[Wheatfield]

Damned fine work Ben.

[violini]

If you have winning product, you close the marketing department.

[Mister Pita]

I slowly sawed my way through this thread, reading each response, and halfway through the related thread on the same topic. It's nice to see solid talent and supportive forum members. Then I went back and carefully read the original post.

Putting my Camera Mfr Corp Marketing hat on, it seems like an excessively bad idea to be sponsored, and when the company re-evaluates your relationship and relevance to where it wants to go, post multiple announcements on multiple forums stating that your former sponsor, after negotiations, failed to give you what you wanted and so you will not publicly acknowledge their product unless asked directly. Okay. It's a choice.

Over here at Camera Corp, I know that my sponsored photographers, whether they leave for a juicier deal elsewhere or we just decide they aren't pushing our product to the right market for us today, will just silently submerge and reappear pushing their new sponsor. No harm, no foul. Maybe our position with him/her will change in a couple of years or so, and we can talk again.

But today, one of my team just happens to google your name to check you out, and notices your public announcements in multiple threads on multiple forums over a prolonged period of time of how you deal with the termination a professional relationship. I am aware that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, and I start keeping an eye out for your name on sponsorship applications coming in, so I can carefully put it in the burn pile. No way I want a repeat performance against Camera Corp! Lots of photographers have great talent, and more than a few know how to get their names recognized outside of the photographic community where our main market is, but there are a few who can't seem to avoid airing dirty laundry if things go sour. Not worth the future pain.

Hopefully, CaNikon will not be very thorough in their research, and you will be able to arrange a situation more to your liking. Your talent and persistence qualify for a reasonable sponsorship from somebody, if you can manage to put a public face on their brand to a group that they want. Your lack of discretion in such financial relationships can put them at risk before they even get rolling, however. E-mail a friend or colleague and remind them that your complaints are personal and confidential. These aren't your buddies here, and this isn't a private little cave no one else knows about. The Internet is a very public, very searchable record 24/7/365 that cannot be erased. Is this post what your prospective sponsor will want to read now or in the future? If you were them, would you?

[eddie1960]

I finally made my way though this long goodbye

First I'd like to say at no point did i see Ben "dis " Pentax, he did state he was unhappy with the decision not to sponsor, but that he would buy a k5 (with the offered discount i'm sure) but that he was shopping a sponsorship deal around.
His work is worthy of sponsorship and personally i think he should approach leica (long a fashion world staple - too bad they are so slow on the s2 lens deliveries right now)
Ben keep up the great work you're very talented, I hope someone steps up to the plate and provides the sponsorship, it's a very competitive market now and anything you can do to reduce your overhead is just plain smart. Really all brands offer equipment that could do the job, some are just better at promoting themselves and want to have the association with the pro market (canikon are the most obvious, but i'm pretty certain hassy,leica,mamiya,phase one in the camera market all have pros they work with, they are all pro market focused and marketing focused something hoya/Pentax could learn from
keep up the great work and I hope you'll keep using the pentax as well

[séamuis]

the name on the front of your camera, is of no real matter. at all. seriously. we all know that in the right hands, beautiful photos are the result. my view on this is that, if a pro, regardless of his talent or how well known he or she may be, should only use the equipment that he or she likes the best. if Ben has liked Pentax then ben should continue to use Pentax. its that simple. a photographers decision on equipment should be a personal choice, not a choice based on brand identity, names, etc. but solely on what you as the photographer feel is best for you. Ben says he has been using the Pentax brand since the K10 and has admitted to the K-5 being pretty much the best digital SLR pentax has ever made. so why should he stop using Pentax now? the tools still do the job. hell they arguably do the job better now than they ever have before. Im not going to argue that it would be good exposure for Pentax in certain areas, but Pentax is free to do as they choose and so is Ben. the simple fact is, that Ben does indeed seem to have a sense of entitlement. what I see is that he feels that he decided to stake his career and use an unknown brand out of his own personal choice and now feels that brand owes him. im sorry, but no camera company owes you anything for using their equipment. because again, you use equipment that best suits your needs. is the best for the job at hand, etc. either way they are personal choices and should always remain that way. to say that they should give you anything for choosing them is just absurd, no matter how good you are. do you think Henri Cartier-Bresson went looking to Leica for free cameras after being an early adopter of the brand and 35mm film in general? I seriously doubt it. he used what he felt was best for him, and thats it. being a ‘pro’ doesn’t put you in a class above anyone else, I hate to break it to some who think that. but it doesn’t. you are a consumer just like the rest of us. im a freelance photojournalist. I do rather well here in savannah. I carry a Pentax. I bought it. I wasn’t owed it. neither is Ben or anyone else. and if I become a well known photojournalist one day, guess what? Pentax would still owe me nothing. I expect nothing.

Ben, you are a very talented photographer, but I get the feeling that you had some ‘design’ for all this in mind when choosing Pentax and are now upset that they didn’t do what you expected them to do. I have to ask, how much does it really matter to you whose name is on the front of your camera? how much does it matter to you what people know about the equipment that you use? does whats in your hands matter more than the photographs that come out of the combination of equipment and photographer? because, in all honesty it seems like you are more concerned with brand than you are with just using your equipment. and I think so may people here have this idea that we shouldn’t question that just because you are very talented. that bullshit. I very much question your views and attitudes in regards to equipment. just know that at the same time I respect your work and you as an individual.

[BigDave]

Whatever your move, just stop being a voice for them. Silence is golden you know (and this can be taken in many ways). If you can keep it in your heart to stay on the forums, WE OUT HERE appreciate you!

Ragards,

[benjikan]

Whatever your move, just stop being a voice for them. Silence is golden you know (and this can be taken in many ways). If you can keep it in your heart to stay on the forums, WE OUT HERE appreciate you!

Ragards,

Better late than never...Thanks!

[I shoot people]

I find it nice to see that professionals have started to shoot with Pentax again!

[benjikan]

Whatever your move, just stop being a voice for them. Silence is golden you know (and this can be taken in many ways). If you can keep it in your heart to stay on the forums, WE OUT HERE appreciate you!

Ragards,

Thank You Dave

[BigDave]

de rien!

Regards,