max s. gerber(the latest shot)

we all know that life in the photo world has been speeding up lately. where we used to wait for labs to develop our film and for fedex to deliver it to the client, now everything happens at T1 speeds. when i first got a modem on my apple IIc in 1985 i had a 300 baud modem and at that point i could type faster than the internet. now is a different story. (actually, given the shoddy service i’ve been receiving lately from charter maybe i could still type faster than the internet – thanks, charter!)

now it seems like all these photo-blogs face similar issues. we’re all in a mad scramble to update constantly to keep the attention of the readers. nevermind, of course, that these readers are most likely just other photographers and not those mythical art buyers who will swoop down and give us that six figure job we’ve been waiting for. but here’s the problem: when i do a shoot for a magazine what i’m licensing to them is the right of first publication. usually this means i don’t put any of the pictures from the shoot on my site until after that magazine makes their selections and goes to press. sometimes, though, this is many weeks after the shoot takes place. so i wait ’til i have the all-clear. the people who are hiring me are paying to produce the shoot, and for this it’s understood that they get the first crack at publishing any pictures from the take.

i’ve just assumed this is common courtesy, and a way to conduct this business in good faith. still, i frequently see other photographers post images from same-day shoots long before the magazine ever has a chance to publish them. what gives here? is this okay, and i’m just being a sucker? i’ve polled a few of the photo editors i’ve worked for on this issue and they seem pretty evenly split. some don’t mind, some would prefer i wait to post anything until after the mag comes out.

on some of the monthly pubs, though, it can  be a long agonizing wait. digital is a wonderful thing, and the availability of new information on the internet is a wonderful thing, but it makes waiting for gratification all the more arduous and strange.

in the meantime, here are a couple of old pictures from my backyard. birds on the telephone wires between the house and the garage. taken for no reason at all, and thus available for public consumption.