ARE PHOTOGRAPHER
DAY RATES GOING BACKWARDS?

            Seth Resnick, president of Editorial Photographers, a trade organization
 for assignment photographers, does not agree that many major publications are
 raising their day rate compensation to photographers.

            "Using the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the $375.00 paid in 1985
 is equal to a fee of $622.10 in today's dollars. Unfortunately, some of the
 same magazines that paid $375.00 in 1985 pay only $400.00 today. This is a huge
 step backward. The CPI shows that a fee of $400.00 today would have been equal
 to a fee of $241.12 in 1985. Essentially many magazines are asking us to take
 a pay cut of 35.5% from 16 years ago.

            "The costs of doing business today are staggering for all of us.
 Newsweek, for example, has made adjustments in the advertising rate to
 compensate for these costs. In 1985 the ad rate was less than $50,000 per page.
 The rate by 1999 was $154,750 and today it is $174,075, or more than three-fold.
 So Newsweek sees fit to triple its own revenue stream while photographers
 are being squeezed.

            "Newsweek's spokesperson, Mr. Weine, was quoted in the New
 York Times saying, ‘What we pay photographers is an internal matter.
 Newsweek is deeply committed to photojournalism and to maintaining our
 relationship with the finest photographers in the business.’ Mr. Weine
 should know that the relationship with photographers is rapidly deteriorating
 and the finest simply won't work with Newsweek at a lowered day rate.

            "The rate for me in 1985 was $375.00, and today the real value
 of the compensation being offered is 35% lower. If Newsweek thinks this
 is treating photographers fairly and with respect, they are mistaken. How would
 you feel, Mr. Weine, about your employer if you were offered compensation today
 that was the equivalent of 35% less than your salary from 16 years ago?"

GO FIGURE

            "My cost of doing business in 1985 was a $117.00 per day based
 on a 5-day week and 50 weeks per year. Doing 3 paid shoot days a week at $375.00
 per day allowed me to make a respectable living. My rent at that time was $279.00
 per month.

            "Today my costs, like magazine costs, have skyrocketed. In order
 to deliver the highest quality work, I have added computer workstations, high
 speed lines, color management, both digital and analog cameras, and many cases
 of lighting equipment. All of this is needed to make sure that my clients are
 delivered the highest quality product. My current cost of doing business is
 now $452.00 per day based on a 5-day week and 50 weeks per year. At a $400.00
 day rate, I would lose $52.00 per day working for many magazines. Ironically,
 my assistants were paid $75.00 in 1985 and today they make a minimum of $175.00
 from most magazines. For that increase, they have virtually no liability with
 regards to producing the images. So my assistants are now being paid more than
 double while I am now being paid an average of only $25.00 more than I was paid
 in 1985."