Photographers’ rights at the heart of an ADAGP communication campaign

“A photo costs money” reminds ADAGP of this hard-hitting communication campaign which alerts for the 3^e consecutive year on the lack of recognition of the profession of photographer.

“We already pay you for the paper version, we’re not going to pay you again for the web!” “No, it’s not paid, but there will be great visibility!” “It’s a very small touch-up, you’re not going to charge us for it!” Heard in advertising agencies, editorial boards or photo festivals, these little phrases are unfortunately part of the daily life of photographers.

To put their rights back at the heart of the debate, ADAGP, the French society for the collection and distribution of copyright in the field of visual arts, will display these speeches at the Rencontres d’Arles in July and on social networks. A visual and striking variation that marks the third year of the campaign “A photo costs money” carried out in collaboration with Les Agents Associés, CLAP, Les Filles de la Photo, France PhotoBook, the Diagonal network, Saif and the Union of Professional Photographers (UPP). These structures are thus associated with this approach initiated in 2022 by the Photography commission of ADAGP with the aim of alerting on the lack of recognition of the profession.

That year, the report on the financing of the production and distribution of photographic works by Laurence Franceschini was published, which noted a ” “worrying paradox for the sector” according to ADAGP. “While photography is at the heart of our culture, with the circulation of images intensified by the digital revolution, photographers still do not benefit from a fair share of the value thus generated. Between 2001 and 2017, their income even fell by 18%. The precariousness of the photographer’s profession has been accentuated by the development of microstocks and other image banks, offering a large number of photographs at very low prices (or even free), from which even public institutions or the media willingly draw, without questioning the highly detrimental consequences for photographers.”

An observation that led the ADAGP photography commission to launch the first edition of the campaign: an opportunity to make photographers’ voices heard by requesting measures from the Ministry of Culture, in particular raising awareness in the press sector about the challenges of photography or encouraging cultural institutions to buy and distribute photography of the French scene. The following year, the structure put the emphasis back on the issue of photo credits (limiting the use of “DR”, questioning the problem of metadata, etc.), specifying that in 2022, according to ARCOM « Only 3% of photos published online are credited”.

With these colorful posters mixing texts and photographs by Alexis Pazoumian, Julien Pebrel who, questioned on this subject in 2022, regretted the lack of information for young photographers on their rights or Yohanne Lamoulère who also questioned this paradox between the increase in the number of photographers and the precariousness of the profession, ADAGP and its partners hope this year to make an impression and emphasize “obvious remuneration issues in other cultural sectors, but not applied to photographers.” A campaign to discover from… July.

During the Rencontres d’Arles, discover the ADAGP program and in particular:

Wednesday July 3 at 2 p.m. – Table ronde: “The dynamics of collective commitment of professionals in the photography sector”
34, rue du Docteur Fanton – Arles – Court Fanton.

Editor’s note:

“A photo costs money.” This is exactly the dilemma we experience daily at The Eye of Photography.

We don’t pay photographers: we can’t afford it. It’s our dream that one day, subscriptions, calendars, banners and partnerships will reach a level where it will be possible to pay the photographer. We haven’t reached that level.