You. RFN, 2014

[glatt]

So he replied asking how much I would be willing to pay, and he explained that it's an unusual situation because the firm already paid him. But that he normally charges $200 for individual portrait sessions. And he pretty much made all the points that Foot did.

I was pretty surprised at how much he wrote. It was a really long email for somebody dickering over some fraction of $50.

I said I valued what he did, but the picture was only worth $20 to me. And I hoped that I wasn't offending him.

He hasn't responded yet. And $20 is even more than I wanted to spend, so I'm cheating myself. I should have offered $10, since that's about what it's worth to me.

Interesting negotiations over nothing.

[glatt]

Back in the spring, a photographer visiting my work took a nice portrait of me for the firm's phone list, and when I asked him if I could get a copy, he wanted $50 for a small jpeg. That was too much, I thought, and we couldn't agree on a price, so we each got nothing.

So when I learned that there was an artist who wanted to sketch portraits of people on post-its to include in a book, I thought that might be fun. He was doing a kickstarter, and for the $25 level I would get a portrait. I was in! I took a bunch of selfies, chose my favorite one, and sent it in to him.

That was in October, and I forgot all about it until I got a stiff cardboard envelope in the mail yesterday. There was a thank you note inside, with my post-it portrait stuck inside the card. I'm pleased with how it came out.

That phone list photographer wanted $50 for attaching a file to an email, and this artist only wanted $25 for a real drawing, and mailing it off. This is such a better deal!