anarchy Images (July 18, 2006)
