Sometimes the “business” of photography reminds me of this old children’s nursery rhyme:
All around the mulberry bush,
The monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey stopped to pull up his sock,
Pop goes the weasel.
As a metaphor it’s a bit of a stretch I grant you, but the more you think about it the more it makes some kind of quirky sense. Assuming for a moment that we’re the monkey and the weasel represents success, money or recognition (take your pick.) We chase after it in circles until we’re exhausted, stopping only briefly for a respite, and then suddenly there it is: Pop goes the weasel. A new moneymaking idea jumps out of the box.
Bartering. It’s the new “old” idea. It’s the ancient practice of trading goods or services for another person’s goods or services of equal value. Bartering has a lot of benefits, it’s an exchange based on negotiated value not on retail prices, it’s a currency of exchange, not money, and you can do it anywhere at anytime. Photography is a natural commodity. People always want great photographs of themselves, their family, their pets, their homes and their business. Sometimes they just want beautiful wall art. The one thing they don’t want is to pay for it.
