Why Colorado will fail as an industry is simple. Yes, I didn’t ask you why, I stated: Why Colorado will fail as an industry and not only will it fail, it has, was and always will fail as an industry. Normally at this point, I will start up on the wannabe models, the poor professionalism or the main one, the lack of fashion industry Colorado represents, but not today. Today, we talk about the one thing Colorado (and maybe your state as well) lacks which is the reason of it’s down fall:

MONEY!

The root of all evil. Bank. Benjamins. Bread. Dough. Greenbacks. Loot. Cheddar. Duckets. Gappers. Stacks. Paper. Dolla-Dolla-Bills. It’s why the Average Joe goes to work, its why we are free to do what we want to do. The problem is that in the digital world, the value is less and less on paying for quality, and more value on work for the sake of working. Am I against TF* work? No, not at all. I think it has a place with in the industry but I think there’s more TF* work than paying work. This becomes an issue for the simple fact people will be unable to advance their own careers. As a photographer first and business person second, the talk of money always makes me uncomfortable. If I had my way, I would shoot everyone for free all the time, however, I can’t pay the mortage with free photos to the bank. While I’m sure they would take them, they would also take my home.

Here in CO, most of everyone is a hobbyist. They do it because it’s “fun” and “Cool”. They litter their facebook pages with “Keep it classy” and “#modelstatus” and flood it with below level quality images.They want to be taken seriously as a model and want to do “#bigthings” but refuse to invest in their careers. In order to make money, you have to spend money, this can’t be denied. Some may argue that posting on facebook isn’t spending money and I disagree. To be effective in marketing you have to spend a fair amount of time doing it. Time = Money. So these young men and women wanting to be models can never afford to pay for a session, but are always posting about “#EDC” or “#global” and that they have to buy new outfits for these event “#firstworldproblems”. All these moronic hash tags are real hash tags by the way. After making such posts, they turn around and go to a photographer and ask for a free shoot. They become upset when they can’t get a free shoot.

Because of the lack of money, it’s difficult to find quality work. Because people no longer perceive photography as a valuable source, they are less inclined to pay for it. Sometimes I ask myself “Why be upset? some bloke will shoot her free!” Then I remember there’s a reason that bloke is shooting her free! The lack of money and the willingness to pay means there’s not a lot to go around. Because there isn’t a lot to go around, designers, boutiques and other merchants are not as inclined to pay for product shots. The fact that there is so little money to go around, people have taken to trashing their peers in an effort to build them up. The only problem? Those that are doing this, are shooting FREE!!

If you live in a market that is a hobbyist state, you need to band together. The larger markets have figured this out. It is easier to find and secure paying work if there’s a large network of working pros. They bounce gigs and info off each other. People here and other small markets think they’ve invented the wheel. They think what they are doing is unique and all theirs and they have to protect it. If you are confident about what you do, you don’t need to bash others.