Its not a great letter at all.

every Tom, Dick and Harry having a digital compact camera or a cameraphone, my profession has become a bit of a joke. Because anyone can take a picture, right? Now let me burst your bubble right there. Yes, every fool wearing yellow socks can take pictures just like every box on 4 wheels can drive and just like every broadband provider can offer you the internet.

I cannot stand it when they bring up that argument because we all know its simply not true. There are as many talented amateur photographers with proper equipment and amazing images, as there are professional photographers that cant produce more then the average snapshot and have no clue about what they are doing. Pro and amateur says nothing these days.

And the fact that she is throwing out these insults makes her a petty person.

For the people disagreeing with me, come out and tell me why? I am merely pointing out her petty insults, and fallacies. If you need to stoop to that level, its not a great letter.

I am not saying she doesnt have a point on the free images that might be damaging her business.

She doesnt need to use the exact words to say the same. If she is addressing professionals as well, calling them what she did, its even worse, attacking her own.

Its not a great letter at all.

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every Tom, Dick and Harry having a digital compact camera or a cameraphone, my profession has become a bit of a joke. Because anyone can take a picture, right? Now let me burst your bubble right there. Yes, every fool wearing yellow socks can take pictures just like every box on 4 wheels can drive and just like every broadband provider can offer you the internet.

I cannot stand it when they bring up that argument because we all know its simply not true. There are as many talented amateur photographers with proper equipment and amazing images, as there are professional photographers that cant produce more then the average snapshot and have no clue about what they are doing. Pro and amateur says nothing these days.

And the fact that she is throwing out these insults makes her a petty person.

You're missing the whole point of the letter.  She's not dissing amateur photographers.  She's simply saying that, as a professional photographer, she should be paid for her services,  just as you would expect to be paid for the work that you do at your job.

There are as many talented amateur photographers with proper equipment and amazing images, as there are professional photographers that cant produce more then the average snapshot and have no clue about what they are doing. Pro and amateur says nothing these days.

I have to disagree. If a pro photographer has managed to make a living for years, his/her images must have some qualities his/her customers want and need. Of course being a pro photographer 50% is photography and 50% business. But without the "business" there isn't photography.
I personally don't know any full-time professional photographer that have been in the business for years and delivers only (bad) snapshots. Do you, really?

There are plenty of good amateurs too, but they are free to shoot anything they want and only show the good images. A pro must always deliver, even if the subjects and conditions are far from ideal.

I'm a pro. In my opinion 50% of my work sucks, 5% are good images and 45% are "OK". If I was an amateur I would have the freedom to show only the best 5%. Still, even my worst 50% have been "usable" images.

I got bored reading it.  It wasn't very well written, and there were lots of issues with grammar and punctuation.  Her point was buried in a blanket of words.  Also, I'm not sure where she came up with this : "Did you know that by law it is forbidden for a business to sell goods or services under the norm value?"

Okay.  When titling this thread "Great Letter",  I wasn't referring to her grammar, punctuation, and the number of words that she used.  I was referring to the point that she made in that photographers should be paid for their services.

Okay.  When titling this thread "Great Letter",  I wasn't referring to her grammar, punctuation, and the number of words that she used.  I was referring to the point that she made in that photographers should be paid for their services.

Well, then it's a great ( and obvious ) point.  But not really a great letter.  If I was one of the people that was targeted to, I would have skipped reading it.

I got bored reading it.  It wasn't very well written, and there were lots of issues with grammar and punctuation.  Her point was buried in a blanket of words.  Also, I'm not sure where she came up with this : "Did you know that by law it is forbidden for a business to sell goods or services under the norm value?"

ditto, I thought it was poorly written and rambled all over the place. (I also couldn't handle the italics, but that's just being petty.)

I understand there is drama going on in that world (music/entertainment) regarding payment and copyright and so forth, it can't be easy as I'm sure there are plenty of freshly graduated photographers (both talented and not so) who are willing to work for free and hand over copyright. But hey, if it reaches out to people and they get the message, then great.

"I'm not a woman of many words..."  Actually, it seems as if she is.  That would be okay if she used the right words.  The point that's she's trying to put across is a good one but she's all over the shop mixing employment law, accounting, economics and tax evasion all in one hit lol.  I'm referring to this bit here:

But unfortunately more and more photographers these day are expected to work for free. Which in this day and age is of course totally unacceptable. Why do I find this unacceptable? Well I'm glad you asked.
To start with there is the matter of legality. Did you know that by law it is forbidden for a business to sell goods or services under the norm value? Ask your accountant, if you don't believe me. As a business you shouldn't have people work for free because that could get you in a whole lot of trouble. It is considered a form of tax avoidance.

With regards to the "norm value", first off, although I'm an accountant and know what it means, you typically wouldn't ask your accountant about this, you would ask an economist, a lawyer... or refer to the World Trade Organisation.  I believe the point she was trying to highlight when she mentioned 'norm value' was 'price fixing'.  However 'normal value' relates to 'dumping'. 

If anyone want's to understand what normal value and dumping means, in laymen's terms, it's basically a predatory pricing practice that can be used to drive out the competition in foreign trade.  For example, let's say I'm a manufacturer of SD cards in China.  Let's say the cost per card is $2 and the normal value (the sale price in China) is $4 per card.  Now let's say the average cost of the cards produced in the US were $5 per card and sold for an average of $10.  If I exported the cards to the US at cost price, then this may be considered 'dumping' them in order to try to kill off the competition in the US market making me a monopoly. 

That's what 'normal value' relates to so she's a bit off there.  Where she writes "by law" she is also wrong.  Dumping is not illegal but it is discouraged using anti-dumping practices, eg. increasing import taxes to protect local markets.

What this woman wrote isn't a good letter but as others have mentioned, it is a good rant.  What she wrote is structured very poorly and is even a little ridiculous at times.  However putting my artistic hat back on, if she focused on keeping it simple and passionate, instead of trying to come off as an intellectual, she may have had a better response to it.  But you know what, she's not a writer, an accountant, an economist or a lawyer... she's a photographer so I forgive her. 

If every photographer wrote a letter like that, even if it was poorly written, maybe more people will start to pay attention with the issues we're all facing... which are horrible and real.

Although not well written, as others have already noted, I completely agree with what she says.