Author: Leslie Burns

This issue is popping up again on the forums so I thought I’d mention it here. In the USA, if you want to do pro bono work, great, fabulous, but don’t look for a tax benefit from it. You cannot deduct the value of your donated time or services (and that includes usage fees). This is actually one of the clearest IRS rules out there. You can find it here, in Publication 526.

Those are the actual words used in that IRS publication, btw: You cannot deduct the value of your time or services.
Shockingly clear, especially for anything coming from the IRS, isn’t it?

Now, even though you don’t get to write of the value, you do want to preserve the value in the mind of your pro bono clients. You never know when Betty from your favorite charity will leave to work for Big Corp and want to hire you. This way, she’ll have a clue what the value of your services (and the industry in general) really are. You do this by showing on your invoice the full value and then noting a discount.

For example:

Creative Fee   $2500
Usage License   $3500
Total   $6000
Discount   -$6000
Balance Due $0

So I encourage you to give to organizations you believe in and want to help. But do it because it comes from your heart and forget about getting anything out of it. Just give.

Brilliant post by University of California (Berkeley) Law Professor Peter Menell on the reality of those who claim to want to “free” creative content to the people. Those claims of a grand social movement don’t jibe with the reality of their actions. And the comparisons they make are an insult to those who really wanted to make an important difference in our country.

Just a reminder that the BAP Super Premium Assignment No. 2 is due in the near future… just over one week. Are you working on it?

Don’t forget to tell your friends and get them to participate as well.

Can’t wait to see what you all come up with.

Stop what you are doing and watch this. Wired has this great video about their new iPad version. Note that this vid shows actual code, not CGI.

More importantly, note how they talk about this change is (very possibly) the one that will result in an experience users will want to pay for. Wired isn’t going to be giving their work away for free, it sounds like, even though there will be plenty of ads in the iPad edition.

Also note how they are encouraging sharing the content via social media tools. I’m assuming this means clips and links, not wholesale shifting of the content, but whatever it is, it means that your images will be seen by more and more people.

This change in publishing, what I think may indeed be THE change we’ve been hoping for, requires photographers to reconsider their pricing models. What used to be okay for print editorial should not be for this expansive use. And when it comes to the ads that will be in pubs like this, the game is also changed. How will the pricing work? That is something that needs to be worked out.

But I can tell you this: if photographers give it away now, in these early days, they will be setting a bar they will never be able to raise later.

We need metrics and an understanding of how the pubs will be billing advertisers to understand the relative value of images in both the editorial content and the ads in these new iPad-ish pubs. Now is the time to be open and to work WITH publishers, but that doesn’t mean rolling over on the numbers. Respect can and must go both ways on this. Photographers (and illustrators) are going to be more important to grabbing content consumers’ attention– the pubs know this. We need to figure out a fair and equitable way to help these pubs succeed and for creative content providers to get paid for their work.

Ideas?

Here are a couple of links to keep you busy today.

The first is Andrew Hetherington’s knock-off of the Dinner for Five idea– a roundtable (in this case literally) of photographers.

The second is a new photo industry info aggregator: The PhotographyPost.

Me, I’m going to be in bed, nursing a wicked cold and reading for law school. Lucky for me we didn’t have classes yesterday or today so I’m not missing anything for being sick… except my only break for the term. Poo.

I wish I had written this. Bravo.

If I weren’t going to be in the middle of my finals, I would absolutely be at this…

ASMP presents Copyright and the New Economy: Issues & Trends Facing Visual Artists

April 21 in NYC.

Damn. Should be great. Looks like the speakers and panelists are really knowledgeable people in these areas, including Prof. Lessig of Harvard, whom I have historically loathed for creating Creative Commons but who recently has begun to shift his views some. I’d love to hear what he has to say at this event.

So, I can’t go, but if there is any way you can, get yourself there. This is all about the legal and economic foundation of your livelihood!

Because I am a full-time law student, I simply cannot do a lot of what I would like to do for the industry these days. For example, I have to take a pass on working with many individual clients, and that hurts financially, of course. But also, I can’t follow up on many of the important news stories that affect the community– at least not anywhere near as much as I like. And that is frustrating. There are things happening of which I am aware, but I don’t have the time to research them as I would normally. Gaaah!

But this is necessary. Not doing now is what I must do in order later to do more and better. I focus now on my legal studies so that after I graduate and (please o please) pass the bar, I can really serve my clients well.

This is true for all of us. We have to make sacrifices now to get something better later. But sometimes I think we forget that. Sure, the culture these days is one of immediate gratification and that is a contributing factor, but I think as mostly individual businesspeople we feel the obsessive need to do everything and to do it right now. Once we start working for ourselves, somehow, not doing doesn’t seem like an option any more.

But it is.

Here are 10 reasons to not do:

1. You cannot do everything. It’s impossible, so give it up.
2. The more you do, the greater the probability (not “possibility” even) that you will suck at it. You won’t be giving anything the attention it requires.
3. Multitasking is the worst way to work. (see #2)
4. Trying to be all things for all possible clients dilutes your message so that in the buyer’s mind you are nothing special.
5. Delayed gratification makes you more grateful.
6. Taking the time to cultivate your vision means less $$ now but more in the long run, like over the course of your career.
7. Investments of time are at least as valuable as investments in money (or, increased skills = increased rates).
8. Focusing on doing the work that you love (and not doing the crap work) and building a business based on that may mean a business that starts more slowly, but it will have better legs.
9. Taking the time off to regenerate yourself will make you more productive.
10. Taking time to be with people you love, without the phone or work distractions, will improve your relationships resulting in a better mental state for you and more productivity overall.

Here we go. Assignment No. 2:

Concept/theme: The NYTimes has called (not really, of course, but play along) and they want you to produce an image to run with this story on the mortgage crisis (which I have made into a PDF because that way there are no images to lead you).

Now, some of you have never had to approach a problem like this so I’ll give you a big hint: pick one concept or point in the story and try to show/illustrate that. You cannot possibly show everything so don’t even try to.

Oh, and try not to cheat: that is, don’t go researching other similar stories to see what others have done. Read the article, think on it, think about what images pop into your own head as you read it, and go on that instead.

There’s much more room to interpret here than may first appear. (sounds like something you’d see in a creative’s car’s side mirror…)

Remember, you need to make a new image for this– not find something in your files. The whole idea is to create.

Due Date: 27 February 2010, by 11:59PM (PT)

Email your jpegs (no larger than 1200px on largest dimension, 72ppi) and please include your last name in the file name.

One last thing: please share this with others. Let’s get more photographers (and illustrators or other creative pros, sure!) to participate. Thanks.

Can’t wait to see what you come up with!!

Note: By submitting, you are granting me a license to post the image to this blog; I will not use the image in any other way.

Okay people, no excuses… the newest Creative Lube is available and, for this episode only, it is free to everyone for the next week. After 8am PT, Feb 4, you’ll only be able to get it via subscription or individual purchase.

You can get the podcast here for now.

I hope you find it informative and valuable, and that you will subscribe for future episodes. Thanks!