It is doubtful that the content of any one single article has had as much effect on the American public’s view of the BP Gulf oil disaster as any single widely distributed shot of an oil soaked pelican.  Similarly, photos of Katrina victims -many of them deceased – we confidentially submit, had far more impact on our citizenry that the millions of words spoken and written about that disaster.  Each of you can submit at least another half dozen similar type scenarios where photos taken by professional photographers, or an illustration or political cartoon influenced our politicians to get off the collective butts to actually do some positive about some political or social issue.

We have been making the case for decades that photographers, illustrators and artists perform services essential to the continuance of a free society.  Your visual contributions to the maintenance of a well-run democracy are indispensable.  Traditional media aside, the proliferation of blogs, social network sites, NGOs and digital publications in all forms bring home that point every second of every day world wide.  So right about now you’re probably thinking, “Why are these guys bringing this up now?  What’s the point”?  Consider:

We make the point in our lectures, articles and in court.  Your trade associations hopefully make similar points with equal vigor.  But how about you – the creator?  Do you advocate, emphasize or dare we say, sell the point?  There is an obvious self-deprecating attitude among most creators.  They tend to be reticent about promoting their worth not only to their paying clients, but also to the public at large who are ultimately your clients’ customers.

We submit that you must think and go beyond the cliché’ of “a picture being worth a thousand words”.  Selling the importance of what you do to your clients, their customers and your elected officials (local and federal) is in your direct financial interest. Your continued silence is anything but “golden”.

The importance of police officers, fire fighters, first responders, EMTs, nurses etc. is blatantly as obvious to anyone possessing an IQ.  Nevertheless, as individuals and groups each regularly publicize and remind the public they serve of their individual and collective importance.  They do so at contract negotiation time, election cycles and during the months in between. They advertise and promote their interests even though their occupations are as distant from the advertising and promotional industries as you can get.

Creators on the other hand, are professional convincers and persuaders utterly familiar with what moves people within the advertising and promotional industries and more importantly, what imagery moves individuals and the public at large.  It is what they do.  The disconnect is therefore, even more startling and illogical.  Even companies whose sales are substantial know the importance of keeping up brand recognition and ‘reminding’ their customers as often as possible that their goods and services are necessary and important and/or that they are needed – even if they are not.

With economic times as bad as they are, it is high time that each of you remind, promote and re-enforce your importance and the importance of your craft to the product consuming, reading, viewing public and to those politicians responsible for keeping everything and everybody functioning.  Don’t be shy.  Silence facilitates irrelevance and extinction.  If creators do not care enough to promote themselves, there can be no expectation that anyone else should care about them either.  Relying solely on others is and always will be, a doomed strategy.

Ed & Jack