The photographer is dead. Long live the photographer. by priscilla tienkamp

The photographer is dead

Long live the photographer Professionalization of photographers: strategies for the future

Final Report, Master of Arts in Art Management Title: The photographer is dead. Long live the photographer. Subtitle: Professionalization of photographers: strategies for the future Supervisor: Frans Brouwer Second reader: Hans van Dulken External party: ACF (Amsterdams Centrum voor Fotografie) - Chantal van Genderen Date of Defense: November 3, 2010, 20.00 hours. Student: Priscilla Tienkamp Email: p.tienkamp@gmail.com Tel. nr.: 06 34 84 92 80 Student nr.: 2060905 Master of Art in Art Management Pathway: Visual Art and Design management Work field: Photography management Front page photography: Karl Blossfeldt

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Preface Today, we celebrate the death and rebirth of the Dutch photographer. As the amount of assignments is declining, budgets are lowered, there is a cut down on subsidies and amateurs are entering the market, photographers are forced to reinvent their selves in order to survive â&#x20AC;&#x201C;or rather, to be reborn. This research does not only aim to lend a helping hand to these photographers. It is also created to make photographers aware of the current and future forces that are changing their profession. It has resulted in strategies that the photographer could use as a sort of guide in their professionalization adventure. Most photographers did not decide to be an entrepreneur because they wanted to create marketing plans, formulate strategies or control their cash flow. They became an entrepreneur because they wanted to be independent, determine their own working method and have a certain level of creative freedom, but most of all: to photograph. Therefore, what counts for everyday life also counts for this research and its results: letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not forget to be creative. The guidelines are mere guidelines. In this time when innovation and creativity are a center point of attention, it is more useful than ever to show off your creativity as a photographer. Not just in the end product, but also in the strategy.

Management summary Goal This research provides strategies for Dutch photographers to adapt to possible future scenarios of their professionalization process. The research is conducted with the aim to find out what the current state of the professionalization of the photographer is, what the future scenarios for this professionalization are and in what way Dutch photographers could adapt to these future scenarios. The final goal is to support Dutch photographers in a successful execution of their future professionalization process as well as making them aware of the influence that trends, resulting in future scenarios, have on this process. Current situation Due to the digitalization of photography, the photography process has become a lot faster, photos are taken (and deleted) much easier and images can be found anywhere (both in the digital as in the physical environment), because they are easily produced, copied and published or exposed in many other ways. Photography as an art form has been accepted by the market and is selling for high prices. Although there is a slight downfall in this development, photography is still generally sold for high prices in art fairs and galleries. The attention for photography by the government has grown over the last twenty years, bringing more possibilities to photographers to apply for different forms of subsidies. Moreover, this growing attention for photography by both the government and the public has caused the establishment of four new photography museums in the Netherlands in the last twenty years. On the other hand, the author rights are further and further pressurized by the digitalization, bigger media concentration and the increased use of standard contracts by the exploiters of author rights, like publishers and producers. Not only is the market getting smaller, the clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; photography budgets are also increasing. In news photography, amateurs are forming a serious threat, because their photos are published more and more as news photography, which causes the budgets, the number of images sold and the number of assignments for photography as an informative medium to decline even more than for the other two practices.

Future scenarios Looking at the main trends and current developments, at the first sight the profession of photographer seems to be dying out. It is not, but what defines a photographer certainly is changing. These are not just changes in a distant future. They are already taking place. However, most photographers seem to be unprepared. The strategies are based on the desired future scenario, called ‘the photographer is reborn’. At the same time, the strategy is used to stay as far away from the unwanted scenario (‘the photographer is dead’) as possible. The photographer is dead mainly shows an inability of photographers to attain entrepreneurial skills. They have massively succumbed due to cut down on subsidies, shortage of budgets and assignments. Media now are solely using free stock photography and amateur images, resulting in an absolute minimum in assignments for photography. Amateurs have taken over the market. Photographers are unable to control the massive illegal spread and use of images. By using several media, the quality of the products made by photographers has decreased dramatically. The photographers that have decided to stick to their medium, did not survive because the market was no longer interested in their still images. Because of all these negative developments, photographers have massively left the photography sector and are now working day-jobs just to pay the bills. The photographer is reborn shows that the photographer has evolved into a creative entrepreneur and is seen as an institute of knowledge on the art of photography and creativity. The photographer has found his niche market and is known as a ‘brand’ in this market. He effectively reaches this market by using a carefully selected set of online communication tools. He is combining different media to create a cross-media product that meets the wishes of his artistic integrity as well as the wishes of the market. The photographer has built up quite a stable financial situation by using different financial resources, like crowdfunding. Photographers and amateurs that were working for free or below the market either are only taken up assignments that fall outside of the scope of the professional photographer, have professionalized and are also working for marketconform prices or have not survived because their quality proved to be insufficient for the market. The strategies provide the photographer with the tools to attain the ‘The photographer is reborn’ scenario. ’Most important in the strategy are the development of several entrepreneurial skills, like branding and online communication and marketing. Context This research is executed as the Final Project (final thesis) of the Master of Art Management at the Utrecht School of the Arts. The external party of this research project is ACF: Amsterdams Centrum voor de Fotografie (Amsterdam Center for Photography).

Fig. 1: Word cloud of top100 words used http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/

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Readers’ guide Reader target groups Three target groups, one report. This report is made for the external party, the photographers and the Utrecht School of the Arts. Each target group has another reason to pick up and read this report. To not let this result in an unclear report with lots of irrelevant information, I’ve decided to structure it in such a way that every reader has his own sections that are most relevant. The irrelevant parts can be skipped without losing track of the overall story. The parts concerning methodology and argumentation can be found in the appendices. The appendices get the number of the chapter to which it refers, followed by its own number. For example, the criteria on which the choices in chapter 3 are based, are available in appendix 3.1. The general appendices include a table of the respondents, of the interviews held for this research and a cross reference table of the respondents’ answers. They are referred to as appendix 1 and appendix 2. Structure of the report The first chapter in this research introduces the reader to the research problem, motivation, goal and questions. In the second chapter, the research method is briefly discussed. More on the research method can be found in appendix 2.1. Chapter 3 defines what the criteria for and characteristics of photographers are in the light of this research. The strategy formation model is defined in chapter 4. A discussion of the current status of the photographer’s professionalization can be found in chapter 5, as well as a definition on professionalization. The chapter ends with an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the current professionalization state. In chapter 6 the trend analysis and trend analysis model is defined. It is followed by a trend analysis that discussed the cultural, social, economic, political, media, technological and international trends. This trend analysis results in future scenarios, which are described in chapter 7. In the conclusion the strategies for photographers are defined. It is followed by the recommendations to the sector. The reference list that follows, is categorized in books, articles (print), reports, essays and theses, internet sources, interviews and debates, seminars and presentations.

Table of contents Preface ........................................................................................................................................... 7 Management summary ................................................................................................................. 8 Readersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; guide .............................................................................................................................. 11 1. Introduct ion .............................................................................................................................. 14 1.1 Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the problem? ......................................................................................................... 14 1.2 Why do research? ............................................................................................................. 15 1.3 Research goal and questions ............................................................................................ 17 2. Research method ...................................................................................................................... 18 3. The photographer .....................................................................................................................20 3.1 Are you a photographer? ..................................................................................................20 3.2 The three practices of the photographer ......................................................................... 23 4. Strategy formation ................................................................................................................... 25 4.1 Introduct ion ..................................................................................................................... 25 4.2 Strategy formation model for the professionalization process of photographers ......... 26 4.3 Critical note: an intuitive approach to strategies ............................................................ 28 5. Professionalizat ion: current state ............................................................................................ 30 5.1 Defining professionalizat ion ............................................................................................ 30 5.2 Current state .................................................................................................................... 31 5.3 Strengths and weaknesses of the current state ................................................................39 6. Trend analysis .......................................................................................................................... 42 6.1 What is a trend analysis? ................................................................................................. 42 6.2 Globalizat ion of trends: the American perspective ........................................................ 44 6.3 Trend analysis execut ion: the influential trends...............................................................45 7. Future scenarios ........................................................................................................................85 7.1 What is a future scenario? .................................................................................................85 7.2 Scenario execut ion: possible future scenarios.................................................................85 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 87 Recommendat ions .......................................................................................................................91 Reference list ............................................................................................................................... 94

Appendices ................................................................................................................................. 103 Appendix 1: List of respondents and their characterist ics ................................................... 103 Appendix 2: Responses cross-reference table ..................................................................... 104 2.1 Data collect ion method ................................................................................................. 118 2.2 Data selection and analysis methods............................................................................. 120 2.3 Design and course of the interviews............................................................................... 122 4.1 Discussion on the strategy formation model ................................................................. 124 5.1 Defining professionalizat ion ..........................................................................................129 7.1 Future scenario writ ing method ..................................................................................... 132

1. Introduction 1.1 Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the problem? In 2005, photographer and writer Hans Aarsman stated that photography was awaiting some great changes. (Aarsman, 2005) He wrote that this had all to do with the digital area, the upcoming of amateur photography in journalism and the explosive spread of images throughout the Internet. He saw that a lot of photographers felt threatened in making a living out of their profession. On top of that, the recession would also pay its due. These developments will make photographers act in strange ways, trying to save what's left of their profession, concluded Aarsman. Aarsman was (and is) not alone in his vision (e.g. Barents, 2005: pp. 39-41; Specht, personal communicat ion, May 24, 2010: Lalor L., personal communicat ion, May 25, 2010). In the last five years, some mayor changes had their effect on the professional life of the photographer. Back in 1991, researcher Bart Hofstede was the first to describe the process of professionalization in photography in the Netherlands in his research 'Fotografie als beroep: Professionalisering van fotografie als beroep' (Photography as a profession: professionalization of photography as a profession). (Hofstede, 1991) In relation to labor unions and governmental assignments, Thijssen described the same process, starting after WOII and ending in 1965 (Thijssen, 2002). They both concluded that there was a certain tension between the wish for autonomy and the independent character of the photographer, and the wish for more financial stability and regulations. How has the professionalization process evolved since the research of Hofstede? What changes are yet to come, looking at the upcoming trends in the macro-environment of the photographer? These questions are relevant to the photographer, its environment and the researchers in this area. By revealing the current status and the possible future of the photographerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s professionalization, the possible opportunities and threats in this professionalization process are explored, which gives a legitimate ground for recommendations for further professionalization. However, recommendations on further professionalization cannot be given without taking into account the upcoming trends in the macro-environment of the photographer.

Exploring these trends and their possible influence and confronting these outcomes with the current state of the professionalization and the possible problems for the future named by photographers and photography experts, provides legitimate ground for strategies for the photographer to adapt him- or herself to the possible future scenarios of their professionalization. Talking Turkey, a research on strategy formulation in small creative organizations has showed that in this sector strategies are not made explicit but are present (Kolsteeg, 2010). The researcher claims that the entrepreneurs in this sector have a low awareness of the usefulness of strategy formulation, and at the same time have a high need for strategy formulation and implementation. Taken into account the large comparability of this sector with the photography sector, it is likely that the same paradox is present in the photography industry. Explorative interviews for this research have also shown that explicit strategy formulation and implementation are hardly ever used by the interviewed Dutch photographers. At the same time, the photographers did express the need to know ‘what’s coming’ and to define a direction for their business. This research will only discuss the professionalization process of Dutch photographers. It provides strategies for Dutch photographers to adapt to possible future scenarios of their professionalization process. The research is conducted with the aim to find out what the current state of the professionalization of the photographer is, what the future scenarios for this professionalization are and in what way Dutch photographers could adapt to these future scenarios. The final goal is to support Dutch photographers in a successful execution of their future professionalization process as well as making them aware of the influence that trends, resulting in future scenarios, have on this process. This will help the work field of Dutch photography in the sense that they ‘know what’s coming’: they will be able to adapt to the new developments in their field. As a side-effect, this research aims to provide Dutch photographers with a higher awareness of (the usefulness of) implementing strategies to keep up and increase their business.

1.2 Why do research? Interest for the work field of art management Although the work field of art management and research in this field is nowadays strongly focused on the creative industries, there is hardly any information available on the photography industry. How do photographers work and how will they work in the future? What does their environment look like and what will it look like in the future? These questions are desperately seeking an answer.

Photography is a difficult profession to place in the field of art management and even in the general art sector. It balances on the edge of autonomous and commercial as well as on the edge of visual and applied arts, or even media. Because it is hard to define, the industry is often ignored when it comes to the creative industries, creative entrepreneurship and art management. Even in the Arts and Economics faculty at the Utrecht School of the Arts - where this research is executed - photography management is often neglected and it is uncertain where you need to be when you want to become a manager in this sector. To conduct research in this work field will hopefully bring more acknowledgements to this field as well as a better insight in what an art manager could contribute to this sector. Interest for the external party The external party of this research project is ACF: Amsterdams Centrum voor de Fotografie (Amsterdam Center for Photography). This organization has the mission to structurally support young talent in photography, build bridges between amateur and professional photography and maintain close contact with the photography sector. ACF has its own exhibition and workshop room in the center of Amsterdam, where they regularly organize exhibitions, master classes, presentations and workshops. The ACF supports and initiates innovation and research in photography. Chantal van Genderen, coordinator of ACF, will represent the organization as my external party. The external party will assess the Final Report in terms of its relevance for the work field. Moreover, the external party will be part of the panel during the defense of this Final Report. By contributing to this research project as an expert in the work field, the external party also gets an early insight in the current status and the future scenarios of the professionalization of photographers, as well as an insight in the opinions on this topic of other experts in the field. Professional development of the student This research has helped to get a more detailed insight in the profession of the photographer, the industry that surrounds the photographer, as well as an insight in an - in the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes - important and relatively unknown research method for the studying of (creative) industries: futures studies (writing future scenarios based on a trend analysis). Researching the current status of the professionalization of the photographer as well as (the challenges for) the future of this professionalization, also provides the student with an insight in the role that an art manager could play in the life of the photographer.

1.3 Research goal and questions Research goal This research will provide Dutch photographers with strategies to adapt to the future scenarios of their professionalization. Main question What strategies can be formulated to provide Dutch photographers with a possibility to adapt to future scenarios of their professionalization? Central questions 1. What definition of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;photographerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; can be set by using criteria specific for this research? 2. What frame can be set for the strategy formation process, taking into account that this process will be used to formulate strategies for the professionalization of photographers? 3. What can be said about the professionalization of photographers in terms of the current state of their professionalization and the challenges that there are for further professionalization of photographers? 4. What are the future scenarios for the professionalization of the photographer?

2. Research method Research strategy In this research, there is hardly any numerical data. Qualitative research is the best method for this research. The existing data on the previous, current and future state of professionalization of photographers is almost entirely non-numerical. Moreover, the perception of the photographers and photography experts is a central issue in analyzing the current state of the professionalization and the challenges for the future. Quantitative research is insufficiently able to give an insight in perceptions. (Verhoeven, 2007: 98). Collecting non-numerical data and doing in-depth interviews is needed to get an insight in the perception of individuals. Research design The method of longitudinal data collection is used in this research. This method is often used when trends are researched, which is the case for this research. (Verhoeven, 2007: 79) To provide a solid scientific base for this research, data on the professionalization of photographers that was collected in earlier research projects on topics that show a lot of similarity with this subject are being used. This data, for example the data in the research 'Fotografie als beroep: Professionalisering van fotografie als beroep' (Photography as a profession: professionalization of photography as a profession) by Bart Hofstede (Hofstede, 1991), provide a basis to give an insight in the previous state of the professionalization as well, which is needed to be able to analyze the current and future state of the professionalization. Comparing the previous, current and future state of professionalization is a legitimate method for future studies. (Duijn van der & Stavleu, 2006) Research method Most of the text is based on a combination of literature and interviews. Literature here should be seen in its broadest way, starting with the classic management books to photographerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blogs. The interviews were done with experts that helped to determine the current state of the professionalization of photography as well as the challenges for future professionalization. In this case, the experts are Dutch photographers or other people working in the photography field. They were chosen because they were best able to give an insight in the current and the future work field of photography in the Netherlands.

To come up with strategies for photographers, future scenarios are written. These are short stories that sketch an image of the possible futures for photography. The future scenarios are based on a trend analysis, where relevant trends that (could) have an impact on photographers are discussed. The way in which the data is selected, processed and analyzed is different per â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;resultsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; chapter. Each results chapter is based on one central question. The different paragraphs per chapter are based on the research questions per central question. Each chapter starts with its own theoretical framework, which provides a theoretical model. The data have been processed according to and within the boundaries of this model. Appendix 2.1: Discussion of and argumentat ion for the research strategy, design and methods Appendix 2.2: Discussion of and argumentat ion for the data collect ion method Appendix 2.3: The design and course of the expert interviews

3. The photographer 3.1 Are you a photographer? Criteria for the target group A definition of ‘photographer’ in photography literature is almost non-existent. This might have the simple reason that, in essence, making a photo automatically makes you a photographer. So then, in what way could a photographer be defined? What ‘makes’ a photographer? In this chapter, the above question is answered by giving the criteria that are used in this research to define a photographer. Both the economical, legal and creative aspects of being a photographer are discussed. Categorized in types of photography A quick analysis of the websites of both photographers, photography agencies and labor unions for photographers done for this research showed that they usually categorize photographers based on content categories in photography, e.g. fashion photography, industrial photography. This system does not work for this research, because it does not judge whether a photographer is a ‘professional’; it only discusses the contents of the work. An alternative to this system is provided by Hofstede in his research on photography as a profession (Hofstede, 1991: 43-52). His system is based on three practices in photography: photography as an artistic medium, photography as an informing (or news) medium and photography as a functional medium. Each practice is based on an ‘ideal’ situation in which a set of characteristics coexist, defining the type of assignment, the type of client, the type of medium in which the image(s) will be used and other characteristics of the practice. (for further reading, see chapter 1.2) Because this research focuses on the professional aspects more than on the artistic (content) aspects of the profession of the photographer, the system of Hofstede is highly applicable to categorize the professionalization of photographers in terms of the practice of the photographer, as well as judge whether a photographer should be included in this research. Business issues When a photographer wants to join a Dutch photography federation or association, they will need to be registered at the Dutch chamber of Commerce with a certain legal form (SVFN, 2010; BFN, 2010; PANL, 2010; DIPP, 2010).

The possible legal forms (in the Netherlands) are: Sole Trader, General Partnership, Limited Partnership, Partnership, Private Limited Liability Company, Association or Foundation. Freelance photographers can choose to register as a Sole Trader or as a freelancer (In the Netherlands: ZZPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;er). In this research they are referred to as selfemployed photographers, freelancers or entrepreneurs. Photographers that are under a fulltime contract and not do any freelance work are excluded from this research, because the activities and therefore the professionalization issues of this type of photographer differ too much from the entrepreneurial photographer. This issue is the same for all sectors: there is a big difference between an employee under contract and an entrepreneur. An example: the entrepreneurial photographer has to attract clients, whereas the photographer that is under contract has his employer as the client. This causes a gap between the daily activities of the photographer under contract and the entrepreneurial photographer. Moreover, photographers that are entrepreneurs because they are registered as such with the Dutch chamber of Commerce but are also included in a database of a photography agency, are sometimes included in this research. This depends on their core activities: if their activities still are more or less the same as those of photographers that are not connected to an agency, they will be viewed as an entrepreneurial photographer and therefore are part of the target group. Secondly, retired photographers are also excluded from this research, because they are no longer in business and therefore have no use for strategies for further professionalization. Thirdly, student photographers do not form the main target group of this research because they are not yet actively executing their function as a professional photographer. However, they are in some cases mentioned in this research, because they will be entering the market soon and this research is aimed at strategies for the future. Therefore, the results of this research will also be of great use for them as soon as they enter the market as a professional photographer. Economic issues During the orientation interviews with photographers held for this research, it soon became clear that the financial crisis has caused a large decrease in photographic assignments and in the income of most photographers. When this research would demand a certain minimum percentage of the income of a photographer to come directly from photography, only a small group of photographers would be considered to be professional, excluding a lot of relatively successful and experienced photographers. Therefore, this standard is reformed: to be considered a professional photographer in this research, the photographer must have photography as their core business and have the intention to attain a considerable part of their income from photography.

A second argument also influences this decision. The quick online analysis mentioned earlier in this chapter, showed that a lot of photographers are working in multiple professions. These professions are usually related to photography in one way or the other. Some of the respondents in the orientation interviews also mentioned working in other disciplines as well, i.e. graphic design, film, publishing (Wisse P., Personal communicat ion, March 2, 2010; Lalor, Personal communicat ion, May 25, 2010). These alternate professions could also provide alternative sources of income, which makes it irrelevant to demand that a certain percentage of income comes from photography. Artistic and creative issues Photography as a sector is part of the creative industries. Although exact definitions may vary, the creative industries are usually described as those industries where creativity is the center point and the initial creation (of shapes, meaning or symbolic value) is the core activity. (UK Government, 2001: 5; Ministerie van Economische Zaken et al., 2009). Because the scope of this research lies within the creative sector, creativity must also be a center point and creation a core activity for the photographers that are part of the target group. Just like with the other creative sectors that are part of the creative industries, the work of the photographer has economic / commercial aspects as well as artistic / creative aspects. Both have to be taken into account when discussing the professionalization of the photographer. For the same reason, photographers that work oalmost entirely on a technical basis are not included in this research, because technical skills instead of creativity is at the center of their work. (Hofstede, 1991: 45) Recapitulation In this research, photographers do not need to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;proveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; that they are to be considered a photographer by being able to make a living solely out of photography or by actively promoting themselves to be just one type of photographer, but by showing that they are a photographer in their daily practice. The basic ground for this is that they have a certain legal form by which they can legally make an income from their work as a photographer. However, most important is that they are acting out their practice as a photographer, both in a creative as in an economic sense. The Three Practices Model by Hofstede is able to translate this conclusion into a workable model for this research.

3.2 The three practices of the photographer This chapter is largely based on the research report 'Fotografie als beroep: Professionalisering van fotografie als beroep'. (Hofstede, 1991: 43-52) The Three Practices Model is based on three practices in photography: photography as an artistic medium, photography as an informing (or news) medium and photography as a functional medium. The three practices introduced by Hofstede are purely theoretical and do not exist in real life; it does not concern three groups of photographers, three types of photos or three types of photography. Most photographers function in at least two of these practices and the different characteristics of the practices can coherently exist in one assignment or one production. Then how can this abstract model be representative for the real situation of the photographer? Each practice has its own set of characteristics, which discusses the type of client, the medium in which the image is used, etc. The set of characteristics that together form one practice, can be seen as an ideal situation. In most situations the greater part but not all of these characteristics will be present. However, by using the model of the three practices, one is able to categorize the practice of the photographer in one or more of the practices by looking at the set of characteristics. Hereunder, I will describe the characteristics of the three individual practices. The characteristics are determined by Hofstede. Some critical notes, mostly derived from changes in the current situation, are named at the end of the paragraphs. Photography as an artistic medium The central goal of this practice is to make art. The photographer determines the working method and the subject. The legitimization lies in being an individual artist. Competition with other photographers is present in all stadia of production. The frame of reference consists out of the subjective frame of the photographer, the photographer is loyal to himself and sometimes to the subject. These photographers usually make a living as a small entrepreneur out of scholarships, grants, subsidies of a local or federal government, sometimes social security. The earnings are low in this practice. Photographers in this practice are badly organized as a collective. The photography prices are unprotected and usually no hourly wage is determined. The photographer largely works on its own initiative. Therefore, it is not clear whether the work will be sold and at which price. Photography as an informative or news medium The goal of this practice is to portray subjects with a certain topicality or with a certain value for the target group of the informative medium where the image(s) will be published / exhibited. The goal of the photographer is to inform its audience.

The photographer determines the working method, but the client determines the subject. The legitimization lies in the right to inform the public. The competition with fellow photographers takes place during acquisition (Genderen van, personal communicat ion, 2010), shooting and sometimes during publication. Being informative is the frame of reference. Because the photographers usually have a loose relationship with their clients, their loyalty lies with the public and sometimes with the subject. The rate of production is usually quite high and there is a high level of competition, especially for the entrepreneurial photographers. It is normally unsure if their images will be published and therefore if they will be profitable. Photographers that work in this practice have a high level of freedom in the way in which the subject is portrayed and in determining the quality criteria. They usually are freelancers, work for a news medium or for a news photography agency. The level of creative freedom is closely related to the policy of the medium for which they work. Photography as a functional medium The central goal of this practice is to properly execute an assignment. The client determines the style of photography and the subject. The legitimization lies in the craftsmanship and in being part of a profession. The competition with fellow photographers takes place during the acquisition. The frame of reference is the subjective frame of the clients; the loyalty also lies with the client. Photography as an informative medium is by far the most executed and most lucrative of the three practices. Lots of photographers earn an additional income in this practice and there are also a lot of photographers that use photography as a functional medium as their only source of income. These are usually the ones that have had a vocational training; they are craftsmen that are able to produce a solid image. Within this practice, there are several practices that are divided according to their content: fashion photography, advertising photography, architectural photography. Their common factor is that the client determines whether or not the image is right. These practices are related to photography as an artistic medium, because they demand more from the photographer than just craftsmanship.

4. Strategy formation 4.1 Introduction The goal of this research is to formulate strategies for further professionalization of photography. These strategies are based on the current status of professionalization and the future perspectives for this professionalization process. To unambiguously formulate strategies for the professionalization process of the photographer, it is useful to come up with a theoretical model that is used in this strategy formulation process. Therefore, two existing models are discussed that show some usefulness for this specific research, ending in a theoretical framework that will be used to formulate the strategies in the conclusion of this research. Two theories and related models are discussed. The first one is that of Giep Hagoort in his book Art Management. (Hagoort, 2005: 89-106) This model is used to formulate strategies for art organizations. Although it is more suitable for organizations, in particular nonprofit organizations, it includes an artistic and creative dimension of strategy formulation, which is quite useful for the field of photography. If we look at the three practices of photography that form the frame of reference for this research, we see that the artistic and creative dimensions play a role in at least two of the three practices, which sets the standard for giving right to these dimensions in the strategy formation model for this research. The second method is that of writing strategic scenarios, which is suggested by Matthieu Weggeman in his book Leidinggeven aan professionals? Niet doen! ( Leading professionals? Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t). (Weggeman, 2007: 55-65 ) This model is adapted to the so called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;dynamics of the Global Casinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, the current environment in which changes happen fast and usually with great surprise. Weggeman suggests his method for professionals that have an individualistic character and working method. The more ad hoc and practical approach of this model fits the character and nature of the photographer, which was described by Bart Hofstede as very individualistic and independent. (Hofstede, 1991: 38) The model that is suggested in this chapter combines the above named models in a way that best suits the specific situation of photography as a profession as well as the framework of professionalization in which this research is placed.

To create this model, the process of strategy formulation as described by Keuning in Grondslagen van het management (Basics of management) was also used. (Keuning, 2003: 172-205) This model showed a lot of similarities with that of Hagoort and no specific elements have been processed that have not been named in the description of Hagoortâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s model. Therefore, it has been decided to not discuss it any further. However, this model does provide a great basis for further adaption to a specific situation, and therefore deserves to be mentioned in this chapter as a basis of the definite model used in this research.

4.2 Strategy formation model for the professionalization process of photographers The following strategy formation model is used in this research. This model is quite similar to the six key processes model of Hagoort, with the exclusion of some elements and some elements that show more similarity with the strategic scenarios of Weggeman. 1.

Collective ambition (Weggeman, 2009; Hagoort, 2005) Clear language, never more than five sentences, containing the following aspects: 1. Financial purpose 2. Perspective of more than five years 3. Specification of the target groups 4. Formulation of relationship with the external environment 5. Framework for shared values

Strategic motive (Hagoort, 2005) Why is there a need for new strategies for the professionalization of photographers?

Strategic gap (Hagoort, 2005) Revealing the strategic gap by determining what competences and activities are needed to realize the collective ambition.

Environmental research (Weggeman, 2009; Hagoort, 2005) Research carried out to create an insight into the trends that will influence the existence and/or functioning of the organization, according to eight environmental elements: ecology, culture, society, economy, politics, media, technology and international factors.

Future scenarios (Weggeman, 2009; Hagoort, 2005) A description of the possible future position of the photographic practice, taking into account the results of the environmental research and the collective ambition.

S/W analysis (Hagoort, 2005) Reveals the weak points well as the strong points of the most important developments in the current professionalization process of the photographer.

Strategic plan (Hagoort, 2005) Formulation of strategies for both the near future (less than five years) and the long term (more than five years). Names the main strategic choices, the consequences of the new strategy for the management processes (finance, marketing, internationalization, location, digitalization, research and development) and the desired organizational structure and culture (generalizable for every photographer in the practice).

This model has been used as a basis and is integrated in the structure of this research.

Appendix 4.1: the discussion on the two models from which this model derives

4.3 Critical note: an intuitive approach to strategies

Fig. 4.1: Strategic thinkers. (Gilkey, Caceda & Kilts, 2010) The first sources on strategies and strategic thinking mention several variations on the ‘flash of insight’ as a strategic tool. However, since strategic ideas spread from the military to business, the government, and other organizations, flashes of insight were ‘lost in translation’, William Dugan argues in his book Strategic Intuit ion. (Duggan, 2007: 1-2) He gives the example of 1980s Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy, which became the reigning paradigm in business. It explains how to analyze your own strategy in light of the industry and the competitors, but it does not explain how to come up with a strategic idea. According to Duggan, this is an important, creative step that Porter leaves out. (Duggan, 2007: 1-2) In a recent study, managers in an executive MBA program were asked to react to fictional strategic and tactical management dilemmas. Their brain activity was measured to look at how the brain regions were interacting. (Gilkey, Caceda & Kilts, 2010) “The area of the brain people tend to associate with strategic thought is the prefrontal cortex, known for its role in execut ive function. It allows humans to engage in anticipat ion, pattern recognition, probability assessment, risk appraisal, and abstract thinking. Those abilities do help managers solve problems. However, when we examined the best strategic performers in our sample, we found significantly less neural activity in the prefrontal cortex than in the areas associated with “gut”

responses, empathy, and emotional intelligence (…). In other words, the conscious execut ive funct ion was downplayed—while regions associated with unconscious emotion processing operated more freely. (….) What’s more, the strongest performers’ tactical reasoning (…) also engaged the part of the brain (…) associated with parsing sensory st imuli and anticipat ing other people’s thoughts and emotions— for instance, understanding how action plans would be received by the workers charged with implement ing them.” (Gilkey et al., 2010)

Gilkey, Caceda and Kilts state that IQ-based reasoning still is valuable in both strategic and tactical thinking, but that managers, as there are becoming better strategists, integrate their brain processes; strategic thought entails at least as much emotional intelligence as it does IQ. They suggest that companies should approach strategy and its execution more holistically, instead of solely focusing on facts to base their strategies on. (Gilkey et al., 2010) William Duggan states that it is a widely accepted idea that you need competences like innovative, creative, strategic and entrepreneurial thinking to succeed in the modern world. He claims that all these kinds of thinking happen through flashes of insight, which he sees as strategic intuition. Ordinary intuition is a form of emotion: feeling, not thinking. Strategic intuition is the opposite: thinking, not feeling. (Duggan, 2007: 2-3) The respondents of the interviews held for this research implicitly express their view on the best strategies several times during the interviews, drawing on their thoughts about the photographers that they see as an example or just on their own intuition. These keywords or small phrases are included in the cross-reference table in appendix 2 of this research. They are also used to formulate strategies, combining them with the results of this research to come up with strategies that do right to both the results of the strategic model as to the flashes of insight of the most important strategic thinkers in this research: the photographers.

5. Professionalization: current state 5.1 Defining professionalization Professionalization in this research will be viewed as: All act ivit ies in organizing and inst itut ionalizing of the professional photographer (as defined in chapter 3) that lead towards craftsmanship, meaning the way in which the photographer executes his profession and keeps improving himself in terms of knowledge, skills and att itude as well as the act ivit ies of stakeholders that directly improve or set back the professionalizat ion process of the photographer.

Organizing concerns organizing financing, education, clients, marketing, etc. Institutionalizing concerns the realization of norms for quality, pricing, value. In this research, both the attempts of the photographer to professionalize himself as well as the activities of the direct environment (like galleries, federations, museums) that have a direct influence on the professionalization of the photographer are included. There are two main pathways in professionalization: one that focuses on the collective actions of the profession, and one that focuses on the activities of the professional himself. However, the issue of collective action is a problem when it comes to photographers. The photographers that were interviewed for this research almost unanimously mention the individual character of the photographer, caused by the nature of their profession: being dependent only on themselves to attain a high quality image, mostly creating, producing and distributing their work individually. (e.g. Hesper, 2010; Luijtgaarden van der, 2010; Veeger, 2010) In a report about professionalization of IT-organizations, organization consultant Van der Krabbe (2007: 3) defines professionalization as a phenomenon that includes all activities that lead to craftsmanship. The perspective of Van der Krabbe does more right to the individual character of the photographer than the more collective perspective. However, the former research on the collective actions in the professionalization process of the photographer (as executed by Hofstede and Thijssen) as well as an analysis of the increase of Dutch institutes in photography (see: 5.2), show that the collective aspects of professionalization in photography are in a constant development as well. These aspects are included in this research only when these institutes have a certain influence on the professionalization process of the photographer as an individual.

Appendix 5.1: An argumentat ion on the chosen definit ion

5.2 Current state

Introduction According to Flip Bool, both on a national and international level photography has experienced three major changes since the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;90s: digitalization of the medium, acceptation of photography as art and a growth and strengthening of the infrastructure for photography. (Bool, 2007: 12). His statement is confirmed by the information that the respondents gave in the interviews as well as by an analysis of current news articles on photography. The analysis of the current state is also based on these three pillars. One thing about photographers seems to be timeless: they tend to be very self-driven and autonomous in their work and working method. Also, they attach great value to freedom in their working method. (Hesper, 2010; Luijtgaarden van de,2010; Hofstede, 1991)

Digitalization of the medium The camera as friend â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and enemy Rob Philip states that the cameras of today are brilliant (Philip,2010). The digital cameras have opened up the market to amateurs as well as providing all kinds of new possibilities for professional photographers. The photography process has become a lot faster, photos are taken (and deleted) much easier, and images can be found anywhere (both in the digital as in the physical environment) because they are easily produced, copied and published or exposed in many other ways. (Vos, 2009) The consequences for professional photographers are both positive and negative. In general, photographers have become totally adapted to the technical aspects of the digitalization of their medium. However, there are still some consequences for their business practice that are seeking solutions. The most important developments in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s photography market caused by digitalization are named below. Notice that, in all of these developments, there is a significant role for the amateur photographer. The further developments of this trend are discussed in the trend analysis (6.3.1). Narrowing of the market According to Wisse, seventy percent of the market for professional photography is gone, partly caused by the rise of amateurs entering the market due to digitalization. (Wisse, 2010. Seijdel, 2010: 13)

Although such exact numbers cannot be given, there is a large decrease in assignments according to all respondents. Philip states that, due to digitalization, usually 80-100 photographers apply for the same assignment if it is slightly interesting. On the other hand, most of the respondents stated that this increase does not affect them, because the type of assignments that they do (or would like to do) are still here today. (e.g. Hesper, 2010; Veeger, 2010) Louis Zaal, director of news photography agency Hollandse Hoogte, states that there is still a market for quality photography, but that this market has become much smaller. For the last 23 years, his agency has been growing constantly, but this growth has been increasing in the last few years because their market is much smaller now. (Onkelhout, 2010) The news photography market seems to be suffering most from digitalization (see ‘news photography crisis’ in this chapter). Twenty years ago, Rob Philip started working in photography by doing assignments for company magazines and local newspapers. According to Philip, this market has vanished completely. The photographs that he used to make, are now being made by someone from the PR department, or even their niece or nephew. He concludes that, a lot of the times, their digital equipment is better than his. These people have ‘normal’ jobs with which they finance their hobby. Income of photographers Not only is the market getting smaller, the clients’ photography budgets are also increasing, according to the respondents. According to Van Der Luijtgaarden, there is an interest in photography, but only in images that are free or really cheap. Some of the respondents point mostly towards the financial crisis, but Rob Philip and Pieter Wisse both state that this process is caused mostly by digitalization and that it has been going on since the rise of digital photography in the mid 90’s. The same statement is made in the article about the 25-year anniversary of photography agency Hollandse Hoogte, which says that the position of photographers and photo agencies are weakened because of the digitalization and internationalization. (Onkelhout, 2010) News photography crisis Professor in photography at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and head curator at the Nederlands Fotomuseum Frits Gierstberg claims that more and more media are using material that is not made by expensive professionals but by accidental passers-by or enthusiastic but serious amateurs. It is much cheaper and the (now slightly increasing) bad quality of amateur photography provide the public with a feeling of urgency and authenticity. (Gierstberg, 2010) According to Onkenhout, it is digitalization and internationalization that are causing a decline in all media, including news photography. News photography can be ordered worldwide and both media and the public are getting used to free news (photography). (Onkenhout, 2010)

In a discussion about the possibilities of cross-media for news photographers, the public and the speakers could agree on one thing only: that news photographers were having a hard time. In the discussion, it was concluded that digitalization has caused some hard blows in news photography. It caused a demystification of photography, which was followed by a very large group of people that think that they are also able to photograph on a professional level, because the technical parts of photography are easily accessible, both in financial and in educational terms. (Nieuwspoort, 2010) According to Rob Philip, the function of news photography has changed. Photojournalists used to be the first one in place at news moments, but nowadays, all interesting new photos are made by amateurs. He mentions that photojournalists have to think about what their added value is. In his opinion, this added value lies in being able to tell a story with photography. (Philip, 2010) The golden ages will not come back, according to Louis Zaals and Lars Boering. (Onkenhout, 2010; Boering, 2010) Photography is forced to reinvent itself, they further state. There is a place for quality photography, they conclude, but it is a different place than it used to be. Online marketing and communication Artists have discovered public, low-threshold digital environments like YouTube, Flickr and MySpace as platforms for their work, which they share with amateurs in text, image and sound. (Seijdel, 2010 : 49) According to Philip, photographers are faster than other artists in adapting to these digital tools for marketing and communication because the nature of their profession generally lies in the digital environment, seeing as most of today’s photographers are working digital. (Philip, 2010) Moreover, all respondents to the interviews claimed that they used social media and online tools to communicate and market themselves.

Acceptation of photography as art The difference between high and low art has faded, claims Hans den Hartog Jager. (NRC Handelsblad, 2003) Although many critics, among whom Mirelle Thijssen (Thijssen, 2003), are completely opposed to Den Hartog Jagers view on photographers as ‘lazy painters’, they all agree with him on this point. Photography has been embraced by the art world as an art form, although some critics (like Den Hartog Jager) still question the demands for quality in photography. There has been a big hype around photography in the art world. (e.g. Gubbels, 2005: 61; Philip, 2010). As an art form, photography has gone through a process of acceptation in the last 25 years and has also been sold for high prices on the gallery market, claims Philip.

According to Willem Zoetendaal, gallery owner, this hype is now gone, but he predicts that it will come back. He bases this claim on the rising popularity of photography schools and academies. (see: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;infrastructure for photographyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in chapter 5.3) Thijssen states that she is glad that the photography hype in the art world of the last ten years is now somewhat cooled down. The enormous attention for photography has emancipated the profession and brought it to where she is no: on an even level with the classic arts. (Thijssen, 2003) The respondents in the interviews all agree that photography has been accepted as an art form. Hesper states that the boundary between photography as an artistic medium and photography as a functional medium have faded, but they both still exist in their pure form. Van de Luijtgaarden adds the critical note that he feels photography in the last year has become less popular in the art market. In his experience, there was less photography on art fairs this year. (Luijtgaarden, 2010) Philip also states that photography is still hard to sell to the private sector in the gallery world. However, museums are buying photography on a large scale, he adds. (Philip, 2010)

Infrastructure for photography Education: from arts to business and the rise of photographers The most significant changes in photography education are the new, practice-based schools for photography (Volkskrant, 2010), the rise in popularity of the more commercial schools for photography (Fotovakschool and Fotoacademie) (Broekaert, 2010; Philip, 2010) and, accompanying these trends, the growth in numbers of photography students. (Volkskrant, 2010; Broekaert, 2010; Philip, 2010). Also, there is an increasing attention for the business aspects in photography at academies, an increase in attention for the individual study path and a tendency towards (a feeling of) security by photography students. In his interview, head of the Photography department at the Utrecht School of the Arts Rob Philip emphasizes on these three great changes and notices that there are more students in photography than there are jobs, and that this number just keeps growing while the amount of jobs keeps decreasing. (The same statement was made by Wisse, 2010; Hesper, 2010). In 1991, around 7000 photographers were working as professionals (Hofstede, 1991). Director of the Fotoacademie Hans Sievink announces that, in a few years, maybe 10001500 students will be studying photography. (Broekaert, 2010; Volkskrant, 2010) Of course, these numbers are not based on actual facts and no statement is made about the number of students actually graduating as photographers.

Also, a lot of graduated photographers decide to work in a photography-related profession without actually becoming a photographer. (Philip, 2010; Boering, 2010) At the Dutch Chamber of Commerce , 10.624 photographers are registered a professionals today (KvK, 2010; Broekaert, 2010) That is a rise of 3.624 photographers in less than twenty years. This might not seem like a shocking growth, but the fact that the market for paying photography jobs has decreased dramatically in the last ten years changes all this. All respondents agree that there already are too many photographers on the market, and that the amount of photography students and education institutes will cause an even more dramatic gap between the amount of photographers and the amount of jobs. On a content level, art academies that offer photography now pay more attention to preparing their students for the business practice of their future profession. (Philip,2010; Rikken, 2010) . Philip also explains the growth of the Fotoacademie and the Fotovakschool as being a result of their high attention to the business aspects of photography. In his eyes, photography students nowadays are looking for more security for a job. It seems that the Fotoacademie notices the same change in the students’ attitude. Just before the start of the new academic year, they announced a ‘job-guarantee’ arrangement. If a graduate student is unable to make a living out of photography after two years, the academy will pay back their college fee. (NRC, 2010; Volkskrant, 2010) Rikken (2010) adds a critical note to the increased attention for the business aspects at the academies. The lessons usually are facultative, and the discussed themes are not supported by the other teachers, who solely focus on the development of the artistic process. Moreover, Philip states that in the last few years more attention is given to the individual study path of the student, trying to optimize the individual qualities of the student. Philip announces that a new study program is being designed to be better able to combine the individual study path of the student with the general study path. This is a change that can be noticed in the whole Dutch educational system. (Philip, 2010) Although the amount of photography schools and the amount of students has rapidly increased, it is still hard to place photography in the current educational system, because its origins lay both in a functional as in an autonomous approach. At the Utrecht School of the Arts for example, photography is now placed in the Design department. Ten years ago, photography was still part of the Audiovisual department and could be placed in either media or fine arts. At some of the other academies, it is placed within the Fine Arts department. When a student in photography graduates at an art academy, his/her diploma will state that they have studied ‘Fine Arts’. A confusing situation, which shows that photography has the characteristics of both media, applied arts and fine arts.

Photography policy Artists and cultural institutes have always used others to gain an income or make investments possible. They aim towards family, friends, Maecenas and private-owned funds. In the last decennia, sponsors, companies and the government were added to this list. In the Netherlands, the government is now the biggest financial source for arts and culture. An elaborate system of governmental aids and regulations have been developed, with a constantly reoccurring carrousel of forms and other documents used to apply for this subsidies and the granting (or not) of those requests. (Holterhues, 2010) Starting in 2009, the subsidy system of the Dutch government has undergone quite a radical change. A small part of the institutes still falls under direct ministerial responsibility: the national cultural basic infrastructure (BIS). These institutes cause a national spread of supply of cultural goods and fulfill specific and crucial functions that are not or are hardly supported by the commercial market. With this new structure, the subsidies that were first controlled by the national government (Ministerie van OCW), are now transferred to national cultural funds. This concerns grants for projects and institutes where the artistic judgment is crucial. (Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, 2010: 22) Halfway the 1980’s, photography became a point of attention by the national government. Until then, the role of the government in photography was minimal. Until recently, photography has not been a structural part of the art policy of the Dutch government. Because of the wider acceptance of photography as art at the end of the 1980’s and start of the 1990’s, photography also got a (small) role in the art policies. (For more on this, see ‘acceptation of photography as art’ in chapter 5.3). Halfway the 1990’s, the medium got integrated in the visual arts policy. (Thijssen, 2003) According to Barents, there is a small rise in the attention for photography in policy, but in general, the attention is low. The government sees photography as part of the media policy, causing a lack of attention for this medium. (Barents, 2005) So, is this a problem? Yes, claim both Thijssen and Barents. Photography lacks the power to widely integrate in society, there is hardly any discussion about the importance of photography in education, the ability of looking at, reflecting on and interpreting photography is not being stimulated and exhibitions seem to be turning into a consumer good (Thijssen, 2003; Barents, 2005) All of the respondents that (also) work with photography as an artistic medium have, in one way or another, applied for or used subsidies to support their work and projects. Therefore, it seems that there is a need (or at least a wish) for governmental support in the sector. Starting in 2006, the ‘Programma voor de Creatieve Industrie’ (program for the creative industries) has been set up by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Ministerie van OCW) and the Ministry of Economics (Ministerie van EZ).

Photography is a part of the creative industries and therefore also a part of this program. (For more on this, see chapter 3.1 and chapter 6.3.4) It seems that the program has contributed to the acknowledgement of the economic importance of the creative industries by a great deal of stakeholders (companies, local governments, cultural sector). The Dutch government sees a great potential for the economic importance of the creative industries and is now elaborating on this program. However, the program seems to be lacking behind in creating new connections and collaborations to strengthen the creative industries. (SenterNovem, n.d.) The rise of photography institutes The quick analysis of (new) institutes in the field of photography in the Netherlands named in chapter 5.1, shows that four museums of photography have been set up since 1991. It also shows that a new photographers association, PANL, was set up in 1991 that is still active today, and that six photography federations in the Netherlands are now organized in an umbrella-organization, the FotografenFederatie. These new photography institutes have improved the infrastructure of photography in the Netherlands in terms of providing a place for display, a meeting point and a form of education for photographers by means of exhibitions, publications, seminars, debates and presentations. According to Thijssen, the four museums of photography have clear goals and are able to prove their added value. Also, they do not copy each other but focus on their own niche. The quality criteria in these museums are high and are constantly being tested by international presentations. Co-productions with sister-organizations abroad have become regular and the museums are constantly pushed by both their wide public as by the government to profile themselves in a clear manner and to be leaders in the work field. (Thijssen, 2003). Her view is supported by Van Sinderen, who states that these museums have an international allure as well as international contacts and ambition. This situation is fertile and divine, because these museums are able to introduce great international photographers in the Netherlands, discover photography talent and bring them to a worldwide stage. Van Sinderen furthermore states that these four museums are the display of a broad and well-grounded photography infrastructure of education, collections, archives, federations, galleries and agencies. While, according to Van Sinderen, the latter institutes have always existed, the photography museums are a new phenomenon in this country and their stimulating and directive power has become evident. (Sinderen van, 2005) So what does this mean for the photographer? First of all, the new institutes provide a new place of display for their work, as was mentioned by Van Sinderen and Thijssen.

Secondly, they are able to profit from the services that these museums provide (like seminars, presentations and other side-activities) as well as their (international) projects, to professionalize themselves further. Nederlands Fotomuseum for example, regularly organizes seminars and debates about both the artistic as the business aspects of photography, usually related to their current exhibition. Thirdly, they are a place of inspiration. The exhibition by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin in Foam in 2010 for example, was named by most of the respondents during the interviews, because it inspired them, educated them or triggered them in any other way. Author rights The report Auteurscontractenrecht: naar een wettelijke regeling (Hugenholtz, 2004) reports on the unfair contract practices on a large scale of which photographers suffer as well. As an example, they name publisher Sanoma, that forces reuse and buyout licenses on freelance photographers for poor payments. The researchers opt for industry standards in the form of template contracts, general author right conditions and guidelines that are accepted and maintained by all stakeholders. The FotografenFederatie, the umbrella-organization of six Dutch photography federations, has also opted for further legal grounds for author rights and contract rights that will cause a more equal position between both parties (the photographer and the client). They therefore plead for the same industry standards as were named by Hugenholtz. (Wijnen, 2005) Eleven federations for individual authors and performing artists (among who is the FotografenFederatie) have started collaborating as the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Platform Makersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to strengthen the position of this group. They claim that it keeps on getting harder for this group to organize their (author) rights in their profession. Platform Makers states that the author rights are further and further pressurized by the digitalization, bigger media concentration and the increased use of standard contracts by the exploiters of their author rights, like publishers and producers. The uneven position of the makers compared to the exploiters generally has the effect that the makers have less control over the exploitation of their work and therefore earn less from it, Platform Makers states. By collaborating, the Platform aims to create one contact point and thereby collaboratively strengthen the position of the makers. (PhotoQ, 2009) The respondents to the interview say that their author rights could be violated or are being violated, but that it is hard to control this. They generally agree that the violation of author rights in a commercial setting should be controlled. Concluding, the author rights are under pressure and more and more protests arise.

For an insight into the future of this development, please consult chapter 6.3.7.

5.3 Strengths and weaknesses of the current state The S/W analysis in a strategy formation process generally is executed for an organization. In this research, the S/W analysis is specified to the current professionalization state of professional photographers. Here, a few problems rise. First, it concerns a diverse group of individuals in the same profession, instead of an organization, that shares (or at least, aims to share) the same vision, mission, and goals. Also, the individuals in this group do not always execute the same activities or have (access to) the same resources: some may have their own assistants, studio, and office, while others work from their home as sole entrepreneurs without any staff. Secondly, this S/W analysis focuses specifically on the professionalization process of the group, which is dependent on both internal and external factors and does not concern all the activities of the photographers, but only those that concern their professionalization process. Therefore, this research does not contain a traditional S/W analysis, but aims to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the current professionalization state of the photographer by looking at the current main developments in this professionalization process (usually caused by the external environment) and analyzing what the weak and strong points of this process are. This analysis will make clear what challenges there are for future professionalization. According to Vermeylen (2005: 38), strengths in the S/W analysis are all those factors that offer opportunities to do something special or give added value. These are the unique resources rather than the basic, necessary ones. The same goes for weaknesses. They are obstacles and shortcomings that stand in the way of reaching certain goals or that diminish the quality of the work that has to be done, rather than just the resources that are not there. Vermeylen also names two approaches to determine the relevance of what is a strength or a weakness. These approaches are used to diminish the possibility of confusing a strength with a weakness. However, this possibility remains present and can never be extinguished completely. The first approach is historical. Here, the resources are compared throughout the years. The second one is a comparison to the rest of the sector. (Vermeylen, 2005: 38) As in this research the S/W analysis is done for the whole sector, a historical approach is used.

Strengths Due to the digitalization of photography, the photography process has become a lot faster, photos are taken (and deleted) much easier and images can be found anywhere (both in the digital as in the physical environment), because they are easily produced, copied and published or exposed in many other ways. There are a lot of digital tools that can be used to promote and market yourself that are relatively cheap compared to physical means of promoting yourself. The photographer generally was already used to working with digital tools in its profession (digital photography) and therefore is ‘prepared’ for the use of digital promotion and marketing tools. Photography as an art form has been accepted by the market and is selling for high prices. Although there is a slight downfall in this development, photography is still generally sold for high prices in art fairs and galleries. The attention for photography by the government has grown over the last twenty years, bringing more possibilities to photographers to apply for different forms of subsidies. Moreover, this growing attention for photography by both the government and the public has caused the establishment of four new photography museums in the Netherlands in the last twenty years. These new institutes provide a new place of display for the photographers’ work, photographers are able to profit from the services that these museums provide (like seminars, presentations and other side-activities) as well as their (international) projects, and they are a place of inspiration. Weaknesses The author rights are further and further pressurized by the digitalization, bigger media concentration and the increased use of standard contracts by the exploiters of author rights, like publishers and producers. This has the effect that photographers have less control over the exploitation of their work and therefore earn less from it. Also, there is a large decrease in assignments according to all respondents, due to digitalization and to amateurs entering the market. Not only is the market getting smaller, the clients’ photography budgets are also increasing, according to the respondents. This is mainly caused by the digitalization of the medium, but has become even worse due to the financial crisis. In news photography, amateurs are forming a serious threat, because their photos are published more and more as news photography, which causes the budgets, the number of images sold and the number of assignments for photography as an informative medium to decline even more than for the other two practices.

Currently graduated photographers are entering the market in large and growing numbers and are also more prepared for the business aspects of the profession due to their education. This causes even more competition in an already saturated market, where there is a large gap between the number of photographers and the number of photographers for whom there actually are enough jobs to cover their costs and make a (small) living.

6. Trend analysis

Fig. 6.1: Phrase net of the trend analysis execut ion, showing which words are related in the text, excluding common words. Created on: http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/

6.1 What is a trend analysis? According to Van der Duin, Drop and Kloosterhof (2001: 23), a trend has three characteristics: 1. A trend has already started and thus can be determined. 2. A trend has a specific direction. A development that is constant over a period of time does not cause change and therefore is not considered to be a trend.

3. A trend will most likely be present during the next three to ten years. Therefore, hypes fall outside this category. In their book De toekomst in een notendop (The future in a nutshell) Van der Duijn & Stavleu (2006: 97) agree with this view on trends, although they argue that the time horizon of trends is relative and not connected to a specific number of years. A trend analysis is a method in which trends are signaled, the sort of futures to which these trends could lead are explored and the possible impact of these trends are described. The goal of a trend analysis is to describe and analyze trends in areas such as economics, politics, technology and demographics. It also pays attention to the connection between developments in these different areas. This analysis can be both qualitative (based on descriptions) and quantitative (based on statistical material). (Van der Duijn & Stavleu, 2006: 98) The sort of futures to which these trends could lead are described according to the future scenarios method in chapter 7.1. The structure of the trend analysis execution concerning our subject is determined by the strategy formation model of Hagoort, the ‘six key process dimensions’ (see: chapter 4 and appendix 4.1). (Hagoort, 2001: 95-97) In his model, Hagoort describes the ‘environmental research’ step. Here, the environment is considered from the point of view of the organization, but at a safe distance. This distance is set up by dividing the environment into fields and to chart these fields based on a few fixed, future oriented trends. An environmental research is carried out to create an insight into the trends that will influence the existence and/or functioning of the organization. Hagoort has divided eight fields suitable for environmental research for cultural organizations. These eight fields are: ecology, culture, society, economy, politics, media, technology and international factors. These factors are an elaboration on the commonly used factors in environmental research (e.g. Keuning, 2003: 175). This list of factors has the advantage for this research that it includes developments in culture and media, which both are important factors of influence in the field of photography. For example, media are one of the most frequently used gateways to show photography to the public (magazines, newspapers, online media) as well as an important source of income (advertisements for commercial photographers, news media for photojournalists). The cultural factor provides room to discuss the artistic aspects in photography, as well as the effect that new developments in art and entertainment have on the field of photography.

In the interviews held for this research as well as the desk research carried out for the trend analysis, it became clear that trends in ecology hardly play a role in the photography sector. Since the digitalization of the sector took place and the chemicals used in the analogue process are hardly ever used, the aspect of ecology seems not to be an issue in photography. Whereas in other commercial sectors, it is a trend to focus on the ecological aspects of your company or to call yourself an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ecologically consciousâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; entrepreneur, this is not an issue in the photography industry. Also, photographers are not addressed by their environment on ecological issues. Therefore, the ecological trends are not included in this trend analysis. Concluding, the trend analysis is carried out by analyzing the trends and their possible impact on the (professionalization of the) photographer by looking at the following fields: 1. Culture 2. Social 3. Economic 4. Political 5. Media 6. Technology 7. International Because certain trends are present in several fields, the field that is most dominant in the trend is chosen as the head field, but the other fields are also mentioned to get a wider picture of the trend and its impact.

6.2 Globalization of trends: the American perspective According to most of the respondents of the interviews held for this research, Americans generally are ahead of the game when it comes to trends, both in general and in photography. By analyzing the number of blogs, websites and online magazines, it becomes clear that Americans take up a dominant position here as well (soon followed by British photographers and photography experts). Therefore, it has been decided to incorporate American sources in this trend analysis model, using these sources as a forecast of what could happen in the Netherlands. Before using the sources, they have been analyzed in terms of their applicability for the Dutch situation. For example, crowdfunding (see: 6.3.3) as a financial resource is wide spread in America, because there is hardly any support by the government. This situation differs from that of the Netherlands, but is usable as an inspiration because of the cut down on subsidies that is soon to take place. (see: 6.3.4)

However, in the literature analysis it has been taken into account that the American culture is already adapted to this system, while the Dutch culture is not. The comparison and combination of Dutch and American sources causes a more global view on the Dutch situation and also increases the (reliability of the) future perspective.

6.3 Trend analysis execution: the influential trends The interviews held with photographers and photography experts in this research have been used as an orientation on the trends: on the importance of and consequences for the photographer. By means of these interviews, some trends have been deleted, some have been diminished and some have become more important in the trend analysis below. The answers of the respondents have been compared and analyzed in a cross-reference table (see appendix 2). The (sum of the) answers of the respondents are used in the trend analysis, sometimes as a specific quote and sometimes as a general thought on the trend by all (or most) of the respondents. During the interviews, it became clear that the trends of the multidisciplinary artist, the cross-media productions, and the trend of mixing photography and film were being named by the respondents as one and the same trend. Therefore, it has been decided to turn this into one trend, the cross-media productions, because this approach of the trend turned out to be most relevant for photographers. The trend is categorized as a media trend (6.3.5). Also note that, although the trends are categorized as being cultural, social, economic, political, media, technological or international, this is purely theoretical. In practice, all of the trends have their origins in several of these categories, because all these aspects are correlated. A political trend generally cannot rise if there is no ground in economics or society, a media trend usually has a technological and a social background, etc. This relation will be made clear in the trend analysis model.

6.3.1 Cultural

The digital amateur culture Trend

Field

Possible consequences professionalization photog.

for

The digital amateur culture

1. Cultural 2. Social 3. Technological

- Focusing on added value - Shifting in function towards a moderator, expert, inst itute, side-projects

The word amateur has its origin in the Latin ‘amator’, lover, and ‘amare’, to love. It is clear that the amateur loves photography, but does photography loves the amateur back? And should they? If The Amateur and The Professional would be friends on Facebook, their status would probably be: ‘in a complicated relationship’. The mutual influence that these two ‘lovers’ have on each other is evident, but tensions are definitely present. Many professionals are criticizing the amateur’s inability to tell a (photographic) story and it is pretense to be professional. (e.g. Philip, 2010; Hesper, 2010; Wisse, 2010) The amateurs no longer behave like silent admirers, but are stepping up to the conversation and are questioning the status and statements of photography experts and professionals. (Seijdel, 2010: 20) The trend In her essay on the value of amateurs, Jorinde Seijdel arguments that the character of the amateur has changed. (Seijdel, 2010: 13) It has changed from a traditional amateur culture, from hobbyists that are united in amateur societies and that exist alongside professionals, to a type of amateur that (whether invited or uninvited) takes part in the discussion among experts and that enters domains that were kept closed to them before. It is a new type of amateur that pressurizes the professional and its work, and even threatens to wipe them of their pedestal. The new amateurs seem to be, first and foremost, the product of the digital culture, Jorinde Seijdel states. (Seijdel, 2010: 13) The amateur photographer, video producer or musician that displays its activities and products on Flickr, MySpace or Youtube; the citizen journalist or blogger that reports via its weblog; the amateurs filling up Wikipedia; the hobby-artist that shows his work in virtual museums; the fan that sells its books through Ebay; the amateur developer developing open source software: they are all a part of the digital DIY (Do It Yourself) culture of prosumers (producing consumers) .

A new kind of very productive global amateur culture is on the rise, Seijdel arguments. (Seijdel, 2010: 13) Not only does the photography amateur uses Web 2.0 to display its activities and products, it is also its main source to (free accessible) information on photography techniques and on DIY-instruction to build photography devices in cheap ways, using easily accessible materials and vintage cameras, flashlights, lenses, etc. The same development takes place in the medical sector, although here it is slightly more problematic. The medical world complains about the self-diagnoses of patients that have used numberless websites with (ambiguous) medical information. (Swaan de, 2004: 252253) This social-cultural development is not singular and comes forth out of shifting in the constitution of the professional domain in general, that causes the dialectics between amateur and professional to change and bring about different effects. (Seijdel, 2010: 14) The informal media and their public cause a radical change in collecting, processing, producing and distributing news, knowledge and culture, with the important implication of a fusion of producers and consumers, as well as professionals and amateurs. This results in new user-types, i.e. the prosumer (producer-consumer) and the pro-am (professional amateur). (Seijdel, 2010: 27) Willem Velthoven, one of the founders of web 2.0 bureau Mediamatic, states that he rather views himself as an amateur than a professional. In his view, professionals act out the things that they are already capable of doing and repeat themselves to make it profitable. Amateurs act out things that they are not (yet) capable of doing, they dive into the deep and are not feeling the pressure of making their activities profitable. He claims that they really are the ones that are free to make art. Amateurs, he concludes, are not restricted by education or knowledge, and therefore ask strange questions, demystify conventions, undermine the establishment, and thereby might even be stimulating innovation. (Velthoven, 2010) Oosterwijk backs up Velthovens view by saying that if it was not fot the great virtual freedom, they would have never passed the strict rules and values set up by the cultural elite. He also thinks that amateurs are less indoctrinated by the cultural elite and that this could work very refreshing. In his view, this is a purely positive development, for everyone. (Oosterwijk, 2010) Consequences for photographers However, there are some frustrations about amateur photography among photographers. For example, news photographer Jan Banning expresses his frustration at the online photography magazine PhotoQ. In 2005, he shot a highly praised series about Malawi for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. He went there with journalist Dick Wittenberg.

Five years later, NRC decided to go back to Malawi for a follow-up story based on the same formula. This time however, they decided to provide Wittenberg with a camera and to not bring along Banning. According to the article in PhotoQ, the result was a series of very flat, one-dimensional photographs that did not complement the previous series (of which some photographs were placed as well) at all. According to the newspaper, a small budget forced them to make this decision. (Photoq, 2010) On the other hand, most of the respondents to the interviews held for this research claimed that they do not ‘suffer’ from the rise of amateurs. For most of the professionals, this had to do with the segment of photography in which they work (photography as an artistic medium and photography as a functional medium), in which there are less amateurs to compete with. The respondents state that amateurs mostly take up work in local markets, at small magazines (e.g. company magazines) and in news photography. The only professional news photographer interviewed for this research, Robin Utrecht, is not directly bothered by amateur photographers, but does notice that more and more amateur photography is used by media (especially online media, free newspapers and local media) and that budgets are getting lower. He states that a lot of his colleague news photographers do complain about the diminishment of the market due to amateur photographers. The same development has been noticed by Nieuwspoort ( 2010). Possible future development The most portrayed view on the future developments of this amateur trend is the professionalization of amateurs that mostly erupts from the possibilities provided by digital tools, the broad accessibility and user-friendliness of these tools, new services like print-on-demand and publish-on-demand, and the increasing mobility of these digital tools, resulting in a constant connection to the internet. All these tools are providing possibilities for amateurs to merge even more with professional photographers, because they will be using the same tools more and more. (e.g. Seijdel, 2010: 55) Lawrence Lessig is the creator of Creative Commons, a project that stimulates the open content of creative work by offering free licenses. He thinks that professional creators will not be eliminated by amateurs, but that it will be complemented by a much wider range of amateur culture in the original sense of the word amateur – in the sense that people do it purely for the love of creating. (BBC, 2005) His view seems to contradict the above view, in that he thinks that amateurs will go back to the essence of ‘love’ instead of professionalizing their activities. This contradictive view might arise from the fact that he predicted this five years ago, and that amateurs – and their tools – have taken a great flight since 2005. For the Sony World Photography Awards in 2011, Sony has announced a more rigid division between professional contestants and amateurs. There will be a category for professionals and one for ‘everyone that loves photography’.

According to Sony, this ‘open’ competition that replaces the amateur competition has been set up because of the growing number of photographers. (PhotoQ, 2010b) This notion seems to be more wide-spread, since more and more amateur photography competitions are being set up which are also more ‘professionalized’: the prices are higher, there are more categories, and the demands are higher as well. Also, the categories are professionalizing. Where, before, amateur competitions focused mostly on nature and animal photography, there are now amateur competitions in serious news photography, for example the annual NuFoto competition. Media theorist Geert Lovink states that the amateur should be given the option of participating in the money economy. In his view, it is fine that the amateur that earns money in another profession in the day, wants to contribute and share for free on the web. However, he feels that amateurs are now blocking careers of young professionals and that, therefore, a great deal of knowledge is about to disappear, for instance the knowledge of investigative journalism. He states that, by stopping these ‘free economies’ (like ‘freemium’ and trade economics, see chapter 6.3.3), money will again be circulating so that it can flow into the professions that are ‘seriously’ constructing tomorrow’s tools. (Lippoliis & Sartori, 2010) Lovink is feeling the threat of the professionalizing amateur for the professionals and he is looking towards ‘authorities’ (what kind of authorities is unclear) to stop this movement towards free economies. Just as the sources in the above paragraphs, Lovink sees a great role for the free economies as catalysts of the professionalization of amateurs. However, he rejects a positive view on the possibilities provided by the free economies. Although it is clear that a counter movement away from the free economies is arising (for more on this, see chapter 6.3.3), this counter movement is not strong enough to completely eliminate these free (digital) economies. (Lippoliis & Sartori, 2010) According to Seijdel, the innovative and democratizing abilities of the internet amateur culture, her abilities as a counterculture, is paid over elsewhere. She feels that this culture has disclosed herself as the honorary beta-testers of the new professional culture. For example, amateurs have become the beta-tester of the stretching of the concept of ‘work’, where the professional and amateurish, public and private, commercial and noncommercial seem to merge. The amateur displays himself as the perfect example of the immaterial worker. (Seijdel, 2010: 38-39) As you can see now, the concept of these new, immaterial, flexible, and digitalized workers has been adopted by management theorists and managers. Seijdel states that an ironic point arises, in which the characteristics of the amateur have become qualities for which the changing professional sphere benefits, and the informal and playful become economically productive and valuable. (Seijdel, 2010: 3637)

Peter Weibel, media artist, theorist and curator writes: “In the electronic world and its electronic media, the art of the twenty-first century will be defined by the paradigm of the user. We are witnesses to a new receiver and consumer culture that was heralded already in the twentieth century. Informat ion and communication technologies open the doors for a century of emancipated consumers who will also dominate the art world.” (Weibel, 2009)

How to deal with this trend According to photographer and co-author of the book Linked Photographer Rosh Sillar: “Trying to compete with someone whose purpose it is to make a little extra money on the side without the overhead of a professional business is not realistic. It is a quick path towards business failure. Technology has set the bar lower than ever for entering the field of photography as a hobby, part-t ime job or career. The mystery of the photographers’ black box has been made simple and easy for anyone to use. The best way to build a career in photography today is create new mystery and magic that cannot be easily replicated. Today’s professional photographer must set himself apart from the pack by offering advanced style, unique concepts, and an incredible photographic experience. It is easier said than done. Professional photographers cannot market solely on 20 years of business experience, great service and a portfolio of famous clients. If people don’t see the magic in your portfolio, they will be unwilling to pay the premium price you deserve.” (Sillars, 2010)

The respondents of the interviews held fort his research seem to all agree on the above statement by Sillars. They refer to their added value and present this added value as a way to ‘compete’ with amateurs. The most proposed added value to the amateurs is the ability to tell a photographic story. Secondly, the photographers refer to having a vision and being able to deliver constant quality as their added value. They all seem to agree that amateurs nowadays (in great difference with the ‘traditional’ amateur) are mostly good in techniques and have great equipment, but are unable to really, consistently take qualitative and creative photographs. Rob Philip (2010) suggest that photographers and especially news photographers (which are most ‘threatened’ by amateur photography), should think about where their powers lie, and what their added value is. A more theoretical, and perhaps more future oriented method is for photographers to completely rethink their position as a photographer. According to Seijdel, the interactive possibilities and democratic tools of the digital culture should provide space for a new type of user or consumer, in which the ‘Jeder Mensch ist ein Künstler’ by Beuys gets a new dimension. (Seijdel, 2010: 58) By opening up the dialogue with the amateur, artists can test their own expertise as well as create new differences between the artist and the amateur. (Seijdel, 2010: 64)

According to Peter Weibel, in the future museums and artists will be the providers that make the infrastructure possible, while the consumer produces the content. The consumer becomes the producer, and sometimes even the artist, he claims. Weibel proposes that the art world will change into ‘a democratized user-centered innovation system’. The same approach can be noticed at Mediamatic, the bureau for Web 2.0 art and their exhibition space. This would mean a big, and for a lot of photographers unwanted, change. As all photographers in one way or another started out as amateurs, the heart of their profession lies in the same motivation as that of the amateur: the love to create. However, it is wise for the photographer to explore the possibilities of becoming more of a ‘moderator’ or ‘expert’ in photography, and view themselves more as an institute than as a pure producer of images. A great example is given by one of the respondents, Pieter Wisse, who decided to start the blog ‘500 photographers’, on which he everyday uploads a short multimedia story about a photographer that he (for many different reasons) admires. According to Wisse, this blog has already provided him with more attention for his work than, for example, the photo book that he has worked three years on to get published. He mentions that he is first known for this blog, but that via his blog, people start getting interested in his work as a photographer. He also states that, viewing yourself as an institute, can provide great possibilities for your core profession, photographing, as well. Wisse does add that, to do such a thing, your heart must be in it. It must not become just a marketing tool, because than it will not make you nor your public happy. (Wisse, 2010) The artist must be challenged to keep on reviewing its profession, to continuously reposition himself inside the common and the public, without reducing this relationship to a pure commercial one. To do this, the artist must take the amateur and its many appearances seriously and they must take into account that they also carry an amateur inside them. (Seijdel, 2010: 67) Conclusion The trend of the (digital) amateur is caused by the easy accessible and free digital tools for sharing your work, communicating with other amateurs, and getting access to knowledge and skills. It is about a new type of amateur, that takes part in the discussion among experts and that enters domains that were kept closed to them before. It is a new type of amateur that pressurizes the professional and its work, and even threatens to demystify them. Most photographers do not feel threatened by amateurs, some see them as (natural) competition. An exception is news photography, where the threat of amateur photographers (or cross-media journalists) is realistic.

One of the possible future developments is a professionalization of amateurs, although there are also some sources that claim that the amateur will go back to being an amateur in the purest form: someone that loves creating, but does not wish to professionalize his/her activities. The best way to deal with this trend as a photographer seems to be to set yourself apart from amateurs by clearly portraying to the outside world what your added value as a professional photographer is. Most photographers emphasize on telling a story and being coherent in style and quality as being the added value of a professional photographer to an amateur. Although this might not be true for all professional photographers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or amateurs, it is the general consensus. Secondly, the photographer must be able to keep repositioning himself in the field, review its profession and its role as a professional. To do this, the photographer must take the amateur and its many appearances seriously. It would be wise for photographers to take into account that their position might shift from a producer of content to someone that makes the infrastructure of photography possible, a type of moderator or expert, a kind of institute of photography. There are many possibilities for side-activities for professional photographers, like educating amateurs on several topics or providing (digital and physical) platforms for them, that could eventually also be of great value for their photographic work. However, this kind of actions can only be undertaken when the photographers heart is in it, not when it is solely a marketing tool.

Creative entrepreneurship Trend

Field

Possible impact on professionalization photog.

Visual culture: the fast lane

1. Social 2. Media 3. Technological

See: 6.3.4: creat ive economy policy

The trend For the past 50 years, the center of attention in the arts has been the cultural sector (from museums to theatre halls), but is now overtaken by new creative initiatives in the field of creative services, media and entertainment. In this new approach, creative entrepreneurship has a large role. (Hagoort, 2007) Entrepreneurship in essence is acting out new combinations to cause discontinuity.

New combinations can refer to creating a new type of product or service, introducing a new type of production, entering new markets, or using other resources. Discontinuity means that the entrepreneur creates value that was before unavailable to society. There are two types of entrepreneurs: the organizing entrepreneur, who starts a new company and leads this company as a manager, without truly being innovative, and the innovative entrepreneur, who translates ideas and inventions into economically attainable projects, without starting or managing a company. (Meer van der, 2005: 17-18) Economist Arjo Klamer says that it is culturally entrepreneurial to motivate people that otherwise could care less about the arts, in such a way that they do have attention, time and money for it. (Klamer, 2005; Rienstra 2006: 11) In policy documents, cultural entrepreneurship is defined as a type of entrepreneurship where the ultimate balance is sought between business and artistic goals. (Deloitte & Touche Bakkenist 2001: 7) In practice however, the business aspects derive from the artistic ones. There is a sort of balance, but it is not equal per se. The amount in which the business and the artistic aspects are dominant, depends on the individual artist and the strategic fit to their work. (Holterhues, 2010: 4) The terms cultural entrepreneurship and creative entrepreneurship are both used for the same phenomenon and no concrete explanation in literature is given as to what the differences are between those two. However, analyzing in which context which term is used, it becomes clear that the difference between cultural entrepreneurship and creative entrepreneurship lies in the artistic grounds of the first, and the creative (and more commercial) approach of the second. Origins of the trend The pioneering phase of creative and cultural entrepreneurship in the Netherlands started in 1981 with the conference ‘The Day of the Art Entrepreneur’, where hundreds of policy makers, managers and artists discussed the primary components of business in an artistic context (e.g. marketing, personnel management, financing). Nine years later, the first handbook on Art Management was published, i.e. Smiers en Hagoort, 1990, Art Management. Just as it is now, the uplift of cultural (and now: creative) entrepreneurship was caused by budget regulations at institutes and a cut down on subsidies. (Hagoort, 2007:12) At the end of the 20th century, policymakers from the UK sought a new industry to fuel economic prosperity, offering an alternative to the old industrial job engines, e.g. steel and finance. They found out that creative activities contributed 7.9% of their GDP and employed over 2 million people. Inspired by these facts, they ‘created’ the creative industries and attempted to stimulate these industries by means of policy. Soon, other big cities and countries followed their example. (Hagoort, 2009)

The current trend of creative entrepreneurship is mainly caused by a sum of recent developments. Because of globalization and digitalization, a lot of companies in the Netherlands noticed that they cannot (alone) set themselves apart by the cost price of their products. More and more, they are focusing on technology, quality, design and symbolic value to differentiate their products. The creative industries play a large role in this development. Secondly, the growth of the world economy demands a higher supply of creative products and services. In the postmodern economy, symbolic production and goods play a large role and are consumed more and more. Also, the cultural world is being economized as cultural institutes and creative are increasingly stimulated to behave like entrepreneurs. (e.g. Ministerie voor Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, 2010: 20-24) This explains the higher than average growth of the Dutch creative industries in the last couple of years, now covering about 3 to 4% of the total employment rate (depending on the research and the definition of creative industries). (Ministerie voor Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, 2010: 24) Consequences of the trend Researcher Holterhues recently published a summary of her research report on the need of an entrepreneurial att itude for creat ive professionals, focusing on people that have completed a study at an art academy. (Holterhues, 2010) This paragraph is largely based on her research results. The trend of the creative economy, creative industries and creative entrepreneurship did not go unnoticed by the Dutch government. Since 2007, they have been working on policy papers concerning the creative economy. More on this trend can be found in chapter 6.3.5: creative economy policy. In this chapter it becomes clear that, as the government is cutting down on subsidies and their arts and culture policy is largely focused on creative entrepreneurship, less and less subsidies and funds are available for creative professionals to finance their work. Therefore, they are forced to look for more entrepreneurial ways to finance their profession and develop a pro-active attitude. In a time when the government is focusing on creative entrepreneurship, it is significant how few young artists focus on entrepreneurial ways to finance their work. This is largely caused by academies that fall short when it comes to teaching their students about the business aspects of their work. Holterhues’ research shows that the professional attitude of these creative professionals is largely formed by the art academy where they studied. Market aversion at the academies still plays a large role in the student’s vision on financing their work. They still view ‘commercial’ financing (from the private and business markets) as a concession on their integrity.

The changing climate for the creative professionals, largely caused by the cut down on subsidies, demands a creative entrepreneurial attitude, in which artistic recognition and financial continuity are in essence controlled by the artist instead of its external environment. To stimulate this entrepreneurial attitude, there is a large role for art academies and post-academic coaches. A world has to be created in which the artist views himself as a driven entrepreneur, and not as a dependent ‘loner’ that needs others to survive. The artist then will be an ambitious entrepreneur that – just like any other entrepreneur – needs to use different resources to make his ambition come true. The general consensus among the interviews’ respondents in this research is that there is a need for a more entrepreneurial attitude in photography. Photographer Pieter Wisse states that photographers will be able to lift their work to a higher level when they become more entrepreneurial. However, all respondents say that there is a small group of photographers and artists who are unable and of whom it is undesirable to become entrepreneurs. This small group should be able to focus solely on their work in an autonomous way, because their work is of great value to society. None of the photographers among respondents however, consider themselves to be a part of this group. Lars Boering, director at Burafo and owner of Lux photo gallery, states that although most photographers are working freelance, they are not behaving like entrepreneurs. He states that they should be thinking more about marketing themselves, be considerate about what price they ask for their work and in what way they profile themselves towards their environment. (Boering, 2010)

6.3.2 Social (Filtering the) information and image overload Trend

Field

Possible consequences for professionalization photog.

Visual culture: the fast lane

1. Social 2. Media 3. Technological

- Create strategies for online niche market ing - Gain skills in online market ing and communicat ions - Gain knowledge about social networks and online communication tools

The trend Photographers are the ultimate experts when it comes to the visual culture, states Thijssen. (Thijssen, 2003) Due to many facets of digitalization, photography now has outrun the photographer in terms of its speed. Take PicFog: it uses the open structure of microblog Twitter to categorize and stream location based pictures that are posted on that microblog. At every moment of the day, it shows what is being photographed right at that moment, or at least, what photographs the user wants to show. (Witman, 2010) In this time of ‘fast’, there is an overload of images, films and stories finding their ways through the communication channels at any given moment to the customer. It is an overload of offer in which the customer seems to drown. Which customer is still able to even keep up with the information stream that their own network is offering them through all kinds of communication channels and social media? (Nieuwspoort, 2010) At the start of the information age, in 1971, social scientist Herbert Simon said that in a world that is rich in information, there is a scarcity in everything that uses information. What information uses is the attention of the recipients. That’s why a richness in information creates a lack of attention from the users. (Simon, 1971: 40-41) His theory is based on one of the oldest rules in economy: the rule that every overload creates a new scarcity. (Anderson, 2009: 210). In his book ‘Free’, Wired-editor Anderson adapts the pyramid of Maslow (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: see figure 6.2) on information and concludes that our need for basic information and entertainment has been satisfied. This results in a more selective choice pattern of the consumer as to what they really want to see or read. This has also caused the transition of consumers to prosumers: producing consumers. (see also: 6.3.1 – The digital amateur culture)

Fig. 6.2: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs , source: http://nodearth.wordpress.com/ Anderson claims that the overload of information is created because the data capacity of the web is unlimited. Still, the attitude of a lot of companies is that of scarcity. They are still working on an old principle: the principle that data capacity is a scarcity and that the real scarcity, people’s time – is not expensive. However, there is no need to select anymore, states Anderson. Who still needs to select what videos should be put online and which shouldn’t, when there is enough capacity to host them all? (Anderson, 2009: 222 & 227) As marketers are no longer completely controlling the market, new markets arise that they never thought of, created by the latent needs of the consumers. (Anderson, 2009: 227) “That is the overriding attitude of the Economy of Abundance -- don't do one thing, do it all; don't sell one piece of content, sell it all; don't store one piece of data, store it all. The Economy of Abundance is about doing everything and throwing away the stuff that doesn't work. In the Economy of Abundance you can have it all.” (Anderson, 2006)

Consequences of the trend However, there is some need for control. Several researches show that consumers are mostly looking for convenience in their consummation of and choice for digital products and digital distribution channels. (e.g. Woning, 2008)

Information overload has always been an issue since the invention of the printing press (mid-15th century). However, there was always an economic filter, which filtered what information was brought to the consumer. This means that the distribution channels had high costs, which in their turn caused scarcity. In the internet age, distribution costs have become so low that there are no economic filters and therefore, the information overload is available to every consumer for a low or non-existing price. (Anderson, 2009; Shirky, 2008). As Clay Shirky, expert on the social and economic effects of internet , says: “It is not information overload: it is filter failure.” (Shirky, 2008) In a recent article in Wired magazine (Wolff & Anderson,2010) it is stated that although consumers intellectually appreciate openness, in the end they favor the easiest path. In this article, Wired editors Michael Wolff and Chris Anderson pledge that after the ‘chaos’ of the Web, where everything was free, both in monetary as in more abstract means, we are now looking to platforms to filter the information according to our own interests and the interests of our peer group(s), instead of just freely browsing the web for information. According to these authors, these dedicate platforms work better and/or fit better into the lives of the consumer. Also, it is easier for companies to make money on platforms. They state that the model of ‘free’ and ‘chaos’ only works for a limited period of time. For more on this topic, see chapter 6.3.3: Digital forms of free. Consequences of the trend for photographers The respondents of the interviews held for this research all agreed that there is an overload of images and of photographers, which is making it harder to stand out in the crowd. There is more demand for photography, but at the same time there is less willingness to pay for it and there is no rise in the amount of assignments or the budgets. (e.g. Luijtgaarden van de, 2010; Philip, 2010) Boering says that it might be that there is a rise in assignments, but that this goes unnoticed because there are so many new photographers entering the market. (Boering, 2010 In this time of information overload, people have less attention for the information that they will receive and are therefore becoming more selective . (Anderson, 2009: 67) Most of the respondents of the interviews also notice that a rise of the amount of images that the public sees day to day does not improve their skills of looking at and interpreting images. Their attention span is even lessening, they claim. (e.g. Boering, 2010; Veeger, 2010) There are two sides to this story for the photographer. The positive side is that they are now able to display their photography to a wide audience, fast and easy. New technologies like HD-television (also used by Apple and Google as a form of interactive TV) and the Ipad are great for photography: the screens are getting better in quality and it is now easier to get this high quality on a mobile device as well. Like Nieuwspoort claims, all we need is a cross-media news service that exploits the qualities of this new products by showing great photography in all its glory, publishing it in large sizes, impressive and

convincingly. (Nieuwspoort, 2010) The other side of the story is that as there are more and more images being sent into ‘the cloud’ every minute, it is also getting harder and harder to get attention for your images every minute. In order to get people introduced to the photographer’s work, the photographer must carefully select what type of consumer might be interested in its work, thus creating its own niche market. As the photographer enter the networks of his niche market and gets his work known by the early adaptors in that market, they will spread his work through the networks. It is the new form of niche marketing, using social networks to reach the markets that are relevant for the photographer.

6.3.3 Economic Financial crisis Trend

Field

Possible consequences for professionalization photog.

Financial crisis

1. Economic

The consequences for professionalization can be found in the schemes of the trend ‘crowdfunding’ and ‘digital forms of free’

The trend Starting in 2007, the financial crisis (or: credit crisis) has greatly affected the world economy. The most recent World Trade Monitor by the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis shows that in July 2010 the world trade is down by 0.8%, the world trade momentum declines for the sixth consecutive month to 2.8% and that the world industrial production increases marginally with 0.1%. (CPB, 2010c) In the last few months, economies worldwide (with an exception of a small selection of economies, like that of Greece) are showing a slow and small but important recovery from the financial crisis. Although some economists disagree and claim that the crisis will go even further (e.g. Dent, 2009), the general consensus in both the Netherlands, Europe and the United States is that the economy is at the start of a slow and hard recovery. As Timothy F. Geithner, current United States Secretary of the Treasury, claims in an article in the New York Times, a review of recent data on the American economy shows that the economy there is on a path back to growth.

These data show that large parts of the private sector continue to strengthen and that business investment and consumption are getting stronger. However, there is still a great deal of uncertainty that is partly holding back both consumers and investors. Geithner uses several leading economists to back up his claim that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;recoveries that follow financial crises are a typically hard climb. The process of repair means economic growth will come slower than we would like.â&#x20AC;? (Geithner, 2010) According to the CPB, the Dutch economy will grow approximately 1.5% in 2010 and 2% in 2011. Export is largely responsible for this growth. The recovery however, is still young and its developments are unsure. There is still a risk that a new occurrence of a financial disrupt will cause another shock wave. The question remains when the trust of producers and consumers will be sufficiently recovered to contribute to the growth. (CPB, 2010) Despite the recovery of the economy, the Dutch GDP (in Dutch: BBP) at the end of 2011 will still be lower than it was at the start of 2008. For now, the damage done by the financial crisis (for example the high unemployment rate) cannot be recovered completely. (CPB, 2010) In the scenario set up by the CPB for the period 2011-2015, the inflation will be 1.5% average per year, which is moderate in a historic perspective. The income expansion will be 0.75% average per year. These figures show that the economy is recovering, but at a slow rate. (CPB, 2010b) Consequences of the trend 13% of the unemployed in Amsterdam used to work in the creative sector, which is relatively high. (Petovic, 2010) According to Danielle Wanders, creative educations should do more to prepare their students for the market. Her claim is supported by Leonoor Pauw, advisor on the cultural sector at the UWV, the implementing body for employee insurance schemes in the Netherlands. She states that the art schools and academies should be a bit more commercial and not solely focus on the artistic aspects, because this causes a hiatus between the education and the market. (Petovic, 2010) More on this topic can be found in chapter 6.3.2: Creative entrepreneurship. All of the interviewsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; respondents claim that the financial crisis has had an influence on the amount of assignments and the budgets of clients, although most of them also state that the decrease in assignments and budgets has other causes as well, i.e. different aspects/consequences of digitalization like the rise of amateurs. The photographers that were interviewed also state that, once you lower your price (which in their view is necessary in such times), it is very hard to go back to your original price. There is a lack of understanding by clients and a lack of willingness to pay higher prices as well. Photography agency Hollandse Hoogte announces that, due to the crisis, they will focus more on increasing quantity in the coming years. Thus, the prices per image will go down. They say that this disgusts photographers, but that it is unavoidable. (Onkelhout, 2010)

The financial crisis causes several other trends in new economic or funding systems . Together with trends like social awareness, it has created attention for a ‘new’ type of economics, where the social aspect has an important role. According to web-preneur (entrepreneur on the Internet) Perry Chen, the biggest trend right now is that even during this crisis, people are generous. According to Chen, this is because people are getting big responses from their networks as they leverage the niche communities to ‘spread the word about their projects.’ (Powell, 2009) The two most important developments for photographers, crowd sourcing and digital forms of the ‘free’ business model, are discussed below. The crisis also has a great influence on almost all of the other trends, for example the cut down on subsidies as a political trends, the popularity of DIY-methods (in amateur photography) and the worldwide violation of copyright.

Crowdfunding Trend

Field

Possible consequences for professionalization photog.

Crowd funding

1. Economic 2. Social 3. Technological

- Acquire knowledge on crowdfunding system, as it has the potential to form a new source of income. - Branding will become a more important part of the photographer’s business practice

The trend Fundraising is about giving without interest, states Dutch politician and scientist Ronald Plasterk. (Plasterk, 2009: 5) Crowdfunding is the new form of fundraising, where small contributions donated online are used to support all kind of creative or artistic projects. With crowdfunding, money is raised for a project in a specific time limit. A goal for a minimum sum is set. Usually, the donors will get a sort of recognition or reward. (The Economist, 2010). According to Outenaar (2010), crowdfunding is a sort of Idols or X-factor (in other words: a talent show) among the investment models. The model is supported by the presumption that ‘the crowd’ (the consumers) know in what to invest. Because it concerns small amounts the risks are low, as is the threshold to contribute. (Outenaer, 2010)

According to web-preneur Perry Chen, small amounts are key in a time where the economic crisis has a large role, but people are also quite generous. He states that entrepreneurs have to embrace small amounts and move away from focusing on big checks. In his view: “why shouldn’t we be able to become a patron for each other for the price of a cup of coffee?” (Powell, 2009) Since the start of 2001, crowdfunding is an essential part of financing for FOAM, the Amsterdam Museum for Photography. Throughout the organization, everyone notices how crowdfunding is also contributing to the wide spread of support for the museum. There is a strong dedication of the organization to the public, in the form of attention for and involvement in the different groups of contributors. The museum has set up Foam_Fund as well as Foam_fan and Club_Foam to make sure that the contributors feel like and keep being involved in the museum. (Kunst&Zaken, 2009: 118) Their crowdfunding system does not completely fit the above definition, but they are using digital tools to stimulate people to invest in the museum. Also, it is possible for private persons to invest small and incidental amounts, which makes the threshold to contribute lower. Another important plus-point of their model is that they are giving the donors a feeling of involvement in the museum. According to the Economist, people who invest in these sort of projects enjoy the associat ion with a successful project and a personal link with the project or the artist. (The Economist, 2010) Not all initiatives based on the crowdfunding system work, though. Sellaband, the first big Dutch crowdfunding initiative, was forced to stop its business at the start of 2010 because their business model wasn’t working. (Outenaer, 2010) Its model was based on the idea that the crowd was able to pick which band could make it big in the music business. If enough people were willing to invest a small amount in a certain band, they would have the opportunity to make a record. The records however, weren’t selling enough. Just as with every new business model, experiments sometimes fail. The project is given a second chance as they are now trying to bring it back to the market. It seems like crowdfunding could be a fruitful model for photographers as well. The Sochi Project, photographer Rob Hornstra’s and writer/director Arnold van Bruggen’s long-term photoproject – or slow journalism, as they call it, is based on a crowdfunding system. For this project they want to travel the region around Sochi (where the Olympics will take place in four years) at least twice a year for a month until 2014. For the funding of the project, they largely turn to their ‘crowd’ for donations starting at 10 euros. In return for their donations, they get a ‘membership’ to the website where they get access to the rough material of the project. Hereby, they also create a feeling of involvement in the project. Also, they provide their (potential) donators with a feeling of transparency by giving them a general insight in the costs and spending.

Besides completely setting up an own crowdsourcing project, more initiatives have started to provide a platform on which to use crowdfunding as a form of financing. A great example for photography is Emphas.is. German photo-editor Tina Ahrens and Belgian photographer have set up a platform to organize crowdfunding for photojournalism projects. They use the popularity of news photographs with the public and try to transform this into financial support for the sector, as more and more media are cutting down on budgets for photojournalism. (PhotoQ, 2010c) Origins of the trend In the US, private fundraising is already an essential part of culture. Here, the private sector contributes even more to culture than the government does. The Dutch culture does not have the same habit, but it is becoming more popular. (Plasterk, 2009: 5) Private fundraising is now receiving renewed attention because of the opportunities provided by social media, online communities and technologies that make micro payments easier. (e.g. Philip, 2010; Kunst&Zaken, 2009: 32) The plus-points of online donations is that it is relatively inexpensive and that it gives you the opportunity to collect certain information about the donators, states Kunst&Zaken (2009: 165). From a jurisdictive point of view, it is important to keep in mind the legal boundaries (rights to privacy) while collecting and using this data. Also, the internet and its platforms have provided new room for a sort of hedonism, where private persons are more willing to share without interest, or for non-monetary interests like being a part of a community. For more on this topic, see chapter 6.3.4: Digital forms of free. Consequences of the trend As was mentioned in the previous paragraph, it seems like the Dutch culture is not adapted to this ‘giving without interest’ phenomenon. Plasterk states that it is time for the Netherlands to let go of the idea that this form of fundraising would be ‘not done’. (Plasterk. 2009: 5) Although all respondents felt like crowdfunding could be useful for photographers, they also mentioned that there has to be ‘something’ to give back to the donors. This ‘something’ is usually mentioned as a product that has a monetary value, like a signed print, a photo book, free use of images. (e.g. Utrecht, 2010; Hesper, 2010). The book on private fundraising by Kunst&Zaken (2009: 32) shows that people have three basic motives to donate: a trustworthy project or organization, a certain passion for the artistic product and/or mission and a feeling of ‘value of money’: the feeling that their donation is needed to make the project work.

The above discussion shows that people that are interested in creative work, mostly donate because they want to feel like they are a part of the process: a monetary return on investment (like being offered a share in profit or a product or service) does not seem to be an important motive to donate. According to Kunst&Zaken, the accessibility of photography as an art form to a wide audience is also contributing to the success of the crowd sourcing project of FOAM. (Kunst&Zaken, 2009: 119) The same motivation is given by the Emphas.is project, which could mean that photographers have a high potential to benefit from the crowdfunding trend because of the popularity of their product with the public. As was mentioned in the trend descriptions, not all crowdfunding projects succeed. One of the rules for success is that the photographers starting a crowdfunding project should ‘brand’ themselves and be consistent in their branding. That way, recognition and association by the public can be controlled. Create and display your USP’s (Unique Selling Points). Strategic brand management refers to the design and implementation of marketing activities. The goal is to build, measure and manage brand equity. Branding has been around for centuries as a way to distinguish the goods of one producer from those of another. According to the American Marketing Association (AMA, n.d.), a brand is a ‘name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition.’ Managers however, generally refer to a brands in terms of having created awareness, reputation, prominence, etc. in the market. There are many choices to be made over the number and nature of the brand elements chosen to identify their products when creating a brand. (Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008: 2) Moreover, the crowdfunding project should be more than a marketing story; it should be about bringing the artists and the audience closer together. (The Economist, 2010) As was mentioned previous, the audience loves to feel like they are a part of the creative process. Let them in on the process and provide them with the room to give feedback.

Digital forms of free: freemium and the gift economy Trend

Field

Possible consequences for professionalization photog.

Freemium / The Long Tail

1. Economic 2. Technological 3. Social

- (Re)define (niche) market(s) - Create and share added value - Create and communicate transparency - Give people access to your expertise and involvement in the creative process - Explore the digital distribut ion channels that are best able to reach (the early adaptors in) the niche market and act out the above act ions

The trend The freemium business model was articulated by venture capitalist Fred Wilson on 23 March 2006. "Give your service away for free, possibly ad supported (supported by advert isement fees, PT) but maybe not, acquire a lot of customers very efficiently through word of mouth, referral networks, organic search marketing, etc., then offer premium priced value added services or an enhanced version of your service to your customer base." (Wilson, 2006)

His definition and open discussion about the freemium business model caused a growth in popularity of the model for businesses as well as a growth in attention for the model by managers and researchers. In 2009, Chris Anderson published a book about â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;freeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. (Anderson, 2009) According to Anderson, there are four forms of free: 1. Direct cross subsidy: the product that is free is directly attached to a product that has to be paid for: buy a DVD, get the second one for free. This product is free for everyone that is willing to pay for the other product. 2. The three-party-market: a third party pays for the free access for the second party on the product/service of the first party. It is the advertising system that is used for almost all media. The advertisers pay to give the consumers free access to media. This product is free for everyone. The web has caused an extension of this model to other sectors beside the media sector.

3. Freemium. The most frequently used business model on the web. It is a product that has a free version and a premium, paid-for version. It is free for regular users. The model in essence is the same as the free sample model, but in its digital version the balance between free and paid is different. Here, about five percent of the paying users is supporting all non-paying users. This is caused by the fact that the costs of the digital products for the non-paying users are marginal. 4. Non-monetary markets. The non-monetary market or gift economy is based on the value of sharing, or the wish of people to express themselves, build up or maintain a reputation, get attention. Sometimes it is based on less traceable motivations of just having fun, good karma or a feeling of satisfaction . This altruistic approach has existed forever, but the web is offering the opportunity to spread this approach worldwide. The products here are free for everyone. An example of this model is Wikipedia, where people are sharing knowledge simply for the sake of sharing. (Anderson, 2009: 35-44) These categories are not absolute; there are hybrid forms available. However, they are the most workable to trace and analyze the different forms of free. All four categories come down to the same principle: shifting money, from person to person, between now and later, between non-monetary and monetary markets. Economists call this cross subsidies. It means that in the end, everything is paid for in one way or the other. (Anderson, 2009: 34) For photographers, the last two categories are most important and could mean a significant change in the way they handle their business. The benefits of the freemium model or gift economy is that the main stumbling blocks of product adoption are reduced. Hereby, people who use the free product or service will tell their network about the benefits. (Heires, 2007) To sort this effect, all barriers for acquisition of or access to the product must be eliminated and the product must stay free (no trial-period). (Wilson, 2006) According to Wilson, the best freemium models are those where the customer understands why the paid part of the service must cost money. Therefore, the paid-for features must really be worth it. “(…) If your free service is loved and you do a good job articulating the value that comes with the paid service, you can convert to paying users with good results.” (Wilson, 2006) Origins of the trend Although there have always been some forms of free, like samples or ‘get the second one for free’, totally free products and services were no serious option until the Internet provided the option of low-cost online distribution. (Heires, 2007) Jorinde Seijdel states that new digital tools have provided artists with the possibility to endlessly copy material and spread it on a large, international scale.

Via Web 2.0 and her interactive platforms for communication and distribution of images, sound, knowledge and information, under which are weblogs, wikis and social networks, numberless social scenes have erupted, open to everyone, with free access to all content. (Seijdel, 2010: 27) This free or low cost distribution of information has caused the trend of giving away (part of) products and services for free. Consequences of the trend Giving away (a part of) your product or service fits the ‘reputation capital’. (Anderson, 2009: 215). With social media, you are able to transform your reputation into attention. Everyone must decide on their own how he/she wants this attention to transfer into monetary value, if they wish to do so. A great example of ‘reputation capital’ is given by Pieter Wisse, who started the blog 500 photographers. (Wisse, 2010) For the past three years, he had been working on his photo book, ‘I love 88’. Although his book was sold and got some attention in the media, it did not book the results he was aiming for. Wisse had been active on social media for a while when he came up with the idea to start a blog where he would post some info about a photographer that he found worth it every day. Using his existing network, the blog soon got a lot of attention, even on an international scale. As he mentioned in the interview held for this research, he is now more known for the blog he ‘made up’ in a day, than for the book he worked on for three years. Sharing his inspiration on ‘500 photographers’ on a daily basis has provided him with a group of dedicated followers, resulting in more attention for his personal photographic work, his book, magazine and photography, as well. However, the profit-making models on freemium and the gift economy are still a bit wobbly. As Heinemeier Hansson (2010) puts it, “the just-give-it-away-for-free-and-theywill-come-and-we’ll-be-rich automatron is as broken now as it was in 2001”. Some are using revenue on advertisment to earn an income and some are using the premium version of their product to make profit. However, this might be more difficult for photographers, as they are not offering an online service, but their goal generally is to get assignments. There is a second catch as well. It might be that people value some products as less qualitative or even as unwanted, because it is offered for free or they are even paid to use it. Anderson gives a few examples where people attach more value to things they have to pay for, because then they feel like there is something valuable about these products. (Anderson, 2009: 46) In an interview held for this research, director of the FotografenFederatie Lars Boering also claims that it does not pay for a photographer to just give away their photography for free or next to nothing, because then clients will not value their work properly and they will even get less assignments because their prices are so low or they are giving away their photography for free. (Boering, 2010)

Concluding, it means that free is not enough. It has to be combined with paid-services. Anderson states that entrepreneurs will not only have to come up with products that people love, but also with products that people are willing to pay for. In his view, free might be the best price, but it cannot be the only price. (Anderson, 2009: 278) Quite extensive and useful lists of tips and tricks for using the freemium model and the gift economy in a profitable way are given by for example Anderson (2009) and Heires (2007). The most important factors of success for using these models are to actively find your own market or redefine your market, share what your added value is, gain trust by creating transparency (show people what the process is), make your product easily accessible (no tricky subscriptions) by being consistent in what is free and what is not, and give people the possibility to give feedback or add to your service. Hereby, they will feel connected to what you do, are more willing to pay and will keep coming back. There are some similarities between these models and the crowdfunding model. They are both revolutionized by new digital tools, they are based on the use of networks to create attention for your product and to use the models, the photographer needs to find his own market and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; himself. The models can also easily be combined. Giving people limited access to your product and the process makes them feel connected to what you do and makes them more willing to contribute to the project, whether it is by giving a small donation in a crowdfunding system or by paying for a premium service. Although the freemium and gift economy model might not seem directly applicable to the world of the photographer, the initiative of Pieter Wisse shows that there are a lot of ways to interpret this model. By giving away his expertise for free on his blog, people are interested in him and his photography and will turn to him quicker for assignments, because they feel connected to his work and trust his expertise. The same principle is true for most photographers: by giving people free access to your expertise and involving them in your creative process, they will feel involved and be more willing to pay for your services, and will turn to you for an assignment faster than they would to any other photographer on the market.

6.3.4 Political

Cut down on subsidies Trend

Field

Possible consequences for professionalization photog.

Cut down on subsidies

1. Polit ical 2. Economic 3. Social

- Gain knowledge about new, more differentiated sources of income - Entrepreneurial skills, knowledge about entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial attitude - Creat ing a balance between the above developments and creativity and artistic integrity

In the concept agreement on policy presented by the just-installed Dutch government on September 23, 2010, the following is said about the arts and culture policy: The subsect ion below is a summarized translat ion of the concept agreement on policy. The government creates conditions in the field of arts and culture that increase the quality and guarantee accessibility. The starting point is that in every region, a valuable cultural supply must exist. The government wishes to give more space to the society and private initiatives and to limit governmental inclusion. Arts and culture are meant for society, after all. If the government grants subsidies, possibilities for the projects and institutes to gain an independent income will be explored first. There will be more attention for the profit-making possibilities of culture. There will be a cut down on resources for arts and culture. The ‘cultuurkaart’ and innovation- and matching system will be cancelled. Funds will be mergedinto one cultural investment fund. The cabinet will propose a ‘giving legislation’. Cultural institutes and artists will become more entrepreneurial and will be largely self-responsible for making revenue. The creative industries will contribute to the economic development. (VVD & CDA, 2010) In comparison to the previous art and culture policies, this concept means that a severe cut down on subsidies and a pulling away of the government out of the arts and culture scene will take place in the next four years. They are clearly demanding a more independent, entrepreneurial attitude of the cultural and creative sector. On the one side, this trend is caused by the economic crisis, which demands a cut down of subsidies in all sectors.

However, it is also the result of a more right-winged cabinet that is focusing more on ‘individual responsibility’ and freedom. The two parties that together form the cabinet, value freedom and business (VVD) and healthcare and families (CDA), but both attach less value to the arts, or at least in a less ‘patronizing’ manner. It is not just the parties that attach less value on the arts. 28% of the Dutch population thinks that it is righteous to cut down subsidies on arts and culture. If the Dutch population could say on which sectors a cut down on subsidies could be done, the arts and culture sector comes in second, just after Defense. (Synovate, 2010) So, is the arts moving towards a life without aid? Looking at the concept policy agreement, it does not seem that aid will vanish completely. However, it does seem that the art world has to be prepared for big chances in a short period of time. Consequences of the trend The discussions in the art world on the consequences of the cut down on subsidies now still focuses on where the hardest blows will fall. (Bolwijn, 2010) A large part of the art world is organizing and holding protests against this cut down. During these current protests and demonstrations, the general consensus was that the cultural life will most certainly stop to exist. (Gijssel, 2010) The protestors are discussing the, in their eyes, disastrous consequences of the new developments in the arts and culture policy, where culture will surely be put to death and populism will be at hand over the ‘real’ values of culture and the arts. However, they fail to look past the protests and start looking to solutions. Research of research company Berenschot predicts that the government will look at the entrepreneurial level of projects and institutes when granting aids, as well as the quality of the work, the social and educational use and the popularity with the public. (Bolwijn, 2010) Although most of the respondents view this trend as a negative development, some are also emphasizing on the unfair competition caused by grants that will now be eliminated. If one photographer is able to get subsidized (for example, because he has been studying at an art academy) while the other is not (for example, because she is self-thought), their revenue might be the same but their income is different. Also, some of the photographers state that grants can make artists ‘lazy’, in the sense that they are not moving forward in their work and their professionalization, because there is no need to do so. Looking at the American examples, this does seem to be the case. These photographers are forced to professionalize themselves, because they are not being supported by the government but are dependent on themselves and their own ability to gain access to financial resources and sell their work.

Rob Philip (2010) states that in the 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, when there were severe cut downs on subsidies and blows in the economics as well, artists and photographers were even more creative than in previous times. He claims that crises stimulate creativity. The same notion has been made by several researchers and researches on creativity, for example in a research that shows that creativity on the African continent thrives on crises. (Konings & Foeken, 2006) Concluding, it seems that photographers should look towards more, differentiated sources of income, like private persons, funds, sponsors and banks. (Holterhues, 2010) Just like in many of the other trends named in this trend analysis, entrepreneurship is the key. Defining markets, marketing your work, finding new financial resources: it all comes down to creating an entrepreneurial attitude. (e.g. Vuyk, 2010; Holterhues, 2010; Boering, 2010)

Creative economy policy Trend

Field

Possible consequences for professionalization photog.

An entrepreneurial approach to arts policy / creative industries policy

1. Polit ical 2. Economic 3. Cultural

- Gain knowledge about the possibilities provided by the government to support entrepreneurial skills in terms of financing and coaching - For the rest: same professionalization consequences as in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Cut down on subsidiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

The trend The Value of Creation (original Dutch title: Waarde van Creatie) is a policy letter by the Dutch Ministry of Economics as well as the Dutch ministry of Education, Culture and Science that emphasizes the importance of the creative industries for both culture and economics. In this letter, the creative industries are defined as a broad collection of sectors where creativity is the center point. The initial creation (of shapes, meaning or symbolic value) is the core activity in these sectors. The creative industries are categorized in creative business services, media and entertainment and the arts (unique content). Photography here is placed in the arts category, together with the fine arts, performing arts and art centers and events. (Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, 2009)

For the next few years, three main goals are mentioned: increasing the knowledge about and potential of creativity in the business world, increasing the knowledge about and the accessibility of the existing instruments and increasing the knowledge about entrepreneurship in the creative sectors. The same forces seem to be at hand as in the cultural trend of creative entrepreneurship. The Dutch government feel that they could play a role in stimulating entrepreneurship among artists. They see the same need for more entrepreneurship in the creative sector, in order for them to survive the current and coming changes, and also to fully use their potential of contributing to the business world by making entrepreneurial use of their creative potential. In the Dutch governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s view, these sectors have a significant value for both the Dutch economy and society. They directly contribute to the welfare growth and employment rate. Moreover, the creative industries are able to contribute to solutions for social issues like sustainability, mobility, education, health care, social cohesion and land use. (Ministerie voor Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, 2010: 24) In monetary terms, the added value of the creative industries is about â&#x201A;Ź 16.9 million, which is 3% of the GDP. (Berenschot research, mentioned in: Ministerie voor Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, 2010: 24) Origins of the trend In 2008, the Creative Economy Report was published by the United Nations (UN). Here, the creative economy was described as an economy led by the potential of creativity and innovation for the worldwide promotion of social prosperity. (Hagoort, 2009) The trend of a focus on the creative industries, creative entrepreneurship and the economic value of creativity was caused by the same factors as were named in chapter 6.3.1: Creative entrepreneurship. Concluding, all trends derive from the combination of creativity and economy, which in its turn is caused by a more economic approach in the arts on the one side, and a more creative approach in the business economy on the other side. As a result, a program for the creative industries has been launched at the end of 2005 by the Dutch Ministry of Economy and the Dutch Ministry of Culture, Education and Science. This program, that ended in 2008, was meant to test the possibilities of combining culture and economics and to test the role that the government could play in (stimulating) this combination. The goal was to make better use of the economic potential of culture and creativity. This test program resulted in the policy letter De Waarde van Creat ie, in which the potential of the creative industries was recognized. (Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, 2009)

Consequences of the trend Just as was mentioned in chapter 6.3.1: Creative entrepreneurship, the most important consequence for the photographer is that they have to be more entrepreneurial and to use their creative potential in a more entrepreneurial matter. There are two sides to the consequences of this policy for the photographer. On the one side, he can expect support in terms of start-up financing and coaching by the government. This could support him in becoming a better entrepreneur. On the other side, the consequence is that he will be less able to get his projects financed by the government, or to make use of subsidies, if he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find a way to make a profit out of his projects. Holterhues claims that banks could potentially play a bigger role in financing art and art projects, now that the government is stepping away from this. Supporting art and culture also adds value to their status as a bank. (Holterhues, 2010) Because the consequences of this trend for the photographer overlap the consequences mentioned in chapter 6.3.1: Creative entrepreneurship, please refer to this chapter for further information on this topic.

6.3.5 Media Cross-media productions Trend

Field

Cross-media

1. Media 2. Technological 3. Cultural

Possible consequences for professionalization photog. - Gain knowledge about telling a story in more than a still image - Gain skills in using several media - Create cooperat ion with other arts and media professionals - Further develop communication skills for cooperation and storytelling

In an interview with Glenn Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien, photography/fashion duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin state that video will be the next step for photography and fashion. Everything will move and should be able to move, and the opportunities given by computer manipulation are endless, they say. According to Van Lamsweerde, the budgets of magazines and newspapers will be adapted to this new trend as soon as they realize what opportunities there are for film and computer.

She says that it will become even more important for a photographer to be able to build a story, to direct someone and communicate with them. (Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien, 2010) The traditional art world is getting more and more involved in the digital environment, states Seijdel. It is extending its material platforms to digital ones, thereby creating all kind of hybrid forms of displays, between exhibition, communication, distribution and community development. This way, artists now are more easily shifting between different platforms or disciplines. (Seijdel, 2010: 58) Thijssen adds that now more than ever, the boundaries fade between art and commerce, between documentary, artistic and commercial photography, resulting in a more hybrid photographic production. (Thijssen, 2003) Origins of the trend As photographers began using the DSLRs (digital reflex cameras) for video, the technology quickly pointed out that the small-form factor and â&#x20AC;&#x153;photographicâ&#x20AC;? way it captured an image was something that opened up a world of possibilities. (Griffin, 2007) By means of this new technologies, but also by computer animation and the increasing possibilities to display cross-media productions online have caused an upheaval of crossmedia productions. Consequences for the photographer It seems like not all photographers are open-minded towards this trend. Most of the photographers that were interviewed for this research, said that it would probably be more wise to specialize in one medium and not use several media, because chances are great that a photographer then will be mediocre in all instead of good in one. (e.g. Wisse, 2010; Veeger, 2010; Luijtgaarden van de, 2010) However, this does differ per photographer, as photographer Carina Hesper (just like Inez van Lamsweerde said in the above discussion of the trend) says that video is the future, and that cross-media productions will become more normal. (Hesper, 2010) Rob Philip (2010) and Lars Boering (2010) also state that this will become more regular, and photographers will benefit if they are able to tell a story with several media. Carina Hesper catches both of these thoughts by saying that this trend could go either way: photographers could be doing more and more, or that could go back to specializing on one thing only. However, this specialization could be not about the medium, but also about a niche market or a certain theme in their work. (Hesper, 2010) It also seems that the photographers that are not that enthusiastic about this trend, partly feel so because they are thinking about cross-media productions as using several media at the same time, for example filming while photographing. This possibility is less likely, because not many people are that flexible and can divide their attention between such very different acts.

As news photographer Robin Utrecht stated, cross-media productions in his sector would be very useful when there is no direct â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;news momentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, but when the photographer is, for example, making a portrait of someone. Then, they will be able to make photographs and make video productions, because they have the time to do both, and not simultaneously. If photographers want to do cross-media productions, they will have to learn how to tell a story in more than a static image, as well as control the technological aspects of the medium or media that they are using. They could also turn to cooperation with creative professionals in other media to make a product together. This will demand more of their communication skills. As Van Lamsweerde says, photographers will have to be able to tell and to direct a story, and to communicate their thoughts to the people they are working with. (Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien, 2010)

Social Media, network behavior and new opportunities for professionals Trend

Field

Possible consequences for professionalization photog.

Social media and the use of and for professionals

1. Media 2. Technological 3. Social

- Integrate using social media as a means of communication in your daily business - Develop a strategy on who you want to reach and what your goal is in using social media - Gain knowledge about which platforms to use to reach your market and complete your goals - Integrate social media in your existing market ing and communication models, tools and strategies

The trend Social media is an umbrella term for internet tools on which the user is able to place and share information and on which dialogue and interaction between users is made possible. They are media where users communicate and share. This could mean sharing knowledge, photos, videos, experiences, things to sell, opinions, software, cooperating, games or anything else that can be shared online. It is a technique that helps to collectively gain knowledge, act and increase abilities. (Social Embassy, 2010: 58-59)

The international research organization TNS has recently published the largest (in terms of worldwide respondents) research on online customer behaviour. In the Netherlands, 28% of the population are using social media on their computer. 19% are using social media via mobile devices. In the US, 50% of the American population is using social media on their computer, and 44% are using it via mobile devices. (TNS, 2010) It seems like we are becoming more social online. Judging from the number of friends (on social networks), the average number in the Netherlands is now 115. In the younger group, age 16-20, it is an average of 267 friends, in the group age 20-24 it is 156 friends. This same trend is noticeable in all countries. (TNS, 2010) Although there might be the aspect that younger people make online friends a bit easier, it is also a trend to become more social online, which will in the end spread to the older groups as well. However, with 74% of the Dutch respondents claiming that email is one of their main online activities, email is still by far the most acted-out activity in the Netherlands (and all other developed countries. In the US however, the tide is turning fast, with 50% of the people claiming that email is one of their main activities and 50% is claiming that social networking is. 16-20 year old Dutch respondents view social networking as their most important online activity, while in average email still is viewed as most important. 42% of the US respondents are highly engaged in digital activities, while only 33% of the Dutch are. (TNS, 2010) More important than the growth of social media for this research however, is the professionalization in the use of social media. It is becoming an integral part of a changing marketing- and communication model. An increasing number of brands is paying more attention to the way they use social media and the way they maintain the dialogue, which results in a more clear view on the recent developments in their target groups, a growing number of contacts and a lively interaction. Brands that are successful in using social media purposely choose and implement strategies and goals. (Social Embassy, 2010: 53) This same statement can be made by looking at the increasing numbers of books on social media that focus on helping businesses use social networks effectively as a communication and/or marketing tool. However, ad spending on social networking-type services still remains to be only small fraction of the total online ad market. It is expected that in 2010, marketers will only spend about $1.7 billion on social networks, which is 6.7% of the total $25.1 billion market. (eMarketer, 2010). (Steel & Efrati, 2010) According to some, there are still some downsides to social media. Andrew Keen protests against the absence of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;gatekeepersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, verified persons or institutes, that are able to attach value to news or information on the internet.

He states that the cult of the amateur has made it impossible to determine whether someone is a professional or amateur, with the consequence that the quality and reliability of the information received declines, thereby distorting our national civic conversation. (Keen, 2007) The open chaos of social media, caused by the same movements that are responsible for the ‘information overload’ (chapter 6.3.2) is being structured as we speak. As was discussed in chapter 6.3.2 and 6.3.3: Digital forms of free, platforms and information filters (now still ‘handmade’ by the user that uses his social network to filter information) as well as pay-systems are structuring social media. A part of the open chaos will always exist, as it thrives open innovation on the web. (Wolff & Anderson, 2010). Experiments with new business models in social media are taking place: micro blog Twitter uses Promoted Trends (a place in the trending topics) and promoted tweets (first research result at Twitter search engine). Soon, it will also start using Promoted Accounts (a place in the ‘who to follow’ section). (Essers, 2010) According to Wall Street Journal, Twitter is selling these promoted tweets for upwards of 100.000 dollars. (Steel & Efrati, 2010) However, advertisers still question whether consumers pay attention to paid advertising on social-networking sites. Some see more benefit in using free options on the networks, e.g. creating Twitter accounts and interacting with users, states Geert Lovink, author of Zero Comments. (Lippolis & Sartori, 2008) Shiv Singh, head of digital for PepsiCo Beverages, states that it is a new and different kind of ad format where there is a lot still to learn and think about. The growth of using mobile devices to gain access to the internet is also fueling the growth of social networks. The growth in the use of mobile devices is caused by a need of the consumer for instant gratification, but also by the ability of social networks to offer multiple messaging formats. (TNS, 2010) This means that a user can use platforms provided by the networks to send instant updates and messages, which becomes much more attractive and effective to the consumer when he is able to update his status at any given place and moment in time. Origins of the trend Social media have existed since internet became available to the public, but they have evolved quite a bit since the first social networks arose in 1997. In 2001, a next wave of social networks began of which the users believed in an ‘online hedonism’: they were entwined tightly on both a personal and professional level and believed that they could support each other without competing. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007)

Web 2.0 has facilitated the relatively new social networks. It has made it easier to join in on conversations, show appreciation for the information and products that people are publishing and distributing or redistribute information. Because there are now many social networks that have their own type of users, the conversation has become more decentralized, the impact has increased due to the growth of the internet and metainformation is becoming more important. (Bruijntjes, 2009) Consequences of the trend To create value, brands must invest in the development of relations through social networks and integrate social media in their strategy and activities. Social media enable brand to become better and more successful. They just need to use it consciously and effectively. (Social Embassy, 2010: 55) According to TNS, social networks have become an aggregator of services, a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;one-stopshopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for the consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; online needs. Their research showed that multi-media aggregation is the biggest online future development. If networks are able to make this as seamless and intuitive as possible, they will be the ones to survive in a Web that is packed with social media services. They suggest that brands should also look to integrate multimedia in their social media campaigns. (TNS, 2010) This development is related to the cross- media production trend that is mentioned in this chapter. The same possibilities and threats that are formed by this development are applicable to this trend. It also influences the way in which photographers could use social media to their benefit. If cross-media productions are becoming more popular on social media, and the use of social media is increasing as well, photographers could make use of this trend by promoting their cross-media productions through social media. On the other side, this development is threatening the popularity of still images. As social media is changing the relationship between companies and their clients (Social Embassy, 2010: 55), it could do the same for the relationships between photographers and their (potential) clients. Consequently, photographers should also be able to join in on the conversation and communicate with their potential clients as well as with their potential donors (see chapter 6.3.3: crowdfunding). Just as companies are tweaking their strategies, communication and marketing models towards social media, so should photographers. Although all of the respondents are using social media for their business, not all are benefiting from it yet. They are not that accustomed to using social media and therefore do not feel that social media is helping their business practice. Some of the respondents, like Lars Boering, Carina Hespers and Pieter Wisse, do feel like social media is helping them to get assignments or start cooperations. Photographer Pieter Wisse states that he benefits from social media in the sense that it brings about more attention for him and his work.

However, he adds that if you want to make use of social media, you must do it rightly, or it could backfire – or just have no effect at all. His tips are to do something with social media that you are passionate about and to keep updating on a regular basis. (Wisse, 2010)

6.3.6 Technological Print never dies: the new print, the new publishing Trend

Field

Possible consequences for professionalization photog.

Print never dies: the new print, the new publishing

1. Technological 2. Media 3. Economic

- Gain knowledge about ‘digital print’ possibilit ies for your work (cross-media product ions, photo series) - Reach online audiences through social networks

The trend “The physical book will be dead in five years.” This rigorous statement was made by Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the ‘One Laptop per Child’ foundation. He did not mean an actual disappearance of books, but he did predict that in five years, the digital book will be more popular than the physical one. (Reuver de, 2010) The same prediction was made by Lars Boering during the interview held for this research, although he applied it two news distribution models. According to Boering, paper media are bound to extinguish in the next five years, or even sooner. (Boering, 2010) The transformation from print to digital is already taking place, as Amazon is now selling more e-books than physical books, digital news sources are gaining popularity over printed ones and e-readers and other mobile devices that are offering easy-to-use and easy-to-read possibilities that did not exist before, are very popular and are selling above expectations. (Theather, 2010) Origins of the trend There are a few developments that have contributed to the rise of this trend. The first one is the more broad trend of digitalization, which causes consumers and companies to increasingly focus on the digital tools and less on print. Secondly, the e-readers that have entered the market in the last two years are making ‘digital print’ more easily accessible, more mobile and readable (for longer periods of time). The economic crisis might have served as a catalyzer for this trend, because digital information is generally cheaper than printed information.

Consequences of the trend The digitalization of print means a change in the distribution channels (e.g. newspapers, magazines) but not per se in the information or images that are the content that is being distributed. (Campbell, 2010) The fact that the distribution channels are suffering, does not mean that the producers should do the same. Their tasks might be changing, but their work is still needed. (e.g. Estrin, 2010; Stacy, 2010; Campbell, 2010) Most of the respondents state that print will never vanish completely. A renewed interest in photo books is already showing that when print is becoming less popular, its popularity might rise in other niche markets/products. Lars Boering states that the digitalization of former print could even have a positive impact on photography, as people might attach more value to photo prints and photo books and the physical contact with art works as a sort of counter movement after a period of rigorous digitalization. The rest of the respondents underline this statement, because photography can add value to print and print can add value to photography. Print provides a certain control over the format, colors, cut-out and overall charisma of the work. On the other side, the increased quality of (mobile) devices used for viewing â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;digital printâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; are offering possibilities for photography as well. At a seminar about renewal in photojournalism organized by the Dutch organization Zilveren Camera, all speakers agreed that the immense popular e-readers are great for watching photography, film and cross-media productions. The screens are bigger, and the amount of photographs to place is endless. (Zilveren Camera, 2010) For example, an article could be accompanied by one photograph, which is clickable and hereby reveals a whole series on this topic. It is already becoming clear that media that before were not that keen on using photography, are doing so now. Take for example the Ipad app (application) developed by the Dutch online news service NU.nl. On their website, photography does not take an important place and is usually resized to a marginal sizes and amount of pixels. Their app however, is largely based on photography and offers a lot of room for historical as well as news photos. Design and innovation consulting firm IDEO has recently published a video as well as started an online discussion about the future of the book. (IDEO, 2010) In this video, they show the possibilities for interaction and cross-media productions on new mobile devices like the Ipad. As photographer Pieter Wisse mentions, these devices could also be beneficial for the photographer because they are able to create a digital portfolio that is portable, shows photography in high quality and can be adapted to every type of client quite easily. Nevertheless, it is questionable whether photographers will actually be able to benefit from the digitalization of print. This will depend on the actions that they undertake based on the other trends.

For example, they will have to find a new way to deal with copyright issues to benefit from the (online) use of their photography. Also, they will have to reach online audiences through social networks and find a way to make use of new business models (6.3.4: digital forms of free) in order to get attention for their work and transform this into a profitable attention.

6.3.7 International

Author and copy right in the digital age Trend

Field

Possible consequences for professionalization photog.

Author rights

1. Internat ional 2. Techonological

Gain knowledge about current copyright issues to develop a conscious strategy to either : - protect your copyright by knowing what your rights are and how to trace down illegal use - or spread your images for free and find means to turn this attention into profit, either monetary or non-monetary

The trend Dutch umbrella organization for author rights of visual makers PictoRight states that internet has turned the market into an open and transparent model, where large amounts of money are only paid for using images when the subject is of importance (for example when it concerns an exclusive photo of a celebrity). (Boer den, 2010) Because of the open and transparent character of the internet, two movements in author and copy rights are evolving. The first one is preaching an open content model where copyright no longer exists. The supporters of this development state that the internet is no place for trying to control copyrights, and that information wants to be free. They generally are supporting giving credits to the authors, although these credits are nonmonetary. They also believe that the author will find other ways to get paid for their work, for example by micro-payments or by selling side-products or activities, sometimes custom made or in any other sense exclusive. (e.g. Anderson, 2009; Sargentini in Buzink, 2010; Schneider in Lippolis & Sartori, 2010)

A counter movement to this trend is set up, where existing organizations are combining their powers in umbrella-organizations to fight this movement. They propose new and extending regulations on copyright and author right issues, because they believe that the author has the right to be rewarded when their images are reused, and that the government should enable these authors to control their copyright and author right by means of regulations and education. (e.g. Brein and PictoRight in: Boer den, 2010; Platform Makers in PhotoQ, 2009) There is even a new term for this, ‘copyleft’, which means that authors give away their author rights on the internet. (Boer den, 2010) The respondents of the interviews held for this research also notice that images are used, violating author and copy right, more easily. However, not all photographers feel that they are being used in a commercial sense, but only by online sources that are noncommercial. Photographer Pieter Wisse states that he feels like it is harder to trace whether the image is used commercially, because it is not always clear which websites and platforms are commercial and which aren’t. Nevertheless, non-commercial organizations or people are also obliged to follow the rules and regulations concerning copy and author rights that are defined in the Dutch law. Origins of the trend Relatively new digital tools provide the possibility to endlessly copy material and spread it on a large, international scale. Via Web 2.0 and her interactive platforms for communication and distribution of images, sound, knowledge and information, under which are weblogs, wikis and places like Hyves (Dutch social network), FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, E-bay and Wikipedia, numberless social scenes have erupted, open to everyone, with free access to all content. (Seijdel, 2010: 27) The movements of new digital forms of free (6.3.3) and the information overload (6.3.2) show that there is a large spread believe in sharing freely on the internet. Also, the overload on free information and the fast and easy way in which this information is (re)distributed have caused changes in the issues surrounding copyright and author rights. In this changing environment, these two existing forms must transform themselves to be applicable in the online dimension as well, whether it is by means of protection or by means of freedom of authorship and information. Consequences of the trend It is still unsure which one of the two movements in this trend will ‘win’ in the end. Looking at the large and professional scale on which the organizations that want to protect author and copy right are moving, it is likely that they will succeed in setting the (new) legal boundaries and educating those photographers that want to protect their author and copyright in how to do this. On the other hand, the movement of a more flexible and non-monetary way of handling copy and author right issues is quite large and consistent as well.

The popularity of the Creative Commons License, an easy-to-use license for copyrights on creative products online, which preaches a more free interpretation of copyright in order to spread creative products as far as possible, shows that there is a significant amount of creative professionals and amateurs who don’t mind that their products are redistributed, whether it is in a commercial or non-commercial context. In the end, it comes down to which movement the photographer feels the most connection to. If they want to have more control over their copyrights, they’d be wise to educate themselves on this topic by reading the relevant literature or joining in on seminars and debates organized by organizations like Pictoright and Burafo. For these photographers, new tools are coming up to track the use of images on the internet. ImageRights, for example, tracks down where a certain image is being used by analyzing the automatically analyzing the main characteristics of the image and searching for matches on the web. This results in a list of URL’s of where the image is being used. Such tools are making it easier to act out your author rights online. For the photographers that are unwilling to chase down people and organizations that are illegally using their photography, it means that they should accept that they might not always receive the fees that they ought to receive for the use and reuse of their images. Some sources are claiming that it would be wiser to look at new sources of income and see opportunities in a wide usage of their images (for their reputation) instead of focusing on strictly handling their author and copy right. (e.g. Sargentini in Buzink, 2010; Anderson, 2009) If the photographer should decide to let loose of their copyright, it would be wise to stimulate the wide, free spread of their images as much as they can, as a free, widespread of their images also contributes to the attention they will get for their work. (Anderson, 2009: 72) Leading digital commentators want to see consumers take professional creative works they have bought and then alter them and share them with other people. Professor Lawrence Lessig (Creative Commons) gave an example of how it could work with the television industry. “Imagine you are Channel 4 and you have a new series to be released. What you do is each week put the latest episode online and invite people to remix it. So you create this huge community of people remixing your content and you create this huge community of people watching your program each week." (BBC, 2005) According to Geert Lovink, complete legalization often kills activity and ‘neutralizes the problematic field up to the point of disappearance’. He states that, next to controlling copyright, legalization of exchange of copyrighted material is also not a solution. Instead, he thinks that we need an alternative economy, in which artists and creative producers are financially rewarded directly, without 'middle men'. (Lippolis & Sartori, 2010) The examples of this alternative economy that he gives are similar to the ones mentioned in

chapter 6.3.3 Crowdfunding and Digital forms of free. According to Klaus Lovgreen, COO of Lehner Investments: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Eventually, when global property rights have been negot iated and the infrastructure is in place, consumers will be able to legally and instantly access any content in high quality on any device anywhere in the world and in any language at a very low cost. This will make piracy irrelevant as it will no longer be viable. Delivery and consumpt ion of such content will be traceable, making the royalty collect ion process more efficient and, along with reduced piracy, more profitable for content owners.â&#x20AC;? (Syndigate, 2010)

7. Future scenarios 7.1 What is a future scenario? A future scenario is a short story, almost like the concept for a film script, about a possible future. (Bennamar et al., 2006: 23) The scenarios mentioned in this chapter do not intend to cover the whole future of the photography professionalization process. However, they do discuss the most important factors/trends and the most likely impact of these factors/trends, revealing the correlation between the different factors. Two future scenarios are given: a positive (inspiring) and negative (alarming) scenario. Per scenario, the steps that have to be taken to reach this scenario are briefly discussed (backcasting). These steps are transformed into strategies to reach the most desirable situation in the conclusion of this research. Appendix 7.1: future scenario writ ing

7.2 Scenario execution: possible future scenarios

7.2.1 The photographer is dead Talented photographers were unable to attain entrepreneurial skills. They have massively succumbed due to cut down on subsidies, shortage of budgets and assignments. An overload of images has left both the media and the public indifferent about the quality of photography. Therefore, media now are solely using free stock photography and amateur images, resulting in an absolute minimum in assignments for photography. Amateurs have taken over the market because their work is popular and their prices are marginal. The same goes for the small group of photographers that have survived but are working far below the market price. Photographers are unable to control the massive illegal spread and use of images, resulting in a loss of author rights in practice. By using several media, the quality of the products made by photographers has decreased dramatically. The photographers that have decided to stick to their medium, did not survive because the market was no longer interested in their still images. Because of all these negative developments, photographers have massively left the photography sector and are now working day-jobs just to pay the bills.

7.2.2 The photographer is reborn The photographer has evolved into a creative entrepreneur and is seen as an institute of knowledge on the art of photography and creativity. He is able to use his creativity in all kind of markets that are able to make use of his skills on all levels of their company. The photographer has found his niche market and is known as a ‘brand’ in this market. He effectively reaches this market by using a carefully selected set of online communication tools. The photographer has a flexible and entrepreneurial attitude towards his markets and knows how to adapt himself to new developments without losing his artistic integrity. He is combining different media to create a cross-media product that meets the wishes of his artistic integrity as well as the wishes of the market. In some cases, he will work with other arts and media professionals to create such products. The photographer has built up quite a stable financial situation by using different financial resources. The ‘crowd’ is showing its appreciation for his work by giving micropayments in order for him to create certain work or realize certain projects. The professional market is following in the footsteps of the crowd, resulting in e.g. banks that are funding projects. The photographer has consciously chosen a path in his approach to copyright and author rights. While some photographers are successfully protecting their copyright, know what their rights are and are using several tools to trace down misuse of their work, others are stimulating this ‘misuse’ by pushing the wide spread of their images on the Web, engaging in conversations on these images and turning this attention into benefit (whether monetary or non-monetary) for their business and/or artistic practice. Photographers and amateurs that were working for free or below the market either are only taken up assignments that fall outside of the scope of the professional photographer, have professionalized and are also working for market-conform prices or have not survived because their quality proved to be insufficient for the market. Photographers are able to ask market-conform prices for their work. Although these prices are not as high as they were in the 1980’s and 1990’s, photography related side-activities of the photographer are proving to be fruitful for their artistic as well as their business practice.

Conclusion Looking at the main trends and current developments, at the first sight the profession of photographer seems to be dying out. It is not, but what defines a photographer certainly is changing. These are not just changes in a distant future. They are already taking place. However, most photographers seem to be unprepared. The strategies named below are based on the desired future scenario, called ‘the photographer is reborn’. At the same time, the strategy is used to stay as far away from the unwanted scenario (‘the photographer is dead’) as possible. The scenarios can be found in chapter 7.2. The strategies below are categorized according to the main issues in the future scenarios. They are introduced by a small text from the desired scenarios (in italic), followed by the strategy to reach this desired situation. Creative entrepreneurship The photographer has evolved into a creat ive entrepreneur. He has a flexible and entrepreneurial att itude towards his markets and knows how to adapt himself to new developments without losing his art ist ic integrity. - Gain knowledge about the possibilities provided by the government to support entrepreneurial skills in terms of financing and coaching. - Gain entrepreneurial skills, knowledge about entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial attitude (see: Recommendations – Recommended reading for the photographer). More entrepreneurial skills are integrated in the other strategies named below. - Create a balance between entrepreneurship, creativity and artistic integrity, for example by looking at inspiring examples (see: Recommendations – Inspiring projects in photography) Photographer as an institute The photographer is seen as an inst itute of knowledge on the art of photography and creat ivity. He uses his creat ivity in all kind of markets that are able to make use of his skills on all levels of his company. It would be wise for photographers to take into account that their position might shift from a producer of content to someone that makes the infrastructure of photography possible, a type of moderator or expert, a kind of institute of photography. There are many possibilities for side-activities for professional photographers, like educating amateurs on several topics or providing (digital and physical) platforms for them, that could eventually also be of great value for their photographic work. However, this kind of actions can only be undertaken when the photographers heart is in it, not when it is just a marketing tool. - Gain knowledge about what methods there are to use your expertise and skills to

become of an institute (see also: Side activities in this chapter). - Brand yourself as being an institute more than just a photographer (see also: Branding in this chapter). Side-activities Although these prices are not as high as they were in the 1980’s and 1990’s, photography related side-act ivit ies of the photographer are proving to be fruitful for his art ist ic as well as his business pract ice. - Carefully choose your side activities: do they contribute to both your artistic and your business practice? - Actively use these side-activities to brand yourself. Branding: niche markets The photographer has found his niche market and is known as a ‘brand’ in this market. - (Re)define your (niche) market(s): Who do you want to reach? What are their characteristics? What do they want? Where can you find them? - Create and share added value. What sets you apart, makes you better (or at least, a better choice for your target groups) than other photographers? Be clear about this added value and incorporate this in the way you brand yourself. - Gain knowledge about branding (see: Recommendations: recommended reading for the photographer) and develop a branding strategy for yourself. Social media and networks as marketing and communication tools The photographer effect ively reaches this market by using a carefully selected set of online communicat ion tools. - Integrate using social media as a means of communication and marketing in your daily business as well as in your long-term plans. - Develop a strategy on which you want to reach and what your goal is in using social media. - Gain knowledge about which platforms to use to reach your market and complete your goals. - Explore the digital distribution channels that are best able to reach (the early adaptors) in the niche market. - Create strategies for online niche marketing. - Gain skills in online marketing and communications and keep updating this knowledge – the market is a fast one. - Gain knowledge about social networks and online communication tools. The same counts here: keep being updated (see: Recommendations: recommended reading for the photographer).

Cross media productions The photographer is combining different media to create a cross-media product that meets the wishes of his art ist ic integrity as well as the wishes of the market. In some cases, he will work with other arts and media professionals to create such products. - Gain knowledge about telling a story in more than a still image. - Gain skills in using several media. - Create cooperation with other arts and media professionals (when unable or unwilling to work with different media). - Further develop communication skills for cooperation and storytelling. - Gain knowledge about ‘digital print’ possibilities for your cross-media productions. New mix of financial resources The photographer has built up quite a stable financial situat ion by using different financial resources. The ‘crowd’ is showing its appreciat ion for his work by giving micro-payments in order for him to create certain work or realize certain projects. The professional market is following in the footsteps of the crowd, result ing in e.g. banks that are funding projects. - Gain knowledge about new, more differentiated sources of income and develop a personal strategy to use them. - Acquire knowledge on the crowdfunding system, as it has the potential to form a new source of income. - When using the crowdfunding system or the freemium of gift economy model: a. Create and share added value; b. Create and communicate transparency; c. Give people access to your expertise and involve them in the creative process; - For every artist, it would be useful to let go of his existing financial structure and create a work specific financing strategy. The usefulness of a certain financial resource is not determined externally, but by the work, mission and vision of the individual artist. (See also: Holterhues, 2010) The amateur threat: overcoming the pricing issues Photographers and amateurs that were working for free or below the market either are only taken up assignments that fall outside of the scope of the professional photographer, have professionalized and are also working for market-conform prices or have not survived because their quality proved to be insufficient for the market. Photographers are able to ask market-conform prices for their work. - There are some incontrollable factors here: the professionalization of amateurs and the quality of amateurs that are working below the market. However, photographers could gain some control in this area by, ironically, educating amateurs on artistic and business issues. Hereby, the photographer contributes to a shifting in amateurs of those that become professional and those that go back to photography ‘for the love of photography’, and therefore are no longer a threat to the professional photographer’s practice. - Show added value of you as a photographer (your brand) and you as a professional (your

expertise). The respondents of the interviews held fort his research all refer to their added value and displaying this added value as a way to ‘compete’ with amateurs. The most proposed added value to the amateurs is the ability to tell a photographic story. Secondly, the photographers refer to having a vision and being able to deliver constant quality as their added value. A new approach towards copyright The photographer has consciously chosen a path in his approach to copyright and author rights. While some photographers are successfully protect ing their copyright, know what their rights are and are using several tools to trace down misuse of their work, others are st imulat ing this ‘misuse’ by pushing the wide spread of their images on the Web, engaging in conversat ions on these images and turning this attent ion into benefit (whether monetary or non-monetary) for their business and/or art ist ic pract ice. - Gain knowledge about current copyright issues to develop a conscious strategy. a. Protect your copyright by knowing what your rights are and how to trace down illegal use (see: Recommendations: recommended reading for the photographer and: online tools that are useful for the photographer); b. Stimulate the free spread of your images, engage in conversations and develop a strategy to turn this attention into profit, either monetary or non-monetary (see: Recommendations: recommended reading for the photographer).

Recommendations Recommendations for further research This research has shown that there is a large role for ‘the new amateur’ in photography. This amateur seems to be professionalizing itself. Doing comparative research on the new vs. the classic amateur photographer might provide insight in how these amateurs are professionalizing themselves. Seijdel (2010) states that amateurs serve as the beta-testers of new systems, and therefore research on this topic could also give a deepening insight in the future of the photographer. The soon to be published research on the social economic position by the FotografenFederatie (see also: http://www.fotografenfederatie.nl) will provide more insight in the current social-economic position of the photographer and could be used to further specify this research on the professionalization of photographers, especially when it comes to defining the current situation. These numerical data could be able to define the current situation on a more exact level.

Recommendations to the sector Art academies This research clearly shows that entrepreneurship is needed both by photographers as by artists in general. The role of the art academies is critiqued by several sources named in this research. They are not including the entrepreneurial dimension in their educational systems enough, not integrating it in the educational pathway but seeing it merely as a ‘side-course’ which generally even is facultative. The students that graduate from art academies do not only have the right to be educated as an artist on an artistic level; they also have the right to be educated as an artist that is able to survive the current financial climate. Academies must offer this opportunity to their students by truly making entrepreneurship an integral part of their system. Not only a shift in the system is needed; the culture needs to change as well. Where Holterhues (2010) notices that teachers on art academies are not emphasizing on entrepreneurial skills, Boering (2010) notices that the Dutch government cannot be able to teach others to be entrepreneurial, because they are not entrepreneurial themselves. It both comes down to the same thing: you must embrace and embody entrepreneurship in order to teach others entrepreneurship.

The Dutch art world Much of the results and conclusion of this research could be copied to the Dutch art world in general. Looking at the changing political climate, the changing financial climate and the long-term changes caused by digitalization, there are a lot of current and future developments that the art world should adapt itself to in order to survive. Just as it is for the photographers, the general advise for the art sector is to stop protesting and start looking for solutions. Some solutions this research already provides: especially the strategies concerning (creative) entrepreneurship could and should be used by those in the cultural and creative sector that want to be reborn, and not die out.

Recommendations for the photographer The recommendations for the photographer are formed by the recommended reading, inspiring projects in photography and the online tools useful for photographers that are named below. They offer both a practical approach and a deepening insight that photographers could use to execute the strategies named in the conclusion.

Recommended reading for the photographer Anderson C. (2009), Free. The future of a radical price, New York, Hyperion books (freemium business models, rules and tactics for applying the models) Vos de J. (2009), Nerveuze pixels, Tielt, Lannoo: on digitalization of photography and the changes it brought to consumer and prosumerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s behavior Seijdel, J. (2010), De waarde van de amateur, Amsterdam, Fonds BKVB: on the value of amateurs for artists and the art world Arts&Business UK, Individual giving manual: a manual for crowdfunding Kunst&Zaken (2009), Part iculiere fondsenwerving: hĂŠt handboek, Rotterdam, Stichting Kunst&Zaken: a Dutch manual for crowdfunding Wijnen P. van (2007), Buiten Beeld, Haarlem, Focus Media Groep: clear and easy-to-read description of author rights for photographers Zwieten van H. & Grift van de M. (2009), Het merk ik, Houten, Spectrum, a small book about branding yourself and your business as a sole entrepreneur or freelancer

Inspiring projects in photography Pieter Wisse, 500 photographers, www.500photographers.com Rob Hornstra, The Sochi Project, www.borotov.com Luceo, a photography agency that uses a new co-op http://luceoimages.com/about/about-luceo/

business

model,

Discover Digital Life, www.discoverdigitallife.com, a really informative and visually attractive representation of online consumer behavior. This provides a great insight in the way people behave online. Useful to see which type of digital users there are and how and where to reach them.

Online tools that are useful for photographers Emphas.is, http://www.emphas.is is an international crowdfunding site that selects photojournalistic projects for crowdfunding Voor de kunst, http://www.voordekunst.nl/ is a Dutch crowdfunding site for art projects ImageRights, htttp://www.imagerights.com, automatically searches the web for the use of your images. A great tool if you want to act out your copyright

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Heires K. (2007), Why it pays to give away the store, article in Business 2.0 Magazine, published March 15, 2007, retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/10/01/8387115/ index.htm Heinemeier Hansson D. (2010), Eyeballs st ill don’t pay the bills, blog post on 37 signals, published April 15, 2010, retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2284-eyeballs-st ill-dont-pay-the-bills Holterhues E. (2010), Van moeizaam huwelijk naar vruchtbare relat ie, Boekman Digitaal, published September 9,2010, retrieved on September 13, 2010, from: http://www.boekmanst icht ing.nl Dutch chamber of Commerce (n.d.), Legal forms overview, retrieved on May 24,2010, from: http://www.kvk.nl/english/start ingabusiness/030_Paperwork/legalforms /Diagramoflegalforms.asp Kincaid J. (2009), Wired editor Chris Anderson on freemium business models, article on Tech Chrunch, published October 24, 2009, retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from: http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/24/startup-school-wired-editor-chris-anderson-onfreemium-business-models/ Lee A. (2010), Canon ‘wonder camera’ shoots for the future, Los Angeles Times Photography, published August 13, 2010, retrieved on August 13, 2010, retrieved from: http://framework.latimes.com/2010/08/13/canon-wondercamerashoots-for-the-future/ Lippolis M. & Sartori C. (2008), Geert Lovink: free cooperations in P2P networks, published March 2008, retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from: http://www.digicult.it/digimag/art icle.asp?id=1148 Nieuwspoort (2010), Alleen kwaliteit kan de kijker nog boeien, Nieuwspoort Nieuws, published June, 2010, retrieved on September 15, 2010, from: http://www.nieuwspoort.nl Oosterwijk M. (2010), Lang leve de amateur, published March 22, 2010, retrieved on June 16, 2010, from: http://www.kennisland.nl/nl/filter/opinies/lang-leve-deamateur/ Outenaar E. (2010), Boeken crowdfunden, published September 24, 2010, retrieved on September 25, 2010, retrieved from: http://www.sprout.nl Petovic J. (2010), Ook artiest moet vaker de boer op, article on Volkskrant Banen, published October 5, 2010, retrieved on October 7, 2010, retrieved from: http://www.vkbanen.nl/banen/artikel/Ook-artiest-moet-vaker-de-boerop/142881.html PhotoQ (2009), Platform Makers zet zich in voor auteursrechten, published December16, 2009, retrieved on September 16,2010 from: http://photoq.nl/articles/nieuws/actueel/2009/12/16/platform-makers-zet-zich-voorbetere-regeling-auteursrecht/ PhotoQ (2010), Fotograaf vs. journalist: zoek de tien verschillen, published September 24, 2010, retrieved on September 25, 2010, from:

http://photoq.nl/articles/nieuws/actueel/2010/09/24/fotograaf-vs-journalist-zoekde-tien-verschillen/ PhotoQ (2010b), Sony World Photography op nieuwe leest, published June 28, 2010, retrieved on September 25, 2010, retrieved from: http://photoq.nl/articles/nieuws/actueel/2010/06/28/sony-world-photographyaward-op-nieuwe-leest/ PhotoQ (2010c), Emphas.is biedt crowdfunding fotojournalistiek, published August 31, 2010, retrieved on September 16, 2010, from: http://photoq.nl/articles/nieuws/actueel/2010/08/31/emphas-biedt-crowdfundingfotojournalistiek/ PhotoQ (2010d), Foto’s in gedeelde mappen zijn openbaarmaking, published June 10, 2010, retrieved on September 16, 2010, from: http://photoq.nl/articles/nieuws/actueel/2010/06/01/fotos-gedeelde-mappen-zijnopenbaarmaking/ Powell J., Crowdfunding: how to kickstart your business, article on The Huffington Post, published May 8, 2009, retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/juliette-powell/crowdfunding-how-tokicks_b_198376.html Reuver de M. (2010), Het fysieke boek is binnen t ien jaar uitgestorven, art icle on Dutchcowboys, published August 7, 2010,retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from: http://www.dutchcowboys.nl/web2dot0/20210 Rikken K. (2010), Naar een cultureel ondernemerschap op maat, Boekman Digitaal, published September 9,2010, retrieved on September 13, 2010, from: http://www.boekmanst icht ing.nl Shirky (2008), Presentat ion at Web 2.0 expo, published on unknown date, retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LabqeJEOQyI Sillars (2010), The best way to compete with amateurs is.. don’t!, published July 13, 2010, retrieved on July 15, 2010, from: http://www.asmp.org/strictlybusiness/2010/07/the-best-way-to-compete-withamateurs-is%E2%80%A6-don%E2%80%99t/ Stacy R. (2009), Free content is not the issue – it is free distribut ion, published May 11, 2009, retrieved on October 6, 2010, retrieved from: http://richardstacy.com/2009/05/11/free-content-is-not-the-issue-its-freedistribut ion/ Steel E. & Eferati A. (2010), To advert isers, Twitter is a fledgling, article of Wall Street Journal, published September 26,2010, retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from: http://online.wsj.com/art icle/SB10001424052748703793804575512711786346900.ht ml Theather D. (2010), Amazon’s Ebook milestone, article in The Guardian, published July 20, 2010, retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/20/amazon-ebook-digital-saleshardbacks-us The Economist (2010), Putt ing your money where your mouse is, published September 2, 2010, retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from:

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http://www.economist.com/node/16909869?story_id=16909869 Tong-hyung K., Samsung disrupts camera market hierarchy, art icle of The Korea Times, published September 16, 2010, retrieved on September 20, 2010, from: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2010/09/129_73147.html Vuyk K. (2010), Kunstbeleid onder druk, Boekman Digitaal, published September 9,2010, retrieved on September 13, 2010, from: http://www.boekmanst icht ing.nl Watters A. (2010), Is the freemium model still viable for startups?, art icle on ReadWriteWeb, published April 16, 2010, retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from: http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2010/04/is-the-freemium-model-st ill-viablefor-startups.php Weibel P. (2009), User Art _ Nutzerkunst, published April 30, 2009, retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from: http://www.02.zkm.de/youser/ Wilson F. (2006), My favorite business model, published March 23, 2006, retrieved on September 29, 2010, retrieved from: http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/03/my_favorite_bus.html

Interviews Boering L. (2010) Interview held for the research report ‘professionalizat ion of photography: strategies for the future’, interviewed by the researcher on October 15, 2010, recordings can be retrieved from the personal archive of the researcher on request Hesper C. (2010), Interview held for the research report ‘professionalizat ion of photography: strategies for the future’, interviewed by the researcher on September 15, 2010, recordings can be retrieved from the personal archive of the researcher on request Luijtgaarden van de P. (2010), Interview held for the research report ‘professionalizat ion of photography: strategies for the future’, interviewed by the researcher on September 14, 2010, recordings can be retrieved from the personal archive of the researcher on request Philip R. (2010), Interview held for the research report ‘professionalizat ion of photography: strategies for the future’, interviewed by the researcher on September 14, 2010, recordings can be retrieved from the personal archive of the researcher on request Utrecht R. (2010), Interview held for the research report ‘professionalizat ion of photography: strategies for the future’, interviewed by the researcher on September 24, 2010, recordings can be retrieved from the personal archive of the researcher on request Veeger C. (2010), Interview held for the research report ‘professionalizat ion of photography: strategies for the future’, interviewed by the researcher on September 17, 2010, recordings can be retrieved from the personal archive of the researcher on request Wisse P. (2010), Interview held for the research report ‘professionalizat ion of

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photography: strategies for the future’, interviewed by the researcher on September 24, 2010, recordings can be retrieved from the personal archive of the researcher on request

Debates, seminars and presentations Gielen P. (2010), speech during debate De Waarde van de amateur, held at the Podium Mozaïek, Amsterdam, on March 17, 2010 Gierstberg, F. (2010), speech during debate De Waarde van de amateur, held at the Podium Mozaïek, Amsterdam, on March 17, 2010 Kolsteeg, J. (2010, March 19) Presentat ion of temporary research results Talking Turkey, at the Creative Grounds Seminar, Utrecht, Utrecht school of the Arts, recordings of presentation can be retrieved from the personal archive of the researcher on request Velthoven W. (2010), speech during debate De Waarde van de amateur, held at the Podium Mozaïek, Amsterdam, on March 17, 2010 Zilveren Camera (2010), seminar Vernieuwing in de fotojournalist iek, organized on October 6, 2010 at Pakhuis Willem de Zwijger. Recordings of the debate can be retrieved from the researcher’s archive on request

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Appendices Appendix 1: List of respondents and their characteristics Interviews with photographers and experts in photography

Photographer Expert Initials

Name

P. as an artistic medium CV CH PW PL LB RP

P. as an informative medium RU LB RP

P. as a functional medium CH PL PW RU LB RP

Location

Specialties

Caspar Veeger

Years of work experience 10-20 y

Amsterdam

Carina Hesper

0-5 y

Amsterdam

Autonomous photographer Combining fashion and autonomous photography

5-10 y

Utrecht

Pet van der Luijtgaarden Rob Philip

10-20y

Utrecht

Pieter Wisse

10-20y

Rotterdam

Lars Boering

10-15y

Amsterdam

Robin Utrecht

10-15y

Rotterdam

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Conceptual photography Head of the photography department of the Utrecht School of the Arts Documentary photography, publishing books, mags. Social media Improving position photographers, advise young photographers, gallery owner, director at Burafo Photojournalist and functional photography

Appendix 2: Responses cross-reference table Cultural trends PW

+RU

Amateur photography

Mixing art disciplines

Acceptance of photography as art

Not a threat, but competition. You have to make sure that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re better, have a broader network. Amateurs are focused on technical issues and have less to bring in content. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re great for local news, private assignments. Most of the amateurs are in another market that is irrelevant for pro photographers. A lot of news journalists suffer from amateurs. Photography has become easier, and less expensive for amateurs. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m personally not afraid of amateurs, because in the end it is about telling a story and having a vision as a photographer. I think that quality newspapers and magazines do have budgets for professional photography, but that it is decreasing.

It is difficult to be the best in everything, why not just be good at one thing? I think that interdisciplinary artist start with the story and then select media. Photographers do the same, only they choose the medium and then select the story. You are unable to do everything and must specialize in order to become successful.

It can apply be accepted as art more, but this is the case for other countries. In NL it can also become more, but it is already widely accepted as an art form. This can be noticed by looking at the prices that are paid for photo prints.

He local papers and company papers for which I used to work, now get their photography from the PR-person, or even their niece. This market is now gone and is taken over by amateurs. In autonomous photography it is harder to enter the market as an amateur. The only thing that you can use as your added value as a professional photographer is your signature style. A great story is a great story, no matter what the medium is. That great

Photographers are using more video or video element (sound and time). This can be noticed by the development of audio slideshows, video-installations by photographers. Internet is very important, because it is the perfect medium for video and sound, There is a need for this because it has certain qualities that are very suitable for telling a story.

The attention for photography has increased to an absurd level in the last 15 years. And it keeps on growing. Internet is to blame, because photography is a perfect medium to distribute, reproduce and showcase online. This has turned photography into a medium that now is all around us. As an art form it has been increasingly accepted in the last 25 year and it is also sold for high prices. In the end however, photography is still hard to sell to the private market. However, it is sold to

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story is missing with amateurs. All the interesting news photography now is made by amateurs. This means that news photographer should be extra aware of what their added value is and how to portray this. It usually lies in being able to tell a visual story. Amateurs have always been a threat. Journalists that photograph as well. The quality is less, but they are cheaper. Amateurs are also increasingly popular in contests and for clients. This popularity will continue to grow. Amateurs are suffocating the market, because they are working at low prices for which a professional photographer is unable to work. However, this does concern the smaller assignments that are less interesting for professional photographers. In the end, it is about vision, not about pushing a button. Without that, you don’t stand out. Amateurs don’t have that as much as pros do. They are only threatening the market for photographers that have graduated recently. Usually, amateurs are technically skilled, but they are not that social, have less of a network or don’t have a vision. Everyone calls himself a photographer. These people work for low prices which destroys the market. However, it does not bother me because I am an autonomous photographer.

museums. On the one side, the art market has collapsed, on the other side the prices for photo prints are still very high.

I think that specialization is better, but you do need guts for that. There is a higher risk that you are unable to make money from it. On the other hand, you do develop a more clear signature style and are able to get more money and fame out of it if you succeed. It is a trend to do everything. It could go either way: people could go back to the core and specialize, or the trend could continue further. I do feel that you should force yourself to make choices in order to obtain quality, even if you make that choice for a short period of time.

It is a trend to act out in several disciplines, but it is also quite hard to divide your attention. To specialize in one medium could also be a great opportunity.

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Photography is less accepted as art than it was before. I think that private art buyers are not interested in photography. At art fairs, there was less photography this year than there was last year. I also think that the growth in museums and galleries is at an end. I think we should go past the discussion about whether something is art or not. People do try to categorize art, but really it is no longer an issue. It is about your vision as an artist, and not about the medium that you use. You choose a medium that works best for you, but you’re not bound to that medium.

I think that photography has been accepted as art, but it is still hard to sell prints.

Amateurs are getting more professional, but some of them also keep on being a hobbyist. Photographers should show what it is that sets them apart from the amateurs.

Photography has been accepted as an art form, but it is still hard to sell photography. In NL, there are only 6 private collectors of photography Museums do buy photography, but not that much because a museum like FOAM is not actively involved on forming collections.

Social trends

Income fluctuations (freelance, crisis) The crisis is a large factor in the reasons why photographers are earning less. Once you have lowered your price, it is hard to go back to the original price. Still, clients are prepared to pay for certain photography. 70% of the assignments are gone, largely because of amateurs, but 30% of more interesting assignments remain.

Female photographers

An overload of images

There are less women in photography because they are still the main caretakers, it is purely this old-fashioned issue that is the cause. It is the same in all professions, but it might be more of an issue because photographers are selfemployed and therefore do not have the certainties like enduring payment during pregnancy. Moreover, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard that the higher regions like boards and critics are stil a manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world, and that they look at photography from a manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s point of view, which results in a higher popularity of male photographers. However, I do not see whether a photo is made by a male or female. I think that this phenomenon is even higher in news photography, because of the adrenaline that is so important in this profession.

There is a higher demand for photography because it is all around us, but this does not result directly in more assignments.

In general, photographers are now earning less. I also notice that some clients try to get photography for less because of the crisis, lower budgets. The fees have lowered, clients now usually want more images for the same price. Moreover, there is a lack of understanding for the price and time for photo-

In news photography, there are very few female photographers. I only know three female news photographers in NL. Maybe there are more women in the artistic photography, portrait photography and fashion photography. Maybe it is because men are seeking adrenaline more than women and therefore are more attracted to news and war

There is an increase in attention for images and photography and there is also more photography on display. People now demand more and a faster pace from photographers. Sometimes, they expect a new photo to arrive barely before the news moment has taken place.

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editing. Budgets are decreasing. Photographers used to go out for a reportage independently and then sold it afterwards. Now, they are not even able to cover the costs.

photography.

The decrease in assignments was already taken place before the crisis, mainly caused by digitalization of photography. The assignments that remain now are actually the interesting ones for pro photographers. The type of assignments are more interesting, but there are less of them and their budgets are lower.

There are a lot of women that are studying photography right now, generally just as much or even more than men. There are significantly less women that are working as a professional photographers right now Because of this development, the amount of women in photography will increase. .

There is no more money left in photography. 10 years ago you would get an extraordinary price for a photo, now you get next to nothing. There are less advertisers, causing less profit for media, lower budgets, and therefore less money for photography. It is a vicious circle.

There is a high demand for images, but only for free or cheap images. That demand is only increasing.

It is important to keep working when there are less assignments, so it is better to do assignments for free or for low prices than to do nothing at all. Then you are able to show the outside world that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still working and developing yourself. If the assignment is an interesting one and it helps you to move forward, you will do it no matter what the budget. Budget at companies are decreasing which has the result that photographer take less time to complete an assignment because

The increase in images is positive, but it also makes it harder to stand out. The internet culture results in a high amount of images that people process every day. It will result in more attention for the moving image, the boundaries between film and photography will start to fade.

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they are paid less.

Economic trends PW

It is really hard to earn an income from photography, especially being an autonomous photographer with a strong focus. I do let people use my photography for free in media sometimes under the condition that they place my credits. The Golden Age in photography is over and it will not come back. There is less budget and less assignments. Still. The demand for images has increased. Because there are more photographers, this does not result in more assignments. Photographers should behave more like entrepreneurs and should not work below the market if they want to keep begin a professional photographer and earn an income. It will become more normal to have different side-activities e.g. as a teacher, public speaker or photo-editor.

There is an overload, but people still need to learn how to watch, how to interpret images. They need to learn this at a young age. Also, the overload of images makes it harder to stand out in the crowd.

There are not that many women in photography right now, but there are more female than male photography students. They will enter the market in the coming years. Now, the average age of female photographers is pretty high, but this will become lower because of young students entering the market.

People are having more images to process on a day now more than ever. Still, it has not caused them to look at images more carefully. In this overload of images, it is important for a photographer to make recognizable images. Stand-out colors, narrow cutouts. They should immediately grab the attention of the reader/viewer, or else they will be lost in the overload.

Financial crisis

Crowd funding

The financial crisis has done much damage in the last few years, resulting in a large amount of photographers that have stopped photographing. The crisis is the main cause for a lowering in prices for photography. Once you have asked a lower price it is harder to go back to your original price.

It is an innovative thing. It works when you are able to give something in return. The method used by Rob Hornstra is more flexible and has a lower threshold, because it is available online. It works because it is innovative, and it will only work when the public feels involved in the project. You should only use it when you are able to do it well, it has to be thought through carefully and marketed well.

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n general, photographers are now earning less. I also notice that some clients try to get photography for less because of the crisis, lower budgets. The fees have lowered, clients now usually want more images for the same price. The decrease in assignments was already taken place before the crisis, mainly caused by digitalization of photography. The assignments that remain now are actually the interesting ones for pro photographers. The type of assignments are more interesting, but there are less of them and their budgets are lower. There is no more money left in photography. 10 years ago you would get an extraordinary price for a photo, now you get next to nothing. There are less advertisers, causing less profit for media, lower budgets, and therefore less money for photography. It is a vicious circle. You should use all available financial resources to fund your work. People that have been in the business for ten years do notice the effects of the financial crisis, but I don’t because this is the way it has always been for me since I entered the photography market. Budgets of clients are increasing but this does not bother me as a photographer.

I think that people are willing to donate through crowdfunding as long as they get something in return. Although I think that they must be real fans if they want to donate. You could offer added value, for example by giving people back a signed print. In essence, crowdfunding is not new, private funding projects has been going on for quite a while. Only now there is more attention for it, caused by an increase in innovation of the existing system in the US. It is becoming more popular and people are using it more often.

The financial crisis has a great impact on photography. A lot of photographers are now working several jobs or sometimes have totally abandoned photography.

Crowd funding is a great solution and it will be necessary because there soon will hardly be any subsidies anymore. However, I am unsure if the public really is willing to give their money to a photographer.

The financial crisis has had its effect on photography, but it was not the only cause of a decrease in budget and assignments. This development was already taken place, mainly because of digitalization.

Crowdfunding could work, I think that it will be accepted in the Dutch culture in a short term. A cut-down on subsidies will make people notice that they are needed to support certain initiatives. Still, not all photographers should use crowdfunding. The public then will become much more selective in who they do and don’t support. You should be very good in marketing yourself and reaching the public in order to make your crowdfunding project a successful one. If you don’t have a ‘crowd’ (network), it will not work.

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I think that crowdfunding is an extra financial resource and should be used as such by photographers. Especially now that there is a cutdown on subsidies..

It could grow into being a financial resource. This could be the new way of financing projects when a severe cut-down on subsidies would take place. Rob Hornstra did a good job because he is offering something in return. Crowdfunding makes you more independent in regards to artistic funds. There might be people that are interested in investing in photography or arts but that have not found ways of doing that until now.

Political trends

Cut down on art and culture subsidies

Creative Economy policy

There will be a cut down. A lot of artistic photographers are subsidized, but in the end they have to reach an audience to really let it be of any value. I think that subsidies should stay for a small group of artists that do have value for society and must be able to work in a non-entrepreneurial way. The subsidies are becoming less, which has a negative effect. It flattens the arts if people no longer have the time to make the things that they used to make, those people add value because they do more in-depth projects. For example when photojournalists are in a certain environment for a longer time to capture the situation there. It will become less. My first reaction would be that it is a negative development, but when you look at the countries surrounding the NL, this country is a Walhalla for subsidies. On the other hand, in countries like America they also have alternative systems that work well, like the Maecenas system. The Dutch attitude is not adopted to this development yet. We are breaking down the existing system, but there is no replacement yet. This will be devastating for the cultural landscape in the first years. It would be better if there was a slower, step-by-step cut down on subsidies which offers the time for replacing systems. The alternative systems must be determined by the sector, but the government must create situations in which this is possible. People keep on being very inventive in their solutions. There was a major cut down in the 80’s as well, and from here the most beautiful things arose. A DIY-mentality was created. There are a lot of subsidized photographers that work for next to nothing. This creates unfair competition. It therefore would be better if there were no more subsidies for photographers. That is unavoidable with the new cabinet. There are people that are using it well, but some people also tend to get ‘lazy’ because there is enough money coming in. They hardly have to do anything in return. The fact that I had to work for two years in a job

When a photographer has to be an entrepreneur he is forced to push his practice to a higher level because they are self-responsible. . I think that subsidies should stay for a small group of artists that do have value for society and must be able to work in a non-entrepreneurial way.

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I believe that this approach will work for most people, but still there are some people that should be offered the opportunity to make certain work without having to be an entrepreneur. They are of value for the Dutch society.

This system works for a certain group. There should be several systems instead of just this one. The ‘performers’ will be alright, but there are also the chaotic, that are unable to do their administration, run a company, but that are brilliant image makers. When you start asking different competences of artists, it also means that you are shutting certain people out and that you do not provide them with the chance to develop their talents. These people are very important in their sector and you are doing short of society as well. There has to be a safety net with coaches and support for those people that tend to be shut out while this really would be a shame. An initiative like Sugardaddy or the Maecenas-system. Personal relations here are very important. It should be facilitated at least party by the government.

I don’t know if this works. Getting to much money also makes you lazy. You don’t have to do much and you still get money to live from.

On the one hand it is a good development, but on the other hand there are some artists that do not have the type of work that is suitable for entrepreneurship, but that do have great value for society. I could imagine that the control on if

that I did not enjoy has made me more driven an independent. I currently am getting subsidy, which I use to invest.

artists grow, develop their selves and move forward should be bigger. That you do not get a pile of money instantly and then just live on that for a while.

I think it would be very destructive for the arts if there was a cut down on subsidies. However, it is unavoidable with the new government coming up.

I think it is great to support entrepreneurship. However, attention needs to be given to those artists that are unable to be an entrepreneur but that do have an added value to society.

It is going to happen, and it is going to be major. It is a shame that some initiatives will no longer be supported. On the other hand the art world will learn to be more independent and the show an entrepreneurial attitude. However, there is a small group that needs permanent support. Here as well, the golden age will not come back and a different, more entrepreneurial attitude of photographers is necessary.

I do not think that it is the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s task to stimulate entrepreneurship. The government is not entrepreneur itself, after all. How should the government be able to learn photographers how to be entrepreneurs? I think that this initiative should come from photographers and photography-institutes instead.

Media trends

Cross media productions

Social Media

Journalists are great storytellers, so they should be able to do cross media productions. I think that this will only increase. It is almost unavoidable if you want to keep alive in this business. There are some clients that are asking for this, but not much.

There is an increase in crossmedia photographers and journalists, but I also know that it is very hard to do. It is almost impossible to control both techniques. You have to learn how to work with new techniques. New cameras offer the opportunity to film and photograph, but you make different choices for a still image than for a moving image. In some situation it is an advantage when you are able to do both, especially when you are doing a reportage on something where there is more time and not one specific news moment, like when you are making a portrait of a certain person.

Social media does give value in the sense that you are seen. I see more and more photographers that are putting their photos on Facebook. It is not a friend-network anymore. No one has a 1000 friends. If you decide to do something with social media it should be good, because there are too many average initiatives and you must be able to stand out. You have to be passionate about it and do it for yourself at first. If you do something for the viewers only, it will not work. It is of no use if your blog is only read by 10 to 100 people. You only have to maintain a blog when you really want to do something with it, when you really post something thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interesting once or twice a day. It is useful. You can keep in contact with people, keep them updated. If this results in positive reactions, they will remember you and your photography. In that sense it does add value to your practice.

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I think that photographers will be more like video producers in time. I’m not sure i fit works the other way around as well. Photographers are starting to use more film elements, like sound and time. This can be noticed by the development of audio slideshows, video-installations by photographers. Internet is very important, because it is the perfect medium for video and sound, There is a need for this because it has certain qualities that are very suitable for telling a story. I think that specialization is better, but you do need guts for that. There is a higher risk that you are unable to make money from it. On the other hand, you do develop a more clear signature style and are able to get more money and fame out of it if you succeed. It is a trend to do everything. It could go either way: people could go back to the core and specialize, or the trend could continue further. I do feel that you should force yourself to make choices in order to obtain quality, even if you make that choice for a short period of time. Cross media productions are applicable to news and documentary photography, but not that much in other genres. It could be of more use to specialize, but this depends on the type of photography.

I feel like a lot of photographers are using social media because they are already used to a digital way of working, more than other visual artists. I’m on Facebook to keep in contact with alumnus, for example. In the end, physical contact is most important. You feel the need to have another indicators to get to know a person. This makes us human.

This is the future. Photographers should undertake more activities to set their selves apart and keep making an income. On the other hand, it is also happening the other way around. Video producers and journalists will be entering the photographer’s market.

Social media are of great importance. It is not a hype but a new way of communicating. It is possible to get assignments through social media. It is important that photographers use this possibility, and in an active, not a passive way. They will have to have certain goals, update regularly and join in on discussions and conversations.. It is not enough to have an account.

Technological trends

3D photography

Mixing film and photography

Digitalization: the end of print?

I think that this will only happen when magazines and newspapers are also in 3D. I believe in 3D video productions, but with photography I’m not as sure. It could be a gimmick.

There are clients that are asking for it, but not much. I do know photographers that now make more money with filming than with photography. Thereby. The styles and technology of both media will mix. In essence, you want to do the same (tell a

Maybe print will end someday, but i twill not happen anytime soon. There is too much demand for print still. Photo books are a trend at this moment. I do think that it would be useful to have your whole portfolio

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It is useful as a promotion tool. Not really to get assignments. I use it to keep people updated.

It is useful for photographers. If you use it well, you will get reactions. For me it is a way to get in contact with people that I use for shoots. It is also useful to get feedback and get to know people. You have to stay active though. It is partly taking over other ways of publicity, but personal contact and physical networking is still most important. I do use social media, but there is hardly any interaction. I never got anything out of it. It is useful to keep in contact with people you already met in real life. Sometimes I also use it to get introduced to somebody new by means of my existing network.

There is no real use for 3D photography, because the feeling is more important than the actual sight of the product, unless it concerns purely functional product photography. Because it is new photographers will probably use it for a while, but I do not think that it will survive.

story), but the photographer is much more limited and therefore has to make different choices.

It is almost impossible to control both techniques. You have to learn how to work with new techniques. New cameras offer the opportunity to film and photograph, but you make different choices for a still image than for a moving image. In some situation it is an advantage when you are able to do both, especially when you are doing a reportage on something where there is more time and not one specific news moment, like when you are making a portrait of a certain person. I think that photographers will be more like video producers in time. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure i fit works the other way around as well. Photographers are starting to use more film elements, like sound and time. This can be noticed by the development of audio slideshows, videoinstallations by photographers. Internet is very important, because it is the perfect medium for video and sound, There is a need for this because it has certain qualities that are very suitable for telling a story. I was already doing video productions and then discovered that this offered a higher income. However, it is hard to combine both. Other seem to be able to do, but I am not. Photography and film are similar, but it does demand a different way of thinking.

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digital or online, e.g. by using an Ipad. It becomes easier to adapt the images you show to your client. I do believe that techniques and tools like the Ipad are the future. There are more and more magazines coming up that are only available online. I also think that collectors will keep having the need for having something physical, on print. The value of having a printed photo will remain, because digital does not offer the exact same experience yet. Still it will decrease tremendously because youth is not that involved with print. Furthermore, print is more expensive. Digital is also more flexible and faster.

The rise of digitalization has also brought more attention to photography, vernacular photography and photo books. I think that digital photography is the cause of this. It has created a demand for the tangible. Digitalization also makes the tangible more reachable. It used to cost 1000 euros easily to make a photo book. Developments like Blurb are making it much cheaper to print a book. It is also much faster. Print is even becoming more popular, because there is so much digitalization. Clients are still asking for books or tangible portfolios.

I think that this is the future, technology is allowing it to happen as well. It is very useful to film during a photo shoot, but at the other hand it is more tricky .There are more choices you have to make, more material to process and it costs more time. Photographers have another vision than directors. , There are a lot if images on the internet and i twill be more about moving images in the near future. The boundaries between film and photography start to fade.

I think there are some great opportunities for 3D photography. I really enjoyed the 3D works of Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin and I think there will be more possibilities to use 3D as a photographer in the future.

I know some photographers that do this, but it is really hard to be good at both. You will have to learn the technics of filming, but also the way in which you tell a story in film is different from the way you do in photography. However, you do earn more if you are able to do both.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure if it is a gimmick or that there really are new developments. I think it will be used in photography in the long term, but not anytime soon. It does work in film.

This is the future, but it also means that video producers will enter the photography market.

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I think that print wil still exist alongside digital print. As a photographer, it is more pleasing to make a tangible end product and also, it is not always visible the way you want it tob e online in terms of size, color, etc. It is useful for the masses: you reach more people when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re photography is available online and digital. When the technology gets better the amount to print will definitely decrease, but it will always exist. If people realize that something is vanishing, it will also become a trend to appreciate that vanishing product, like print. Print will definitely stay, simply because people want something in their hands. Also, it gives a photographer much more control over the way in which their photography is displayed. The experience of print does not equal the experience of the digital environment. A digital service like blurb also gives out more and cheaper possibilities for print. Print will disappear, and faster than we think. I feel like printed information (news media) will disappear in a short period of time. What will always stay are the arts that express their selves on paper. The digitalization of print even offer opportunities for photo prints, because people will attach more value to them. Photo books are also a trend, but this causes too much photographers that are making a book and it therefore becomes unsellable.

International trends

Online globalization and glocalization

International (violation of) author rights

T will become easier to work internationally. Everyone is able to visit you website, you are able to contact everyone, but you should have something to say or you will not stand out. When you are a big and famous photographer, you will be able to work more international. But at the other hand, clients now also have the opportunity to use more photographers. A client abroad will only want you when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re really big as a photographer. I notice that most clients even pick a photographer that lives in the same city and that even those kilometers count.

O do not have the experience that copyright is violated for commercial purposes online. In principal, everyone is free to rip photos as long as it is not commercial and people name my credits. It is of course becoming easier to violate this copyright. There is a new generation that grew up with Internet and they do not handle copyright with much care because they do not see it as a violation. It is also harder to determine when your images are used commercially.

You do get in contact with people, but you will have to know someone personally at first. You are able to get more international information and contacts. Still it is generally more easy to work locally, both for the photographer and the client.

People are violation copyright more, I think that there are images stolen on the internet many times without anyone noticing. It is hard to control. If you have a printed magazine, you have tangible evidence. There are also more â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;killer contractsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in which photographers are forced to give up their author rights almost entirely. Because of the high competition, you have to agree on this.

Some photographers are very internationalminded, documentary photographers are almost like anthropologists. However, there are enough opportunities for photographers in the NL as well. It is all based on the character of the photographer, some will work internationally and use the opportunities provided to do this, other will rather work locally or even lock their selves up in their studio. It is useful to publish internationally, but I have no idea why people would be interested in me internationally. I do use it to apply for international portfolio nights, but then it is more of a physical thing as well. I am working more on a local basis. There are enough big companies in Utrecht that are (potential) clients. Online globalization has made it easier to see things in the world, to widen your look. In an international market, it is harder to stand out. International assignments are only possible when you are really big as a photographer.

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Author rights are violated a lot, also because it is easier now to get a relatively high quality image online and use it both online as in prints. It is hard to control it.

It is easier to see what is happening in the rest of the world and that gets you more involved as well. However, I do not believe that you will be able to get assignments from or get known on a international level, simply because there are so many photographers out there and the competition is hard.

I do think that author rights are violated more easily because it is easier to copy images and harder to discover that someone has violated your copyright.

This is an important issue. It is becoming easier to track your images online and see if your author rights are being violated because of new tools. Collective action is important to protect the rights of photographers. Platform Makers has been created to do this.

Other PW

Other trends There are much more people graduating as photographers. There are too many photographers. I think that people are still largely unaware of the way they profile their selves online. America is ahead in terms of professionalization, because they are used to do everything almost perfectly . The NL is very innovative, but we do not know how to take this to an international level.

Suggested strategies You have to create your own signature style You have to keep broadening your network You have to find out what your added value is There are increasingly more choices that you have to make as a photographer. These choices offer the opportunity to profile yourself. Only the photographers that really specialize their selves and stick to this, will become successful People that do everything, are of less value because the quality is generally lower

People want to obtain and see photography faster. It is also more easily erased.

Current photography students have a different attitude. This causes the education to become more broad and adapt itself more to the personal qualities of the student. The current educational system is not yet adapted to this. We are now working on a model that combines the standard system with a personal system. There are more schools and academies for photography started. There are also to many people that are graduating. There is not enough work for all these new photographers. I think that it is sad that artists are not cooperating that much.

If you take the time to develop yourself and develop your own signature style, you will be able to become more successful on the long term. Creative entrepreneurship is need to a certain level. You have to find out what you added value is. This usually lies in telling a story. Innovation is very important right know. Think about what your goals are and deal with this in an innovative way. Photographers will survive when they are both involved and innovative.

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I feel like it would be best to specialize yourself. k You have to create your own signature style. You have to be a good communicator and be able to stand out. Cooperation between artists could lead to more special and more qualitative projects.

The time that it takes to create your own vision and method is largely underrated.

Develop a signature style by doing autonomous work. Choose a niche market and position yourself in an innovative way in this market. It is also important that you are able to do several things, and are open to new things. You have to brand yourself as a product and go outside the worn path. This will make you stand out. X

The most important thing is that photographers should see their selves as entrepreneurs and behave like entrepreneurs as well. Photographers should see their selves more as a brand and make clear what their added value is. Photographers should profile their selves more as an institute or a source of knowledge, e.g. by giving presentations, speeches, teaching. If they are seen as experts, clients will be more willing to give them the assignment.

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2.1 Data collection method Quant itat ive vs. Qualitat ive strategy Qualitative research is the best method for this research. The existing data on the previous, current and future state of professionalizat ion of photographers is almost entirely nonnumerical. Moreover, the perception of the photographers and photography experts is a central issue in analyzing the current state of the professionalization and the challenges for the future. Quantitative research is insufficiently able to give an insight in perceptions. (Verhoeven, 2007: 98). Collecting non-numerical data and doing in-depth interviews is needed to get an insight in the perception of individuals. Cross-sect ional vs. Longitudinal designs The method of longitudinal data collection is used in this research. This method is often used when trends are researched, which is the case for this research. (Verhoeven, 2007: 79) To provide a solid scientific base for this research, data on the professionalizat ion of photographers that was collected in earlier research projects on topics that show a lot of similarity with this subject are being used. This data, for example the data in the research 'Fotografie als beroep: Professionalisering van fotografie als beroep' (Photography as a profession: professionalizat ion of photography as a profession) by Bart Hofstede (Hofstede, 1991), provide a basis to give an insight in the previous state of the professionalizat ion as well, which is needed to be able to analyze the current and future state of the professionalization. Comparing the previous, current and future state of professionalization is a legit imate method for future studies. (Duijn van der & Stavleu, 2006) Interviews Expert interviews are used to help determine the current state of the professionalizat ion of photography as well as the challenges for future professionalization. More about the interviews can be found in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Design and course of the interviewsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (chapter 2.3). Literature research Literature research is used as a base for the definitions and models in the research. Also, literature research is used to provide a theoretical background for the information collected in the expert interviews. Moreover, the trend analysis and future scenarios are based on gray literature. The definit ions and models are mostly based on primary literature, because this literature is usually at the core of a certain definit ion or model. For the models, secondary literature is used as well, because this literature sometimes comes up with new theoretical models that are based on several primary literature sources. The trend analysis, future scenarios and analysis of the current status of the professionalization of photography are largely based on gray literature (combined with the data that derives from the interviews), because these are new topics and/or involve new information that are not covered in the primary and secondary literature yet.

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Using gray literature should be done in an even more careful manner, because it contains new informat ion/topics and it is therefore harder to check the facts. This is done by carefully checking the source of the information, comparing the collected data with the informat ion provided in the expert interviews and by carefully checking the scientific value of the data. The data named above are all on a macro level. Data on a micro level will only be used when checking the data collected during the expert interviews. This data could be, for example, biographies of the respondents, or websites of photographers. When several experts for example, say that most photographers nowadays not only offer photography as a service but also film, this has been checked by visit ing randomly picked websites of photographers to see whether they are indeed offering film services on top of photography. Trend analysis and future scenarios In order to formulate strategies for future professionalization, future scenarios are written first. These future scenarios are a method provided by the research type â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;future studiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Because this research partially concerns a study into the future possibilities of further professionalization, the future scenario method is a tested method to provide insight into these future possibilities. Moreover, most sources that discuss business strategies suggest that during the strategy formation process, a trend analysis should be done or future scenarios should be written.

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2.2 Data selection and analysis methods The way in which the data is selected, processed and analyzed is different per â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;resultsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; chapter. Each results chapter is based on one central question. The different paragraphs per chapter are based on the research questions per central quest ion. Each chapter starts with its own theoretical framework, which provides a theoretical model. The data have been processed according to and within the boundaries of this model. The data procession method per chapter is discussed below. 3.

The photographer The definit ion of the target group of this research, the photographer, is based on a set of criteria that evolved from the specific characteristics of this research. Based on these criteria, the found definit ions are judged on their relevance for this research, and a final definition is defined.

Strategy formation The strategy formation chapter provides a definition of strategy as well as a strategy formation model. Both the definition and the model are based on a set of criteria, in terms of the characteristics of the photographer (based on chapter 1) and the characteristics of the current business of the photographer (based on the expert interviews). The data collected is judged on its relevance for the photographer and its business and its adaptability to this specific situation. The final definition and final strategy formation model is based on the data that showed similarit ies with this situat ion and are adapted to the set criteria.

Professionalizat ion: current state The chapter that involves the current state of professionalization, is executed within the frame set by a definition of professionalizat ion. It defines the different relevant aspects of the professionalizat ion process and is, in its turn, based on a set of criteria. These criteria concern characteristics of the photographersÂ´ main business elements, their organizat ion (collective actions), their goals (both artistic and in business) and their culture.

Trend analysis According to primary literature about future scenarios, a trend analysis has to be done before future scenarios can be written. The data collected for the trend analysis is selected on the basis of a definition of trend analysis and a method for the trend analysis execution, which is, in its turn, based on a set of criteria. These criteria are xxxxxxx[woord vergeten?] that it has taken be[?] taken into account that the trend analysis will be used to formulate future scenarios (which, in their turn, will be used to formulate strategies) for the professionalization of photographers.

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7. Future scenarios Based on the trend analysis, future scenarios have been written. These future scenarios will be written within the frame set by a future scenario model, which explains what criteria there are for a future scenario and what steps have to be taken to formulate a future scenario. This model in turn is based on the criterion that the strategy formation model has to be adaptable to the fact that it will be used to formulate strategies for professionalization of photographers.

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2.3 Design and course of the interviews Expert interviews are used to help determine the current state of the professionalizat ion of photography as well as the challenges for future professionalization. In this case, the experts are Dutch photographers or other people working in the photography field. These types of experts are most suitable for the interviews, because they are able to give an insight in the current and the future work field of photography in the Netherlands. The team of experts consulted for this research is balanced in the sense that they, together, are able to shine their light on the three different practices in photography (this theory by Hofstede is explained in chapter 3.2) and that they vary in the years of work experience. A list of the respondents and their main characteristics can be found in appendix 1. By ensuring a balanced team, the risk that certain aspects of the professionalization of photographers will be left unmentioned is almost entirely eliminated. By comparing the answers of the respondents with the results of desk research on the current professionalizat ion state, the trends and their consequences for the professionalization of photographers, a solid basis for the results in chapter 5.3, 6.3 and 7.2 is given. This part of the data collection is based on a smaller amount of in-depth expert interviews instead of a large survey or larger number of structured interviews, because of the importance of insights in the motives and perceptions of the respondents for this research. To securely collect the perceptions on the current professionalizat ion process as well as on the challenges for the future, it is of upmost importance that the interviewer/researcher is flexible and able to adapt to the specific situat ion of the interview, so that the respondent can provide a detailed insight in his/her perceptions on this topic. Therefore, the interviews have been semi-structured. The topic list for the interview is based on the professionalization definit ion and the trend analysis that has been described in the research report. They are used as a basis because the data that result from the interviews had to be processed within the boundaries of this model. The interviews are processed in a cross-reference table. This scheme is based on a first orientation on the trends in the trend analysis as well as on the professionalizat ion definition (see: 5.2) to make sure that the contents of the interview match the boundaries set for this research. The cross-reference table is not based on fully comparable data. It is used as an easy way to see what has been said about what trend by what respondent and to be able to compare the content of these responses. The filled-in cross-reference table can be found in appendix 2. Not all respondents have made statements about all trends in the cross-reference table. There are two reasons for this: because of the different backgrounds and interests of the respondents, some respondents were unable to provide useful data about certain trends and their possible consequences for photographers. Secondly, new insights in trends have occurred in between the interviews, adding new trends to later interviews and eliminat ing other trends because of a lack of theoret ical basis or because they turned out to be irrelevant for photographers.

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For example, it turned out that there were no ecological trends that were significant for photographers or their professionalizat ion process. Other available sources on these trends (e.g. online articles, seminars) were used to fill in the gap when not enough data was provided by the interviews to make a certain statement.

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4.1 Discussion on the strategy formation model

Introduction The framework that is set up for defining the photography pract ice (the three practices by Hofstede) states three theoret ical practices of the photographer. In the exploration of the two models, it became clear that the content of some steps in the strategy formation process differ per practice. For example, stating the financial purpose in the mission statement will be different for photography as an artistic medium (almost entirely non-profit) in comparison to photography as a funct ional medium (almost entirely profit). Therefore, the strategies and the steps in the strategy formation process will be undertaken per pract ice. The result will be three strategies, each applicable to one specific practice. Because, in practice, most photographers function in at least two of these practices, more than one strategy will generally be useful for a photographer. The photographer should apply the specific strategy according to the practice he or she is dealing with. Based on the model of Hagoort, the similarity between the two models and their critical issues are discussed hereunder. This discussion results in a model for the strategy formation process. This model is applied to the way in which this research (report) is structured, which will be explained after the description of the model. In his book, Hagoort (2005) focuses on strategy formation in art organizat ions. This focus shows some similarities with the framework of strategy formation for the professionalizat ion of photographers. The most import one is the inclusion of cultural and art ist ic dimensions in the strategy formation process. The difference lies in the inclusion of fully non-profit organizat ions (which are almost non-existing in photography) and the fact that it focuses on strategy formations of organizations, and not on that of a profession. Keeping these considerat ions in mind, the model for strategy formation of Hagoort still seems to be quite useful for this research, although it is not directly applicable to this specific situation, due to its nature as a strategy formation model for organizations. The model of Hagoort is based on six steps, which are all connected to the mission statement. Accept for the first and last step, the steps can be undertaken in any order. The discussion hereunder is based on these six steps.

Strategy and strategy formation Hagoort states that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;strategy is directionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. He describes strategic management as the process in which the organization is tuned to its external environment. In this process, the competences and abilities are developed to keep the process functioning at a professional level. The core issue of strategic management is strategy formation: the process of developing and realizing direction.

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In Leidinggeven aan professionals? Niet doen!, (translated: Leading professionals? Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t!) Matthieu Weggeman reveals that well-known methods for strategy format ion, such as elaborate SWOT-analyses, benchmarks and Strategic Planning departments are no longer effective when it comes to the current dynamics and turbulence in business and society, where strategic plans are already old when they are formulated. In these dynamics, a clear strategy is very temporary, because changes come fast and with great surprise. However, not having a strategy also leads to making wrong decisions and not being able to adapt to new environments, as Keuning and several other management theorists show. So what is the best method to formulate a strategic plan that is updated and realistic, dynamic and flexible? Weggeman suggests writ ing strategic scenarios. The steps that have to be undertaken to write strategic scenarios are named in the discussion below.

Collective ambition According to Hagoort, the absolute basis of the six key processes he suggests in his model lies in the mission statement. The mission statement focuses entirely on the mission of an organization. Because in this research, the focus lies on formulat ing strategies for a group of professionals, i.e. entrepreneurial photographers, the mission statement in this specific form is not applicable. Instead, Weggeman suggests formulating a collective ambit ion. This collect ive ambition is a certain ambition that is applicable for a group of professionals. The exact contents of a collective ambition is not discussed by Weggeman, but he suggests it to be â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;a less religious connotation of a missionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Weggeman, 2007: 29). Because in this research the target group is a group of professionals and not an organization, the term collective ambition will be used instead of mission statement. The examples of collective ambit ions that Weggeman gives in his book on page 33 en 34 show the core of a mission statement in clear terms and never in more than five sentences. Hagoort names ten aspects that have to appear in a mission statement. Some of these elements are based on a vision of the character of the mission statement: unique, valuable, recognizable, inspiring. Eliminat ing these somewhat ambiguous aspects, six more concrete aspects remain: state the financial purpose (profit or non-profit), have a perspective of more than 5 years, specify the main target groups, formulate the relationship with the external environment, stipulate the behavior pattern within an organizat ion and offer a framework for art ists and other professionals to share the same values. Some of these aspects also appear in the examples of Weggeman. The financial purpose is not stated, for the simple reason that his book is aimed at professionals and organizat ions outside the non-profit sector. Looking at the three practices of photographers, it appears that they are mostly aimed at making profit; only the artistic practice has non-profit aspects. Because this issue is relevant in the case of the photographer, it has also been included in the collect ive ambition in this research. Furthermore, both Weggeman and Hagoort include a perspective of more than five years, which will also be applied in this research.

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The same goes for specifying the main target groups, although the level of specification might vary. In each photography practice, the main target groups may vary per photographer. However, there are some general statements that can be made about the target groups. For example, the characteristics of the practice of photography as an informat ive medium by Hofstede shows that the clients are media, and the end users are the consumers of that specific medium. Concluding, the main target groups are named and are specified as long as this does not interfere with the applicability to the whole photography practice. Most of Weggemanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s examples formulate the relationship with the external environment. This depends on the focus of the organizat ion. The statement of a research laboratory is entirely focused on its internal organization, while the collective ambition of Apple Computer is almost entirely about its relationship with the external environment. The photographers that are included in this research are all, in their own way, creat ive entrepreneurs (they are selfemployed or running their own company, and they work in the creat ive industries). Focusing on the external environment is a very important aspect of being a creative entrepreneur. (Hagoort, 2007: 22) The fifth aspect named by Hagoort, st ipulating the behavior pattern within an organizat ion, is irrelevant because this research does not concern a cohesive organization in which a certain behavior pattern can be recognized. The sixth aspect, offering a framework for artists and other professionals to share the same values, is also named by Weggeman on page 32 of his book. He describes that most people in current society are act ively seeking recognition and the feeling of being a part of something. According to Weggeman, this feeling is mostly sought after by professionals. They are trying to find the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;shared valuesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in an organization: these are the values that overlap the personal values of the professional and the values of the organizat ion. Because in this research we are dealing with entrepreneurial photographers that have set up their own business or are self-employed, these shared values really are their own values. In the mission statement/collect ive ambition of the photography practice, the framework for the shared values between the professionals in the practice will be set up.

Strategic motive and evaluation The strategic motive could be used to formulate the need of new strategies for the professionalization process in photography and to create an insight in the main issues in this field. The evaluat ion, used by Hagoort to create insight into the effects of the current activit ies and reveal the strategic cap, could also be applied to this research. This third process dimension shows a high similarity with the second step named by Weggeman. This step, determining the level of perfection and type of knowledge needed to realize the collective ambition, also has the aim to reveal the strategic gap. Both steps try to reveal what is needed to come from the current situation towards achieving the collect ive ambit ion. For this reason, these two steps are combined into a third step: revealing the strategic gap by determining what competences and activities are needed to realize the collective ambition.

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Environmental research Both models name the phase of doing environmental research, although they describe it in a slightly different manner. Hagoort talks about research carried out to create an insight into the trends that will influence the existence and/or funct ioning of the organization, according to eight environmental elements: ecology, culture, society, economy, politics, media, technology and international factors. This list of factors is adapted to the situation of cultural and creative organizations. On top of the basic elements that are named in the general models for environmental research (e.g. Keuning, 2003: 175), the factors of culture and media are named, which are also applicable for photography. Weggeman describes the environmental research in two steps: an analysis of the areas of knowledge in which breakthroughs are likely to take place in the future, and revealing the possible nature of these breakthroughs. The first step has already been undertaken by Hagoort by means of the eight elements that he describes. The second step is similar to Hagoorts description of environmental research. Therefore, in this research an environmental research will be carried out according to the eight elements named by Hagoort.

Option formulation / future scenarios According to Hagoort, the process dimension of option formulation aims to formulate alternatives for future strategic options. They can also deal with the future position of the organization in the cultural market. This step is an essential part in generally every theory/model for strategy formulation (e.g. Keuning, 2003: 172-205) and will also be included in the model of strategy formulat ion in this research because of this essential value. It is quite similar to the last step described in Weggemanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s model, namely describing future scenarios that each in their own way demand certain things about the knowledge that is needed to realize the collect ive ambition. Both models in their own way aim towards formulating future scenarios for the specific situation, looking at the possible future position of the organizat ion (or, in this case: the photographic practice) and at the collective ambit ion.

S/W analysis After the future scenarios, the model of Weggeman ends. However, there are still a few steps that have to be taken in order to formulate a clear strategy. Hagoort continues with an S/W analysis, which is used in this research to reveal the weak points well as the strong points of the current professionalizat ion of the photographer. The criteria for this analysis that Hagoort suggests, are adapted to the situation of analyzing a profession as a whole instead of just one organization. The S/W analysis in a strategy format ion process generally is executed for an organizat ion. In this research, the S/W analysis is specified to the current professionalizat ion state of professional photographers. Here, a few problems rise. First, it concerns a diverse group of individuals in the same profession, instead of an organization, that shares (or at least, aims to share) the same vision, mission, and goals.

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Also, the individuals in this group do not always execute the same activities or have (access to) the same resources: some may have their own assistants, studio, and office, while others work from their home as sole entrepreneurs without any staff. Secondly, this S/W analysis focuses specifically on the professionalization process of the group, which is dependent on both internal and external factors and does not concern all the activit ies of the photographers, but only those that concern their professionalization process. A very broad and thorough market research on the three different practices should be executed to be able to analyze the weak and strong points of the profession. There is no room within the research scope of this research to execute such an analysis. Moreover, the activities and competences of the group is so diverse that there would be insufficient ground to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the whole group. In a few months, the outcomes of a research on the state of the profession done by the FotografenFederatie will be presented. This research might provide new insights in the current state of the profession. The report will be made available on its website: www.fotografenfederat ie.nl In the meantime, this research aims to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the current professionalization state of the photographer by looking at the current main developments in this professionalization process (usually caused by the external environment) and analyzing what the weak and strong points of this process are. This analysis will make clear what challenges there are for future professionalization.

New plan / implementation (strategy) The concluding process dimensions of Hagoort contains a strategic and an implementation plan. The different elements of the strategic plan named in Hagoorts model partly are a repetition of the steps that were already mentioned earlier in the model. The last element of the strategic plan, the schedule and implementat ion outline, is too specific to be applicable to the situation of a whole profession. The same goes for the implementat ion plan set up by Hagoort. However, some advices on the implementation could be given as a recommendation based on the outcome of the earlier steps in the strategy formation model. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s left are three elements of the strategic plan that need answering in order to formulate strategies: the main strategic choices, the consequences of the new strategy for the management processes (finance, personnel, market ing, internationalization, location, digitalization, research and development) and the desired organizational structure and culture. In this research, no general statements can be made about the consequences for the personnel, because not all photographers have personnel. Secondly, the element of the desired organizational structure and culture will be generalized so that it could be applicable to every photographerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s situation in that specific practice.

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5.1 Defining professionalization The two main sources on professionalizat ion in the context of the photographer (Thijssen, 2002 and Hofstede, 1991) are mainly focused on the collect ive perspective of professionalization. Hofstede for example, describes professionalizat ion as a process in which the work field collect ively institut ionalizes and organizes its profession. Based on this theoret ical framework, Hofstede concludes that photography has a low level of professionalism. He also concludes that photographers are unwilling to professionalize their profession, and that, in his view, it is unnecessary – or even contra-productive - to professionalize the field of photography. However, this conclusion is based on a definition of professionalism and professionalizat ion limited to the collective perspective on professionalization. Moreover, his research is limited to photographers that are somehow linked to the art world, because their work circulates in the art scene. Hofstede states that the real dynamics of professionalization in photography might differ from his findings, because of his limited definition of professionalizat ion. He also states that photographers that work in a more rout ine like and less art istic way do feel the need for a higher level of professionalization. This raises the question whether the process of professionalization in photography really has been standing still since Hofstede published his research on this issue and if a different theoretical framework would also support Hofstede’s findings. A quick analysis of (new) inst itutions in the field of photography in the Netherlands, beg to differ. For instance, four museums of photography have been opened since 1991 (FOAM in 2001, Huis Marseille in 1999, Nederlands Fotomuseum Rotterdam in 2003 (a fusion of three photography institutes) and Fotomuseum Den Haag in 2002). PANL, a photographers association for editorial photographers, photographers in advertising and fashion photographers, was founded in 1991 and is st ill act ive today, organizing the annual PANL Sony Photography Awards as well as workshops and master classes for their members. Moreover, six photography federations in the Netherlands now are organized in an umbrella-organization, FotografenFederatie, to improve the business, cultural and social posit ion of Dutch photographers. Whether this increase in inst itutes in the field of photography also indicates an increase in the professionalization of photographers is questionable and depends on the definit ion of professionalization that is used. If we look at the definition of Van der Krogt (1981: 94), we see that professionalization is viewed as a process in which members of a certain branch collect ively, using mostly power of knowledge, try to attain or defend a collective position of power, with the goal of controlling the use and trade value of the profession. This definit ion has the main characteristics of all definitions that view professionalization as a process and that have a moreover functionalistic approach on professionalizat ion: the issue of collective action with the attempt to attain certain ‘standards’ in the profession.

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In the case of photographers there is hardly any attempt to control the use or trade value, because controlling this value would mean a certain loss of freedom of creat ivity. (Hofstede, 1991: 35-40) This phenomenon is also present in a broader sector of which photography is also part: the visual arts sector. (Rengers, 2002: 28) The issue of collect ive action is also a problem when it comes to photographers. The photographers that were interviewed for this research almost unanimously mention the individual character of the photographer, caused by the nature of their profession: being dependent only on themselves to attain a high quality image, mostly producing their work individually and usually working as a sole entrepreneur. (e.g. Hesper, 2010; Luijtgaarden van der, 2010; Veeger, 2010) In a report about professionalization of IT-organizat ions, organization consultant Van der Krabbe (2007: 3) defines professionalization as a phenomenon that includes all activities that lead to craftsmanship. This craftsmanship does not refer solely to a technical control of the craft/job, but also refers to the way in which a person executes his or her profession and keeps improving him- or herself. Van der Krabbe describes professionalization as being a process of improvement aimed at three aspects: knowledge, skills and att itude. The perspective of Van der Krabbe does more right to the individual character of the photographer than the more collective perspectives by Hofstede and Van Der Krogt. Their perspectives provide insufficient ground to discuss the wide scope of issues that the photographer is dealing with in its professionalizat ion process. Especially in this individualist ic age, it is important to pay attention to the development of the photographer as an individual professional. However, the former research on the collective act ions in the professionalization process of the photographer (as executed by Hofstede and Thijssen) and the above analysis of the increase of Dutch institutes in photography, show that the collect ive aspects of professionalization in photography are in a constant development as well. These aspects are included in this research only when these institutes have a certain influence on the professionalization process of the photographer as an individual. Although Hofstedeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach on professionalization differs from the approach in this research, it does show some relevance because of its specific design for the photography sector. Hofstede (1991) bases his approach on professionalization on the idea that it concerns a process in which the work field collectively institutionalizes and organizes its profession. Organization here concerns organizing financing, education, clients but also federations, agencies, etc. Institut ionalization concerns the realization of norms for quality, pricing, value. These two aspects of professionalizat ion might as well be applied to the individual level of professionalization, focusing solely on the non-collective aspects, like the individual level of organization of financing, pricing, education, clients, quality and value.

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Concluding, professionalizat ion in this research will be viewed as: All activities in organizing and inst itut ionalizing of the professional photographer (as defined in chapter 3) that lead towards craftsmanship, meaning the way in which the photographer executes his profession and keeps improving himself in terms of knowledge, skills and attitude as well as the act ivities of stakeholders that directly improve or set back the professionalizat ion process of the photographer.

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7.1 Future scenario writing method The method for writing future scenarios has been decided by comparing the method discussed by Patrick van der Duin and Hans Stavleu in their book De toekomst in een notendop (Duin & Stavleu, 2006), the report Leren met toekomstscenario’s (Bennamar et al., 2006) and the article ‘Scenario Planning: A tool for strategic thinking’ by Paul J.H. Schoenmaker (Schoenmaker, 1995). These three sources together cover the most useful methods for writing future scenarios for this research, because they provide both a playful and creat ive as a more corporate strategic approach to writing scenarios. The scenarios mentioned in this chapter do not intend to cover the whole future of the photography professionalization. However, they do discuss the most important factors/trends and the most likely situations for these factors/trends, revealing the correlation between the different factors. There are two future scenarios: a posit ive (inspiring) and negative (scaring) scenario. Per scenario, the steps that have to be taken to reach this scenario are briefly discussed (back cast ing). These steps are transformed into strategies to reach the most desirable situation in the conclusion of this research. Scenarios sketch the sphere of how society or a company (in this case: the professionalization of the photographer) will look like in that specific future and then reconstruct the way in which this future has erupted (back-casting), including what happened and who played an important role in this process. Based on the future scenarios, either a proactive or reactive course can be designed. The course that is designed, forms the strategy. In the case of a react ive course, the scenarios are used for defensive ends in which the organizat ion prepares itself for all scenarios, whether unwanted or wanted. In a proactive course, the goal is to attain the desired future scenario. In a proact ive course, a strategy is designed, which ‘guides’ developments towards the desired scenario. (Bennamar et al., 2006: 8-12) The proactive course is chosen, because the end goal of this research is to design strategies in which photographers are able to professionalize themselves by making use of the future developments. A few criteria for formulat ing scenarios are given by Bennamar et al. (2006: 19-31): - The ‘sure’ trends should be part of every scenario; - The scenario must be written from the future perspect ive, i.e. like it is 5-10 years later; - The scenarios should be realist ic. Only facts and forecasts that support the scenario are used; - Actors and important developments should be included in the scenario; - The scenario should have a catchy name, like it is made up by an advert ising agency; - The scenarios should be presented in both a scary and an inspiring scenario.

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