Cheaper for us with our wages maybe. It's not cheaper for the people living there. If you make 150 a month and your rent is 100 you live a hard life paying bills and feeding a family off the other 50

Quote from: LesPalenik on June 07, 2015, 00:26

... but the further east you do, the cheaper the life gets.

This is a simplistic view. You should have said the "harder the life gets"

In those countries there is virtually no middle class. You have very few rich people and almost everybody else is poor.
This is why most of the top technology (including good photo equipment) can only be afforded by the tiny fraction of very rich people with absolutely no money problems.
Good technology cannot be afforded by the masses, so the prices are kept up for only those who can afford it. You will be surprised to see that good TVs, good cameras, good cars, etc are more expensive in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe (and definitely more expensive than in US).
So purchasing the gear required for decent quality photography requires huge sacrifices from a regular photographer. You should factor this in when you make your statements.

You are right, it was a generalization and simplistic, too. It's not absolute all the way from Prague to Ulan Bator, there are a few exceptions, notably Moscow, and as you say, the further east you go, the harder the life gets - in general.
However, I know some photographers in eastern Europe whose living expenses, model fees, and studio rents are less than half of West European prices, and these guys know how to buy their cameras and computers from the same mail order outfits and for the same prices as their West European counterparts. So, everybody's mileage will vary. Enjoy the summer.

EDIT:
I must confess, that I also exaggerated (in my other post), about all seniors willing to go to war for that park pass. Maybe just the younger ones.

Good topic, keep in mind it's a free trade economy, those who can run their businesses in areas where costs are lower will have an advantage, not different than the big car companies leaving Ontario Canada for Mexico, Mexico has a big advantage, same with China.

Not much one can do about it sadly, we are losing jobs here daily to area where costs of living, wages, etc are lower.

http://www.pond5.com/artist/WeatherENG

Quote from: LesPalenik on June 07, 2015, 00:26

However, if you are a landscape photographer, nothing beats the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Senior Pass in USA - Lifetime Pass for $10. Seniors from all other countries would go to war for such a deal.

Our National Parks are free for everyone, though admittedly nothing like as varied.

What about for "commercial" photography.

Quote from: ShadySue on June 07, 2015, 03:44

Quote from: LesPalenik on June 07, 2015, 00:26

However, if you are a landscape photographer, nothing beats the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Senior Pass in USA - Lifetime Pass for $10. Seniors from all other countries would go to war for such a deal.

Our National Parks are free for everyone, though admittedly nothing like as varied.

What about for "commercial" photography.

No charge for stills or normal video.
I couldn't find anything about big blockbuster type films where they'd want the public kept out of an area.

Quote from: ShadySue on June 07, 2015, 03:44

Quote from: LesPalenik on June 07, 2015, 00:26

However, if you are a landscape photographer, nothing beats the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Senior Pass in USA - Lifetime Pass for $10. Seniors from all other countries would go to war for such a deal.

Our National Parks are free for everyone, though admittedly nothing like as varied.

What about for "commercial" photography.

no problem if you're just shooting the scenery, battlefields & monuments, or editorial shots of tourists, but you need to get a permit to shoot commercials, etc -- mt rainier eg, is often used since it's easily accessible

Quote from: ArenaCreative on June 08, 2015, 09:57

Where I live in the northeast, $30k a year will have you just barely above the poverty level. 

Is it worth it ? you could live fairly well with 15K or 20K anywhere in south east asia surrounded by hot girls and cheap booze.

Not all of us are particularly interested in hot girls or cheap booze. Just sayin'

Quote from: Pierre on June 09, 2015, 16:25

Quote from: ArenaCreative on June 08, 2015, 09:57

Where I live in the northeast, $30k a year will have you just barely above the poverty level. 

Is it worth it ? you could live fairly well with 15K or 20K anywhere in south east asia surrounded by hot girls and cheap booze.

Not all of us are particularly interested in hot girls or cheap booze. Just sayin'

Seems like everywhere I've gone in my life has cold women and hot beer. I must be doing something wrong.

Hi everyone. I�m mostly a reader than a writer on the forums, but this is a topic that a see very frequently, people in developing countries complaining about how the "third world" is taking the bread out of their mouths on micro stock. I�m currently live in Colombia, and despite micro is just a eventual hobbie for me , I been close to this for a few years and I believe that there�s isn�t easier in one place or the other. It is true that less develop countries have a lower cost of life, but the income per/h is lower swell. For example , here in Bogota, you can live well with 1.000 usd per month, but for example basic salary is about 300 usd per month only, most professionals here earn about 700 usd per month. Other countries like ecuador, peru or bolivia are even cheaper. You can said that with an income doing micro stock of 1000 per month you can live on one of this countries very well, but there are facts that made this very difficult.First, to make a decent living here, you have to work more hours per week ,sometimes have other jobs aside of your day job, so there is no so much time off left to do micro, shooting , keywording, uploading and etc. In the case you have the time, all the equipment are more expensive, like camera, lenses, lights and gear to do it properly, because of import taxes and other. You can have the time and equipment, but still you need to have an space to do it like a garage or basement , or rent an studio. More additional cost, plus the expenses of production like paying models and transportation. In developing countries you can use your credit card and afford all of this at the beginning and pay later, in third world countries credit work very differently , so you have to gathered all the cash for equipment and production  first ,and after start to shoot and upload and wait for the income to come without leaving your day job.

Like any other business microstock requires and investment of money and time to make it work, in develop countries is easier to have this 2 resources and produce more but this is not enough to live well, in less develop countries is much more difficult to get money and time to do it, but at the end , if you build a large enough portfolio, you can make a living. So this is very relative. I personally think that the problem is photography stock business, everyday there is more images, more photogs, more agencies and the demand remains quite the same, so it is a logical consequence that the piece of the pie for every photog will be less and less, no matter where you are.