NYT article: day rate of Erwitt vs a monkey

[lynnb]

This has to be one of the funniest photography stories I've read, from one of my favourite photographers, Elliott Erwitt:

“I have an anecdote for you,” he said. “I was hired to do a fashion shoot with a monkey. And the monkey was supposed to ape the same movements as the model. I discovered that my day rate was $250 a day. And the monkey’s day rate was $350 a day. This is a true story.”

Food for thought for aspiring professional photographers!

 

[jschrader]

free market.

Obviously, trained monkeys are harder to find than trained photographers.

Better get trained as a monkey than as a photographer

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I wonder how long ago the shoot with the monkey was? If it was recent, than Mr. Erwitt making just $250 for a day shows how far our profession has fallen. In Indiana, where wages are very low by national standards, a teacher with Mr. Erwitt's years of experience makes more than that, and doesn't have to pay assistants or have business insurance or pay self-employment taxes.

 

[DominikDUK]

The Monkey thing probably happened in the 1950's or 60's and at that time 250 $ was quiet a lot of Money.

The Trainer probably had to invest a lot of time in training the monkey to mimic models (more than one day) this reflects the higher pay for the monkey trainer, the monkey who did most of the posing worked for less a Banana or two 2 $

Erwitt seems like a funny guy and is a great photographer.

 

[RichardP]

The Monkey thing probably happened in the 1950's or 60's and at that time 250 $ was quiet a lot of Money.

The Trainer probably had to invest a lot of time in training the monkey to mimic models (more than one day) this reflects the higher pay for the monkey trainer, the monkey who did most of the posing worked for less a Banana or two 2 $

Erwitt seems like a funny guy and is a great photographer.

There is video on YouTube of him giving a slide show which is funny and woth watching.

 

[Jack Sparrow]

These days you'd pay that much for a CGI monkey.

 

[leicapixie]

This is not the first time I've read about disproportionate payments!
In an Article about Tony Armstrong Jones (Lord Snowdon) he discovered a dog was earning more than him!
Tony did what I would have done, he walked.

 

[noisycheese]

I always endeavor to keep my rates below those of a monkey. To do otherwise would be both haughty and pretentious.

 

[Pablito]

I can assure you that Mr. Erwitt's day rate today is nothing to laugh about.

 

[fdarnell]

Better to be the guy who transports the trained monkeys. I know of only one, and he's a multi-millionaire. He's done really well with monkeys, but not so well with horses.

I guess they're harder to train.