Free for all – a few words about giving away your services for free.

After a late night of retouching yet another photographic favor for a friend, I woke up this morning wondering why the value of free has diminished so significantly in the photo industry. Used to be, in the days of film, that if I shot someone’s pictures for free, I was lauded with praise, adorned with homemade cookies, or a cocktail, or even the occasional sultry flirtation. All these things were wonderful for my ego and made me feel that my benevolence was worth something to the recipients. Lately, I get the enthusiastic “thank you” when I agree to the free shoot and then I get an undertone of disappointment when I don’t turn the images around quickly enough. I get phrases like “can’t you just throw them into photoshop when you have some free time at night?”

Read the rest here at the APA.