Thankful? Yes, and No

Yes, we have a lot to be thankful for this year. Below are several of the positive things personally and professionally that are worth noting and being thankful for. After that, are the things - like when a car splashes a huge puddle of water on you as you wait to cross the street, and exclaim "yeah, hey, THANKS for that..." followed by some form of an expletive.

The Brighter Side:

• THANKS for GIVING me and my family health this past year
• THANKS for GIVING me a profitable year this past year
• THANKS for GIVING me great new friends and the time to maintain old friendships
• THANKS for GIVING me so many great clients and amazing experiences while making photos
• THANKS for GIVING me the time and mental space to produce a second edition to the book that was an instant bestseller on Amazon
• THANKS for GIVING us one less Getty Images department to produce wholey owned content
• THANKS for GIVING us one more year without the headache of Orphan Works legislation
• THANKS for GIVING us one more Flickr photo mis-use to further demonstrate to clients the risks of Flickr photos, eventually ALL respectable and responsible ad agencies and design firms will self-ban Flickr photos (one can dream, right?)

The Darker Side:

(Continued after the Jump)

• THANKS for GIVING us a Copyright Office that has an all-but-non-working electronic Copyright Office online submission process because no group registration filings are allowed, and then hiding the Form VA so almost no one can find it on the Copyright Office website.
• THANKS for GIVING us an economy that blows
• THANKS for GIVING us more and more clients who don't value good photography
  
• THANKS for GIVING us more microstock crap to further devalue stock photography
• THANKS For GIVING us more people who call themselves "professional photographers" but who are anything but.
• THANKS For GIVING us photographers who think that a few dollars is plenty for a magazine cover or a book cover.
• THANKS For GIVING us clients who think that working for free is reasonable.
• THANKS for GIVING us clients who want to do their own post/retouching, and then cry in their soup when it blows up in their face.

Feel free to add your own brighter or darker side THANKS in the comments.

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