photo by tom sparks
Hello charlies, this is Nate. Nicole has been busy lately with Gimme This For, so I’m helping out by publishing some recent feedback we’ve received.
The inquiry form on Gimme doesn’t have any validation. This was intentional. We didn’t want anything to get in the way of someone wanting to make contact for any reason. As a result, we get some empty emails. Not too many, but it adds up over time.
If you’ve inadvertently sent an empty one, no worries! It’s just email.
We also get real emails written by real people which tend to fall into two camps: Interesting and I Hate you. We expected this. It is the internet after all and since everyone can be totally anonymous, people can get pretty carried away with themselves out there.
In the spirit of transparency (a core tenant of the Gimme exploration) we are going to publish all the communiques we get. You ready? Here we go.
(cb@***********.com) on Friday, March 02, 2012 at 19:19:33 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments: Hey "gurl" ... even though you saying it's just an experiment, I have to tell ya: you have 'balls'. C.O.N.G.R.A.T.U.L.A.T.I.O.N.S. You are (like we saying in Brazil), touching a very agitated leopard with a very short stick. The market still try to recompose of all "new photographer" the eletronic industry brought in, and you really applying the idea of that guy ... forget his name ... about FREE products. I'll be here cheering for you 'Charlie'. And why not, after think a little, do the same? It was an fantastic idea. KUDDOS --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then there was…
(aaa@aaa.net) on Friday, March 02, 2012 at 18:51:19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments: why don't you just FUCK OFF, you cheap stake. Your images worth nothing! You are worth nothing ! You are just here to damage our trade. So piss off. --------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was nice that they filled in something that would pass a typical email validation check, though it wasn’t required. We accept all inquiries.
(photographers@everywhere.com) on Saturday, March 03, 2012 at 13:35:42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments: You are an idiot and detrimental to the professional photography industry. In a time when photographers across the country are struggling to have clients see the value of professional photographs, along comes you, wanting to conduct a social experiment. I have a mortgage to pay, 2 kids to feed (one of which has special needs) and this is my husband's and my PROFESSION. Please, if you would like to "give back", volunteer at a soup kitche....before all pro photographers are in line there! --------------------------------------------------------------------------
The use here of the email address to make an additional comment to the contents of the message was very creative. And finally…
(rob@***********.com) on Saturday, March 03, 2012 at 08:26:41 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments: Hi Nicole - good luck with your experiment, though I think the trend will be to take advantage of you or at best underpay the market value of your work. Personally, I believe you set a premise that you might not be "good enough" to charge a set price. The fact that one customer can have you for maybe $700.00 and another for $3,000.00 simply puts no monetary value on your service - that is unfortunate. I am curious though, when you refund the deposit and deliver the client images, are they full res or smallish proofs? Sincerely, Rob Oresteen --------------------------------------------------------------------------
That’s all we’ve got at the moment. Please do check back for more updates, published inquiries, and Gimme sightings elsewhere on the web.
♥ – Nate
