Back When Photographers (like ME) got PAID for their WORK

I was going through my files when I came across this tearsheet.

Hmmm...why did I keep this? Then I realized, one of my photos must've been used in this issue of SPY Magazine.

I looked at the celebrity faces, and figured I probably took the photo of Buddy Hackett. Yes, indeed.

AND I GOT PAID FOR IT.

Those were the days. Imagine, a magazine doing some whimsical article and going to the trouble of contacting photo agencies with a list of needs, then going through selections on each celeb to pick the one they wanted...and WRITING A CHECK.

Oh yes...and giving PHOTO CREDITS, too:

Today, a newsstand magazine (endangered species) would probably use a free publicity photo. Maybe, if it had a website version as well, the photo editor would be subscribed to one of those cheap-o stock photo companies that offers a subscription for $25 a month, and gives a photographer a dollar each time an item is used.

Back in the day, I'd check the mail and get a surprise check from the photo agency I was with...usage in SPY or PEOPLE, or maybe on the NBC or CBS news. Or in a book. Pictures I took were like money in the bank. These days, the familiar phrase from photographers is "I'm SCREWED." As in: "The X agency is willing to buy ALL rights to my photo and pay me chump change." Or "I uploaded hundreds of photos to Z agency and still haven't made enough for them to bother depositing money in my Paypal account."

Hell, anyone with a cellphone can take celebrity pix and would be glad to brag about the credit and NOT be paid at all. Websites routinely grab pix off Facebook or anywhere and figure it's "fair use" or "public domain" or "freedom of speech" and dare anyone to send a lawyer letter (which these days costs more than what a photographer could reasonably ask for from the usage).

We used to be called "shutterbugs." Now we shudder, and we're bugged. We're told, "Oh, give your photos away. Get the credit. Make money with some 9-5 job like being an accountant or a school teacher or something." Right, and miss out on all the assignments that involve being around to take pix at an interview, and be too tired to go out in the evening and cover a premiere, banquet or some other event.

I contacted a very famous photo agency and explained that I had exclusive pix of a huge range of celebrities, from Henry Kissinger and Frank Sinatra to Joan Rivers and Sammy Davis Jr., and from Tim Curry and Billy Joel to Tennessee Williams and Harold Pinter. I was ignored.

I guess I forget to say, "...and I'll give them to you FREE, all I want is a CREDIT."