Photography is a hard business to be in, and newcomers trying to get into this field do what newcomers do in any field, which is to charge less in order to 'get their foot in the door.' This is hardly news. But I personally don't think that that's what is dragging prices down in photography generally.

With some glaring exceptions, certainly, most photographers take a cery unilateral approach to photography. They tend to think of their photographs merely as 'products' to be sold. They fail to see the educational value of their images, and therefore they miss a great many opportunities to make an impact with their photography in their own communities. And, also, in that regard, to make a name for themselves. I think that if you are well-known as a person in your community, photography acclaim will follow assuming that you are also a good photographer. The old axiom is this: YOU SELL YOURSELF, FIRST.

Let me give you an example of what I am talking about from another domain, from my own field of psychology. Hordes of newly graduated masters and Ph.D. psychologists every year rush to hang out their shingle for outpatient practice. They think that if they advertise that they are there, people will come. Not true. Nameless practitioners live pretty much in a nameless world - in psychology they see nameless folks sent to them from nameless bureaucrats. Many of these nameless practices close within a year or two because of these factors. They haven't done their homework, or made any kind of an effort to give bak to the community something of themselves. They don't sell themselves first.

Those who survive in any field do so because they make a mark somehow. They stand out. They push the envelope. They become involved in their communities. They speak out on issues important to all of us, not on issues just pertinent to photography. They touch others' lives. THey are not just nameless artisans selling nameles wares under the cloak of anonymity.

Getting back to photography, most photographers also do not have good business skills or good writing skills. Software, no matter how good, is no substitute for these skills. Photography in combination with other talents raises the ante significantly. The more a person has to offer a prospective client the more valuable they become in the long run as a provider.

Photographers also like to put 'the cart before the horse' by trying to sell photographs of subjects that they, themselves, do not fully understand. A photographer's most important tool is the library, not whether they have this or that lens in their Domke. Artie Morris understands birds, he knows their habits and biology, and his images are remarkable as a result. Artie is not just a good photographer with big lenses to be emulated for that reason alone.

Look at all the web sites out there today that are done by photographers. 99% of these sites are product-driven. They are merely cyber storefronts, which to me is not enough. Moose Peterson stands out as one of the best models, still, of how to use the web to sell photographs while also educating his cyber visitors. When you visit Moose's site you come away with technical information and conservation information that he has freely given away. I admire him for this. Even if Moose only sells a fraction of images via his web site, he is still way ahead of the pack in terms of visibility and connectivity with others. Moose is selling himself! Good things then follow...

There is also an old axiom about not selling something before its time. If one hasn't evolved into an impassioned artisan with high ideals and ethics and a real sense of place in the world, then maybe that person's efforts to sell his or her work is premature. An artist evolves slowly. I think the quickness of a shutter-release button probably fools many into thinking that their artistry evolves equally as quickly; it does't, As we mature as individuals we also mature as artists and professionals. The aging process and living life in all its complexity forms us, as well as our work. They go hand in hand.

If you are a musician you will understand that merely having a technical grasp of, say, the piano keyboard, is just the beginning of the long road to fame. The artistry comes with really knowing what's in your soul and in finding ways to adequately express those feelings via the keyboard. The keyboard is merely a means to a much larger end. First the musician feels, and only then can the song be heard by the rest of us.

I met a fellow photographer in Provence recently - Denis Brihat -we spent the afternoon with him and his wife, Solange, in their country home in Bonnieux. Such a wonderful experience that was! I went there expecting to meet a photographer and I encountered a Renaissance Man. We talked of great artists, great books, we philosophized about urban versus country living, and we shared stories about ourselves with each other. Then I saw Denis' work - which made sense, after getting to know him. His work, without knowing something of the man behind it, is unidimensional. But this multidimensional man brings great force to images that, as a result, literally jump out at you from the page!

At one point he was showing me an image of a dew drop on an iris that reflected the garden within itself - and as Deni's hands added expression to his words about the interconnectedness of all things, of all of life, I suddenly recognized my own mentor, physicist David Bohm, between the lines. We laughed, the connection there was so sudden and swift.

Denis sent me away with some samples of his work his work and I can hardly wait to get back to my study to prepare some work of mine to share with him.

This man works in black and white and uses chemistry in the darkroom to add color to various aspects of his image. It is a tedious, but privately thrilling, process to watch his own work evolve, he says. Most of his work over forty years of his career has been of fruits and vegetables, and flowers from his country garden in Bonnieux. He only makes three prints of a single image, and when they are sold he goes back into the garden to make some more, new, images. He has put his children through college and he lives a wonderful life in Provence because of the fruits of these labors.

That speaks volumes. Yes, I know, the pundits out there will be quick to say that we live in a cut-throat world, that we have to do things differently if we are, as photographers, to get ahead. How many of these pundits, I wonder, have sold their work in galleries all over the world like Denis has?

There is more to photography than photography, and it has to do with now rich and complex we are as individuals. Everything else follows.