The professional photographers display the same arrogant entitlement mentality that's seen by so many of those being obsoleted by innovation. Skidmore is not putting professional photogs out of business, the professional photogs inability or unwillingness to compete is putting themselves out of business.
Yes, it is indeed difficult to compete with free even with a better product. This isn't about competing with "innovation." It's about better distribution channels for the free stuff that has always existed.
To be clear, there's absolutely nothing wrong with putting photos up on the web and allowing for their free reuse. But, yes, it is the collective use of free/cheap photographs that are good enough for their target purpose (and sometimes as good as anything a pro would have created) that are cutting into the professional photography business.
Will it seem so arrogant and entitled when it's your job?
I recently took a cab for the first time in a long while -- I've mostly been using public transit and Uber. The cabbie was a nice 57-year-old guy who's scared that he won't be able to provide for his family in another couple of years.
Who's going to hire a 57-year-old ex-cabbie to service Uber's self-driving cars? This is a real social problem that we need to address.
