As a co-owner of SaddlebredWeb.com, I will preface by saying this subject is one of extreme importance to us. We have spent countless hours talking to and e-mailing the show chair of the Lexington Jr. League and convincing other people to do the same, but apparently to no avail. It appears that protecting the income of the official vendor photographer is more important than fairness or equity to Saddlebred exhibitors and supporters of the breed. I could write volumes on the subject but will try to limit my comments to only a couple of very pertinent points:
1. Although it is not the most important issue to me, I will first address the “financial hardship” arguments. The official photographers have traditionally had a monopoly that has protected a very lucrative job. I can understand why it is difficult to accept having some others receive a small portion of the pie. However, I am quite surprised at how many people are willing to accept the allegations of the best known in-ring photographers that allowing out-of-the-ring photographers to shoot will put them out of business or cause them crippling hardship. I think most people would be quite surprised at the income available at an “A” rated show. Since it is difficult to compare advertising photos by show, I did some calculations by magazine issues. Those calculations can be found at the end of this post. I know that before I would accept a “hardship” argument, I would want to know more facts. Nonetheless, this is not the important issue as far as I am concerned.
2. The issue that is closest to my heart is the fairness issue. If anyone thinks that Dave and I put in the unbelievable number of hours we do because of the big bucks, they do not know our reality. We do it because of my 40+ year love of the American Saddlebred horse and a desire to promote the breed through our website. We provide pictorial coverage of not only horse shows but other major Saddlebred events. We use the small amount we make from photo sales to defray the cost of providing our service and hopefully pay us for a fraction of the hours we put in. For those of you who don’t know us and my background, Dave and I own four American Saddlebreds and have one in training (a three-year-old who won his debut class at the 2008 Indianapolis Charity Horse Show). I personally rode and drove to many blues and tri colors in the 1970's and have owned at least one Saddlebred continuously since late 60's. In addition, I have served the Saddlebred industry in several other capacities including as a co-founder of what is now the Indianapolis Charity Horse Show and as its first show secretary, as President of the Indiana Saddlebred Horse Association, as a columnist for major Saddlebred magazines, and as a partner in Mi-Kim Photos - the official photographers for many horse shows in the past including River Ridge, Indianapolis Charity, Indiana State Fair Horse Show, Ohio State Fair Horse Show and the Morgan Gold Cup. I mention this overview of my involvement for one reason only - to point out that I have supported the American Saddlebred breed in many ways over the years. I also want to point out that we have made a very substantial investment in photographic equipment in order to promote the breed through our website.
Taking photos of exhibitors at public events is entirely legal. We are constantly told by exhibitors who make the horse shows possible that our service is valued. Service from the official photographers has definitely improved since competition appeared. Many, many exhibitors express how much they want the choice of different angles and artistic views. Publications have told us that we "saved" an ad for them because the owner had not found a photo to use from the official photographer. We have been told by many exhibitors that they felt ignored by the official photographers and have welcomed the options provided by “freelance” photographers. It will be impossible for the shows to know the "intent" of photographers, and the policies cannot be fairly enforced unless they want a show that resembles a police state - instead of an enjoyable environment for all present.
Despite everything mentioned here, there are those out there who discuss "freelance photographers" as if we are strangers who have come to the show off the streets for the sole purpose of stealing some profit from the official photographer. Some of the comments make it clear that the writers believe it is entirely okay for a single official vendor to convince show management to threaten Dave and me (and other exhibitors - including some who have contributed to the industry even more)
with removal from the show grounds for taking photos from outside the ring if we intend to sell any of them. I stress, not because it is illegal, but because it
might have a serious impact on someone’s income compared to the monopoly he would have without us. Even some of the exhibitors who think the policies are wrong are afraid to speak out in fear of some type of reprisal from the official photographer.
Quite frankly, it is impossible for me to express at this moment and in this forum how much I am hurt by this and how disheartened I am beginning to feel about my future involvement in this industry that has played such a major role in my life. We moved to Lexington two years ago because of American Saddlebreds, and I had looked forward with excitement to getting more involved in showing and participation in the ASHA. However, even a blue ribbon doesn’t make up for a negative and unwelcoming environment.
If you don’t think these prohibitive policies are right, don’t tell me or restrict your comments to this forum. I urge you to make your views known to the show managements who are creating the policies. I continue to hope that the wishes of the exhibitors and the supporters of the industry will be heard above the single voice of even the most-respected official vendor. When we started the Indy 500 Charity Horse Show many years ago, our motto was essentially, "The exhibitor is king." We believed that a happy
exhibitor made a successful show. When did that change?
Kim
www.SaddlebredWeb.com
For those of you still with me, here are the results of my “research” regarding photos used in advertising. Please keep in mind that the Saddlebred industry has at least
seven publications competing for ads. Some people advertise in only one (meaning each magazine has completely different photos for the single advertisers), some in more than one. The ones who advertise in more than one, often buy separate photos for each publication. In addition to the photo counts provided below, there is money made from multiple copies and there are countless photographs being purchased just for enjoyment that never make it into magazines.
I selected some 2007 issues at random, trying to stay with ones that either covered larger shows or (in one case) were handed out at a large show. Here are some figures - keeping in mind that each of these represents just one of at least 4 monthly glossies and about 9 newsprint publications for that month: In the August 2007 issue of
Saddle and Bridle, there were 222 photos that were easily identified as having been taken by official show photographers. The breakdown of the top four was as follows: Howie Schatzburg 72, Doug Shiflet 51, Shane Shiflet 40 and Rick Osteen 37. In the special Lexington issue of
The National Horseman there were 128 photos taken by official photographers with Doug leading them at 58, and Washburn second at 21. In the October issue of
Saddle and Bridle, there were 160 photos taken by official photographers. Doug Shiflet had 71 and Howie had 48. The only other issue I tediously counted was the December 3, 2007 issue of
Saddle Horse Report. In that publication there were 88 photos from in-ring photographers with Howie Schatzburg leading the pack with 67. Keeping in mind that I just grabbed some issues and made no attempt to use the ones that had the most photos in them, and multiplying the numbers by a typical $50 for an 8x10, and then making some attempt to calculate the addition of all the other publications, it would be difficult to come to the conclusion that the horse shows were a losing proposition for the official photographers - despite the appearance of some advertisement photos by out of the ring photographers in the same issues.
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