If you don't know the names Barry and Cathy Beck you haven't been paying attention. This dynamic duo have been in this game for decades and were pioneers in all things fly fishing and photography. Many, many, many of the big fly fishing journals, when we had many, used to use their images almost monthly. If it wasn't images for a feature story it was their stock images used for art, or advertising, or for manufacture's catalogues.
I had my first contact with Cathy when I wrote to her in March of 2010 looking for some help with the business end of fly fishing photography. You see, once upon a time, photography was an art form, that was property, and had real value. The picture sold the copy. And those were the days when magazines and newspapers used to send you on an assignment. Go shoot this, get these shots, here's what it'll pay. Now, it's, "Hey Colin do you have any images of fly fishing the Upper Delaware?"Really bro? And then I'll spend 40 hours pouring through the hard drives, make them low-res, send them, and then get the email, "Okay great, thanks, we'll let you know".
So, as I tried to merge my photojournalism background with fly fishing I reached out to the giants, and they got back to me after they returned from their beloved Argentina. She was always ready to stop and help anyone who needed it, even me. So, it's a little long, you can scroll through if you like.
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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: | Colin- HELP!! with an industry question |
Date: | Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:37:35 -0400 (EDT) |
From: | colin@theaverageangler.com |
To: | info@barryand cathybeck.com |
Hi Cathy-
My name is Colin Archer and I am a big fan and professional photographer in New Jersey. My agency, www.agencynewjersey.com, contracts primarily editorial work to magazines and what's left of the bigger newspapers. I have been fly fishing for twenty years and have slowly merged my passions for both at The Average Angler, theaverageangler.com. I have done a few articles for newspapers and fly-fishing magazines with a New Jersey based writer. It's always fun to do, but not good business, and here is where I am asking for a little advice and guidance.
I have run my photography business as a business. No spec work-unless for stock, contracts for everything, use rights clauses, chain of possession letters if the images are sent around their office, and get paid for everything. When I contact fly fishing editors and mention what my workflow is it's seems they get offended and are quickly not interested. One of my biggest sticking points is having images posted on an archive provider, Photoshelter, where an editor can edit and download right from there. That gives me an opportunity to show more and have them available for other uses. It is similar to sending a contact sheet back in the day. They would make selects and then we would make up prints.
Most magazines, have a "Send us all the high res tiff's and RAW files and we'll let you know." Always nice about it- but what journalist or artist would just send their work to someone, somewhere? And without a contract or anything in writing?
When the technological boom hit and killed photojournalism as we knew it, we as shooters had to learn to say "No", usually after giving away the farm during the learning curve. The newspapers "free" websites are now learning those lessons as they try and find a way to get people to now pay for content ( Example- One of our clients-The New York Times) . So now, it seems, I say no more than yes, and have to fight for what my industry says it right. Not to only to protect me and my business, but also the shooter next to me, or the one coming behind me.
As far as the money. Years ago, I know that was then, a magazine would commission an assignment. Expenses plus the day rates, plus something extra for a bag of chips. Now the monies they offer don't cover the gas. It seems to be a world of enthusiasts, hobbyists, and guides with cameras who make and share, provide or maybe even sell images as an aside. I know it is what it is. I can't tell you how many reader submitted pictures I see in The New York Times and even in National Geographic.
So, after all that I would like any advice you may have for a photographer making first contacts with the magazines, or now fly-fishing websites. I was recently in contact with an editor who asked me to send 5-6 Tiff's to be one of a group of featured photographers on a fly-fishing website- with no compensation. Moreso, where do all those files we submit to these magazines and fly fishing websites wind up? How are these photographers and writers paying the mortgage and sending their kids to college if pictures and stories have no cash value? Because we've already given away the farm? The promise of links, friends, and contacts- don't work when the bills are due.
I look at the advertising rates in all the magazines, and those ads are sold because of great images and stories- why do we take less than what the industry says we should? We as photographers, look to shooters like John Harrington for industry advise when it comes to treating photography as a business. I just don't see those principles used in outdoor magazines.
I want to do the right thing; I just don't know what that is anymore.
Thanks for any thoughts you have on this, and have a safe and prosperous year,
Sincerely and respectfully,
Colin Archer
732.261.7291
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On 3/29/10 9:32 AM, info@barryandcathybeck.com wrote:
From: Cathy Beck <cathy@barryandcathybeck.com>
Subject: Colin- HELP!! with an industry question
Date: April 1, 2010 at 11:34:08 AM EDT
To: colin@theaverageangler.com
Colin,
Your email arrived while we were in Argentina, so first of all, our apologies for not getting back to you sooner. All of your concerns are legitimate and of growing concern to all of us. The media world is changing fast and I'm not sure anyone has the answers figured out. For us, there are no industry guidelines. Photographers in our business have tried that and it doesn't work. We work with each client on an individual basis. The bigger clients have a better budget than the smaller ones but at the end of the day sometimes the work that goes out to the smaller ones balances out the fewer sales that we may get from our bigger clients. It's very time consuming and labor intensive, but we have to make payroll, pay the bills, and put food on our table. We don't turn anyone away.
Our submissions are all jpegs and once the client makes the selection, we send the hi res - usually downloaded to an ftp site. We try to watermark as much as we can but a lot of the time we have to trust our clients with our images. Embedded in the metadata is the copyright.
Although we don't have any answers, I hope this has helped. We'll be glad to correspond anytime, please don't hesitate to contact us again.
Cathy Beck
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Beck Photography
309 Upper Raven Creek Rd.
Benton, PA 17814
877-278-5638
570-925-2392
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I also had the pleasure of spending some time with Cathy after one of her woman's Fly Casting Classes at the old Somerset show. I enrolled my hopeful-to-be fly fishing partner and wife Theresa
into her class and they both had a great time. Theresa left their amazed on how good, and nice, Cathy was. And if you ever talked to Cathy, and Barry alike, both just made time stop when they were talking with you.
I stopped and said hello to Cathy at The Fly Fishing Show in Edison a few weeks ago. She was all smiles, as usual, and just doing her thing as she did every year that I can remember. One of them had penned a post on their blog January 25th, just a day before I would see her.
The Beck's lived in Benton, Pennsylvania, but the entire world was their backyard. They had a grueling schedule, for decades, between doing all of the major shows, owning a fly shop, travel assignments, hosted trips, presentations, and fund raisers. They were a true industry power couple. And continued to be until two days ago when Cathy passed away while on that trip in Argentina.
