Last minute scramble.

Have you ever been a photographer looking for a cool location at the last minute?  I have!  I’m there now!!!

I have visions in my mind, but the logistics arent’ really working out.  I can’t believe how hard it can be to take pictures in Orange County!  This place feels like the most blood-sucking place I know as far as fees and permits!

Did you know if you want to take pictures at Irvine Park, you need a permit???  How do you get one? PAY A FEE!!!  Because the fee to get in, isn’t enough for them!!  I think it is ridiculous.  We pay taxes for so many things.  We pay entrance fees, maintenance fees and now they want to squeeze a bit more out ….. because they can!!!!

I don’t like to pass that fee on to my clients, so I try my best to fly under the radar.  I also do it based on principle.  It makes me crazy!!!  And to buy a permit doesn’t allow you private access to anything; you still have to fight the crowds, so what exactly are you paying for???

And if you go, for example, to Irvine Park, why aren’t they charging ever Tom, Dick and Harry, who have a camera the same permit fee that a photographer has to pay?  And how would one differentiate?

Please excuse my frustration, but being taxed as much as we are, and then paying entrance fees and then being asked for a bit more just makes me mad!!!

And if it’s something called a “commercial” shoot, then they fee goes up exponentially!!!  So be careful what you say!!!  I call it extortion1  I believe if you must charge a permit fee, it should be on a sliding scale!  Because a ‘Mom and Pop’ business has no way of competing with the fees charged to a larger corporation.

I have had this frustration for a while, but now that I am down to the wire, I’m really raging about it!  I just can’t see how they justify it.

So, my day has been set.  I am scrambling to find a new location with tons of disappointment swirling around my head.  We live in the land of the free…..but apparently some of us can’t afford the freedom…..