I appreciate your candor in writing about these types of situations, for two reasons. First, for a young photographer trying to find his way it is immensely helpful to have someone with a reputation such as yours (I could point to nothing but your work and still, your stature is towering) speak up on behalf of photographers everywhere whose careers can be hung out to dry by people that care nothing about equity when it comes to a written contract. Though I’ve not dealt with editors as high up in the chain as have you, I have experienced time and time again people that want to hire me for my work only to give me an obtuse look when I try to explain to them that their “terms of agreement” are actually the basis of what should be an obvious disagreement. It’s bewildering what people convince themselves of as being fair. Having someone such as yourself describe these situations that occur behind closed doors is a voice for a more equitable future for all photographers and, in that sense, protects my ability to do what I feel like I was born to do.

The second reason that I am appreciative of your willingness to speak up is that I feel that there are many photographers that behave in much the same way as you describe celebrities, what, with their childish demands that everything be their way and lack of compromise. While you describe yourself having a weak moment, I read your account of what happened to be a moment when you realized that you had gotten yourself to a point in your career where you were able to decide that you were going to help someone even though it worked against your own cause. That speaks to your determination, and while some might call that being difficult, I call it an inspiration. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Peter A. Prato

Thank you for your comments. In fact, after a number of years I saw Jerzy Kosinksi less and less, but I do know that at the end of his life he became quite ill and typical of him most probably took his own life (or committed suicide) rather than go through the difficult process of dying while being very sick. This is not to say that he in fact ever achieved buoyancy, nothing in life is absolute. It was just a further attempt on his part to find some kind of resolution. Thank you for your interest.

Rodney Smith

On a side note, your work is incredibly inspiring and your words have pushed me to break free from my unrealized actions of falling into a cookie cutter photographer. Thank you for sharing so freely.

I was wondering about the context of the image that illustrates this post. When and where was it made? Is that a London black cab ?

Thank you so much!
Cheers.