Amit at India Uncut says “My rule of thumb while doing freelance stuff for Indian publications: don't write for money; too much of a headache chasing it.” Very true Amit.

The same can be said about photographing for any Indian publication. They will want the work right away but pay you when they see fit, which if my experiences mean anything is either when you become a pain in the ass to them or they choose to designate you as a non-entity and want you to disappear.

Given that I will never shoot for either Outlook magazine or India Abroad ever again, I am taking the bold step and mentioning both publications here. Freelancers beware.

The solution isn't working for free [unless you are independently wealthy or a trust-fund baby] but sticking to your guns BEFORE you commit to the assignment. The way to do that is through a contract signed by both parties. Yes, that's cumbersome and yes, given that the offending publications are ensconced in India, where these sort of contractual laws fall by the way side, this may all seem moot. But you have gotta start somewhere.

In the contract, insist on a retainer [don't call it an advance] to cover all your immediate expenses. Payment should be made due upon delivery of said product, be it a paragraph or a photograph. You will likely hear a song and dance about how accounting won't release the funds until the article is published. This is merely a dog and pony show. If they did not have the funds to pay you, they are unlikely to have the funds to go to print but of course they will go to print because they have the funds. Again, stick to your guns. If you are a photographer, I suggest sending in low-resolution images with the caveat that high resolution versions will be emailed to them the second their payment is received in your bank account. Yes, they are all capable of wiring you money.

All this talk of a contracts and deadlines will make you highly unpopular and will likely get you blackballed. I haven't heard from several publications in months [you know who you are] because I got sick of their tactics and put the screws on their accounting departments. In my opinion, it's really their loss.

If their management insists on paying freelancers peanuts to begin with and then adding insult to injury, paying for the assignment only months later, they are undeniably only getting desperate freelancers who are willing to scrape the barrel or, as I have said before, are cash cows who could care less about being stiffed. The publications are also unlikely to sustain, over the long term, a pool of truly professional photographers or writers dedicated to their craft. In the end, professionals loose out and so do the publications as the quality of their output goes down the drain.

It's a very different world out there. While the Indian economy seems to be competing very well in the global marketplace, the publishing/journalism industry seems to be entrenched in archaic and decrepit ways of doing business. I see the capacity of India Today to not merely compete against Outlook magazine but indeed go head to head with Time, Newsweek or Spiegel.

It's time for Indian publications to wake up and smell the chai.

UPDATE: I came across this related post on ArZan's blog.

The Indian Express suggests that the Karnataka Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh has initiated steps to rename “Bangalore” to “Bengaluru.”

Bombay became Mumbai, Calcutta became Kokatta, Madras became Chennai. India to be called Hindustan?

I think the Chief Minister has better things to do for his state and this sort of idiocy needs to stop. Does it force upon people a benign form of patriotism or nationalism to refer to their city by an ancient and somewhat archaic name? I think it just confuses people and makes it even harder for people to do business in India (ooops, Bharath, no Hindustan, no hamara desh – ugh, whatever).

By the way, I'll continue to always tell people that I grew up Madras, politics [and politicians] be damned.

Via Ashok Parameshwaran

There is a brewing controversy over two very similar images, showing people from two different racial backgrounds.

Black people loot, White people find. Two photo agencies with obviously shitty copy editors.

The caption for the image of black people reads:

A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Flood waters continue to rise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage when it made landfall on Monday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

The caption for the image of white people reads:

Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)

The controversy has spurred commentary from other well known bloggers such Romenesko and Gothamist.

What do you think? Was the difference in reporting intentional or unintentional?

This is getting to be a bad habit. What excuses can I conjure up this time for my utter reticence on this forum? Time again is at an all time premium. Ah, but should I continue supplying you with the same excuses?

It's late and my creative juices have stopped flowing. The fact is this – this last week I spent a great deal more time on a digital wedding photography forum learning the ins and outs of wedding photography than I did looking for cool content for this site. I can't mention that site's name or the URL. Suffice to say, I have learned more in a week than in a whole semester at college.

Some of you know that I have dove in head first into the digital realm. It's a little overwhelming. Harikrishna, a fellow photog, who posts his comments here has encouraged me to look at capturing images in the RAW format. But even before that crucial step, I have learned now, it's vitally important to know how to set the White Balance for the camera so that one's RAW captures can be easily converted. That's where I am sort of stuck. So, Hari, if you are reading this, holler at me. You know my number.

I am heading to the West coast this coming weekend to photograph a wedding. Yes, all digital. Am I nervous? Hell yeah, I am. If it were film, it would be a cake walk. But pithy comments aside, challenges are meant to make one stronger and I do hope this experience does for me what it has done for countless other photographers; make them better image makers using the tools of today. I don't mind acknowledging the fact that, in some respects, it does feel like I am photographing for the very first time. It is frightening, exciting and certainly exhilarating all at the same time.

The last few weeks of using my Nikon D70s has been very interesting. I have encountered lots of successful moments capturing precious moments in beautiful light. I have also been confounded by a recurring exposure problem when I use my 35mm f/2.0 lens on the new camera. [I understand a lot of this is going to be glossed right over by non-photographers, but bear with me please.] Consecutive exposures produced by my new camera have all had blown-out highlights and that too when I was just messing around in the “P” [or Program] mode. This is the mode that most amateurs will depend on for creating images. I use the “M” [manual] or the “A” [Aperture] modes for most of my image making. The “P” mode provides the user both the shutterspeed and the aperture to create adequately and [most of the time] accurately exposed images. To find that the machine fails in this rather basic function perplexes me. I have to wonder if I have unwittingly hit some button on the machine and it will remain whacked till I reset it to factory specifications.

Ok, I have rambled on enough for one night. I hope to have something more substantial and wholeheartedly interesting to post tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

If you haven't noticed, I haven't posted anything here for over a week. It has been rough. My father, who is visiting us, took ill and we have had numerous trips to the hospital. He is on the mend now. It's been busy at work as well. Plus, I am not in the habit of posting just anything here. If it isn't really interesting to me, it is a safe bet your interest won't be piqued by it either. There is already so much junk on the Internet anyway, why clutter it up even more and waste your time.

Well, I am going to make some real effort to finish the Kaaya series this next week. There are some controversial images coming up; ones that will make you wonder if viewing this at work is wise, so I am going to tuck them into the extended section of the post. Click on the link at your own risk. I assure you it is not pornographic, just graphic.

Having said that, let me get back to the projects I have at hand. One of which is a blog about wedding photojournalism. I'll let you know what the URL is in a few days. Will launch on my 37th birthday [on August 23]. I also want to report here that I am having way too much fun with my new digital camera, the Nikon D70s. While I still gripe about it missing a vertical battery grip for shooting portraits, the camera performs satisfactorily. My true test of the machines (yes, I am about to buy another) is if can produce work for a wedding I am photograhing in Los Angeles at the tail end of this month. This will be my first all-digital wedding. I am a bit nervous, but the process of photography is about stepping off the curb and into high traffic to see if one can survive. This will be just another test. I am mucking about now with the machine to get used to all its various bells and whistles and trust me, there is more here than there was on my F-100s.

I am selling my Nikon Coolpix 4500 for $200. First person to respond and pay me [Paypal possible] will get that camera and a 192mb compact flash card, along with a couple of rechargeable batteries and a battery charger. Shipping included. Email me at tiffinbox [at] pipalproductions [dot] com. The Coolpix has served me very well. I paid $645 about two years ago. It's a 4 megapixel camera that swivels [very cool!]. The picture you see below was shot with it. So, the quality is there.