_MY PHOTO plastered across a retail storefront in PARIS_

I was contacted by someone in the Graphic Arts department of a French men's clothing retailer this week, inquiring about using a photo I shot for their store window displays. Be still my fluttering heart... MY PHOTO plastered across a retail storefront in PARIS (my favourite city of all the places I've been)?! I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven (aka, a place where Ryan Gosling reads poetry to you while offering a light for your cuban cigar handrolled by the ghost of Fidel Castro himself). What is WRONG with me?!

Anyways, back to my story. The message from said retailer didn't mention anything about 'buying' my image, just a request for the original file (photo below). I googled my way onto their website, and got punched in the face with their pricing - their dress shirts ranged from 115 to 450 Euros!! So I politely responded that I would provide them with a copy of the file for the nominal price of 100 Euros. Surely, an upscale purveyor of French fashion that felt right charging customers 450 Euros for a piece of cloth with some buttons and two sleeves sewn on it could afford to pay one quarter of that for a photo which would be used as promotional material to further increase the sales of their - did I mention the price of 450 Euros?! - shirts.

Well, turns out I didn't even get a response from them. My Ryan Gosling/ Fidel Castro-esque dream has been crushed, but I also feel good that I didn't provide my personal work for a "pathological profit at all costs, screw the artists" type of corporate entity to use in their advertising.

But still... feeling a little bittersweet at the moment. Having said all this, I'd still throw all moral qualms and principles out the window if they agreed to my (generous) terms. Vanity, eh?