What I can tell you is that I am also a Photographer, so I know what it is like to be approached for work because I get asked ALL the time. Unless the person asking me has experience in the modeling industry or hiring a photographer for a specific project, the majority of the inquiries I get (from outside the industry) are either usually some sort of offer for trade, or someone asking me if I could shoot for free. I get asked to shoot everything from Corporate headshots to someone’s wedding for free.

Sometimes I take them up on their offer, and sometimes I don’t. It depends on my available free time, the specifics of the project, and who I’ll be working with. If the project has me shooting someone interesting, or if my work will gain a lot of positive exposure then I will consider doing a shoot for free or barter. In fact, just last week I did a shoot with some actors for a low-budget local movie. My work will be used on the Movie Poster. The reason I do this is because my when I do get paying clients, the final product is usually sub-par to the creative work I do for free.

The work I have done for free however, has gotten me published, interviewed, invited to show my work in Art Galleries, praised by my peers in the industry, and almost always leads to more work down the road.

Now I’m not going pretend to know what you shoot, or even how to run your business. But as a photographer, you should know by now that most people do not understand how the photography industry works. I realized early on that most people are just uneducated when it comes to booking a photographer.

Brian Pace has spent his life doing something he loves. Throughout his 20 year career he has gained a unique view on how the American Table Tennis industry operates. This interview was meant to be an eye-opener for a lot of up and coming players who believe that if they play good enough, they will somehow acquire a sugar-daddy sponsor to pay for their training, equipment, and travel.

Somehow you have rationalized his experience of getting unfairly treated and improperly compensated by a single company over two decades to be as equally offensive as your “brief discussion” with him asking you to take some pictures. If anyone should be offended, it should be Brian.

Next time you get asked to shoot for free or trade, instead of getting really upset and finding a creative way to insult the person online, just politely decline or tell them your rates.

Where can I buy the parallel Penhold paddle?

Yes it would be inconceivable for the ITTF to let Wang Hao openly admit to something like that, but you have to admit they really should hire a new translator. If you don’t speak Chinese, the video interview leaves a lot to the imagination.

I’m really surprised no one at the ITTF noticed how strange that interview sounds.

I’m a Chinese and enjoy reading your table tennis blogs. I watched Wang Hao’s interview very closely. He was talking articulately about the “INORGANIC GLUE or GLUE BAN” which he thought might have given him some sort of edge over other top players. Yet the English interpretor translated Wang’s explicitly spelt “INORGANIC GLUE or GLUE BAN” into “the new glue”, and you mistakenly took “the new glue” as Speed Glue and went on to accuse Wang Hao cheating.

In the transcript “the new glue” was meant for “the new INORGANIC glue”. It would be naive to believe that a World Champion openly admits to cheating yet the ITTF just lets it go, don’t you think? Or maybe you were thinking about Marion Jones? LOL

He shy’s away from saying it but he’s bitter. And guess what? He should be.

The only thing that troubles me is his reference to “Jay-Z, Kimora Lee Simmons, P. Diddy, 50 Cent, Madonna, and Kim Kardashian.” These people did brand themselves but there is a big difference in terms of business capital. These people had millions to throw around, i’m guessing Brian pace has less than 100k to start with. Looking up to the people on that list can only lead to failure because they were only successful AFTER they were rich. Its like comparing apples and oranges. Completely different.

You will destroy fascinating fast game of TT.

Don’t let people say you do this because you can’t beat the chinese,so you try to slow down them.

I wouldn’t say that I know what benefits a Table Tennis company more than they do, but as a player, an avid enthusiast of the sport, and an observer it isn’t difficult to see what is not benefiting the culture that surrounds the sport in the US. I believe there are two sides of table tennis in the US, the business and the culture, and right now it seems like the two aren’t supporting each other like they should.

One thing I had noticed was that in other countries these same table tennis companies flourish, and the awareness of the table tennis culture seems to flourish as well. But in the US, the trend is not the same and that puzzles me which is why I am seeking answers wherever I can. I don’t believe that the problem is one-sided, and I know that a quick solution to this problem does not exist.

But, if awareness of the sport increases, and the amount of active players increases greatly with it, then I would agree that the time is indeed ripe for another company or organization to emerge and capitalize on where others have failed.

I made a petition to try and get this to not happen I feel so strongly about it.

PLEASE SIGN IT AND SPREAD IT AROUND!