For Photographers

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the city’s public transit system, has suffered a few front-page scandals over the past several weeks. And yes, there’s another front-page scandal today.

Today’s scandal is not so much that a married TTC executive was living a double life and got his “long-time female companion” a contract with a TTC design consultant.

The real scandal is that the woman, described as being “an amateur photographer,” was paid “at least” $50,000 over ten months to take pictures at public meetings and of roads where new streetcar tracks might be built.

$50,000.00 for pictures of meetings and empty roads.

$50,000.00 for an amateur photographer.

Attention TTC: Since the woman has been, uh, “released” from her contract, I’m available for your photography needs. Not only do I charge less than $50,000, but here’s a bonus I’ll throw in: I guarantee I won’t end up in a front-page scandal.

For income tax purposes, the Canadian federal government uses a set of Industry Codes to categorize all jobs.

Not sure if this means anything but the government puts “Photography” in the same category as “Janitorial Services” and “Miscellaneous Building or Dwelling Services.”

Apparently the job of photography is not a profession but “Online Advice” is. Photography is not a business service but “Chimney Cleaner” is. A photographer isn’t even similar to “Authors” or “Artists.”

However it’s nice to see that the government is keeping up with the times. It has new industry codes for the jobs of “Online Escorts” and “Online Psychic.”