I think it's time I come clean about something....

I've turned into an asshole. Pure and simple.

I wasn't always this way. It took many screwings over several years by multiple entities to nurture my inner asshole-ishness to it's current state. I never wanted to be an asshole, I've always tried being fair and accommodating toward people, but people in general have slowly turned me into one.

Where am I going with this?

I got the "magazine tear" in the mail today. More specifically, I got a copy from a color laser printer as it appears here:

[link]

What's the problem? Well, it's nice and all, but it's not a genuine tear. I could have done the same thing off of my R1800 and have achieved a better looking print too since I've got the original high resolution PSD files, not to mention I use better paper (Ilford) and not something that feels like ancient fax machine thermal paper. So, what's the big deal you ask?

Anybody want to take me up on a bet that IT WAS NEVER A PRINT MAGAZINE TO BEGIN WITH? God knows I've never seen the mag at my local mag shop (and they carry some really obscure magazines from Europe that I've never seen before). What makes me think even more that these assholes were never legitimate to begin with is that that nice "niftmag.com" domain... it's registered under a private registration. NIIIICE! As we all know, legitimate businesses make it so you have to sue them to find out their contact information (which is exactly what you have to do with private registrations; a court needs to subpoena the domain registrar). Doesn't that just instill confidence in these guys? I know I get the warm and fuzzies thinking about it.

The additional insult? THEY CHARGED THE MODEL $30 FOR THE 8.5x11 PRINT! She told me this after the fact on the phone today. They wouldn't even give her a copy of the magazine either... and here's the kick in the shins folks, supposedly they all of a sudden decided to "go green" and became a web-only publication. The magazine is now a PDF file you can download off of the net for, get this, $19.95.

Now, anybody reading this, please answer this truthfully. How many of you are going to pony up $19.95 for a PDF file? My guess... not a single one of you. That's not a dig at any of you, but rather it's to illustrate my next point.

The only people who would buy a copy of that PDF file is either the models appearing in it, or a photographer who submitted their work to them and wants the tear. The whole thing reeks of being a take on the old "your work has been selected" art scam ([link]).

I'm willing to bet $10 that their business model is to convince models and photographers that submitting their work to them for free is beneficial to them for the exposure, but then charge the models and photographers to buy back a "tear" or the PDF magazine itself. They then run a contest where they charge people $1 to vote for their favorite model (and get the models to network and get people to vote for them) to get them to the #1 spot. Pretty "nifty", huh? I guess that's how they came up with the name.

I wouldn't doubt it if the whole thing is being run out of some guy's parents basement...

Oh yeah... almost forgot to mention; at the last minute they apparently pulled my photo of Michelle in the PDF magazine and replaced it with another photo of her that she submitted. So, even if you did buy the digital copy of the magazine, you wouldn't see a copy of my photo in it.

That pinup book that I was solicited to submit work to? It's pretty much the same BS. The author of the book is doing almost the same thing, except that he never brought up the issue of getting a tear/book. I talked to another pinup artist in my area that he solicited and he told her that she could buy copies of the book at a reduced rate.

Can you say "blow it out your ass?" I know I can! I had found that little bit of info out when I was debating going through with it. Maybe it's a bit more clear now why I didn't even bother asking him for copies of the book; I knew he wasn't going to do so. In short, it's a one-way street. I suspect he never told me that little tidbit of info over the phone too because he could tell I wasn't thrilled with his "recognition only" compensation.

For those interested, the name of the book is supposed to be called "Great American Pin-up Art", published by Schiffer Books out of PA, and should be released sometime in 2010. I won't be buying a copy; I hope none of you do either. None of the money is going towards the artists in the book.

Combine the above with everything else that I've put up with over the past couple of years, and there's very little wonder why I've turned into an asshole about doing trade with businesses, letting people use my work, etc.

Apparently though I'm in the wrong racket folks. I think I'm going to go into the phony magazine tear/book authoring business. If any of you want to get some free recognition, send hires copies of your work to me! I'll put it in a PDF publication that nobody cares about, and allow you to buy the PDF from me for $20 or buy a faxed copy of your work from me for $40. Any takers?

Jeeze... apparently I'm more popular than I thought!

[link]

So.. I'm sure most of you who read my last journal have been wondering what choice I made about having my work published in that book. I thought hard about it for a while and took everything into consideration. I even talked to another photographer that the author hit up that he wanted to use their work for free. My response to him was:


"Hello ******,

I received the paperwork that you sent in the mail the other day and I have had time to review it. After much consideration and debating, I have decided not to partake of this endeavor.

My work costs a not-so-insignificant amount of my time and capital to produce. The vendors who produce the products that I use to create the works of art that I make, be it Canon, Hensel Studiotechnik, Wacom, Temptu cosmetics, etc, all require that I compensate them financially for all the products of theirs that I use and do not accept recognition as a valid form of payment. Unfortunately that means I cannot accept recognition as a valid form of compensation for using my work in a commercial endeavor.

If you would like to discuss licensing my work for your book I am open to negotiating a fair rate that would be mutually beneficial to all parties involved. In lieu of that, I cannot accept recognition as compensation for my work appearing in a for-profit commercial publication.


Respectfully,

Manuel Rego"



I received a reply shortly afterwards. The response wasn't quite unexpected:


"Hi Manny,

I understand completely. Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.

Best regards,

******"


Am I a little disappointed? Yes. I'm not heart-broken though. Given everything I've seen, he was only interested in filling the book with whatever pinup work he could get his hands on, be it quality or crap work. While I'm sure that there'll be some people who let him use their work in this book for recognition only, while he and the book publisher profit from it, I'm fairly certain that it'll be work from individuals who just don't care about their work in the first place.

In the end I don't feel that it's fair that not only I, but THE MODELS in the photographs get nothing out of a commercial book and be asked to work for free. "Free Labor" in the United States was abolished on December 18, 1865. I find it upsetting that after an entire war, and not to mention nearly 144 years later, people still try to make slaves out of others in this country and profit from the hard work of others.

Today I was contacted by someone who works for a large book publishing firm. The individual had seen some of my pinup work that I had did with a particular model and wants to include my work in a pinup book that's going to be published shortly.

Now on the onset this is pretty cool. It means that I can say that I've been published, and that my work will be seen by a much wider audience. There's only one thing that's bugging me...

...they don't want to pay me to use the work.... :/


Yeah, you read that correctly. We're talking about a rather large book publishing firm here. They're going to be paying the editors of the book to put it together. They're going to be charging the public to buy the book. But, when it comes to the people who's work is actually going to be IN the book, they're supposed to work for free. :/

Part of me is saying NO for obvious reasons, but a part of me is saying YES since it does mean I get published, and my work will get viewed by a wider audience.

What say all? Yes or No? Should I say yes and ask that they send me some copies of the book too? Should I say no and tell them to go pound sand up their rectum? I'm seriously torn here...

Get your mind out of the gutter, I'm talking about the UPS truck.

UPS paid me a visit this morning and dropped off some new goodies from my all-time favorite store in the world: BHPhoto. Jeeze, I haven't felt like this since Christmas!