It's not just purchasing a camera and pressing some buttons. It's having the knowledge of what equipment to purchase, how to compose the photo, how to capture a

It's not just purchasing a camera and pressing some buttons. It's having the knowledge of what equipment to purchase, how to compose the photo, how to capture a consistent set of photos, and so on. Experience takes time and money to gain, and no one has any right to that experience but you. Now, you may chose to charge money for your photos, share them for free, or some mix of both, but the choice is ultimately yours. A news article may not appropriate your photo for their purposes without your permission and license unless it fits one of the fair use exceptions to copyright law. I've been a professional photographer for close to the same amount of time you have. We own and regularly use approximately $50,000 worth of equipment, and the cost of that and our living has to be amortized over the amount we can realistically expect to sell in the lifespan of that equipment. I have absolutely no interest in someone else making money off my investment unless I get my cut. At no time has free work (e.g., magazines using photos with attribution) ever profited us either directly or indirectly. I'm not saying it couldn't ever, but in our experience, free or discounted begets more demands of the same.