Being pushed into taking money

Just checking :mrgreen:
 
I see your point, but someone must be paying for all these poxy no-win-no-fee compensation lawyer TV adverts and I'd rather it wasn't me! :lol:
 
Its not worth getting public liability for ome shoot, give them the phone number for your local studio
 
If you were to start handling other people's money you'd seem to be getting into this being a business. If you were interested in doing portrait photography then this could be a starting point for that, otherwise it might be a better idea to refer them to finding a professional portrait photographer. Your instincts might be right in that you could be putting yourself into a situation of needing insurance or potentially being liable, etc.

If you start 'directing a shoot' or positioning the child then I'd think that could make you liable in case of any accident/injury. You know of course what your own child is capable of doing but it's an assumption if someone else's child is able yet to roll or could possibly flip off a couch/bed etc. (With my field of work having been with young children w/delays, I wouldn't position a child on something til they're able to swing their legs around and get down feet first safely.)

I would think it could be considered a favor to a friend if you went to their home in a social setting and you took some pictures while you were there of their child involved in whatever is happening at the time (dinner, birthday party, etc.). At a social occasion it would probably better to let them position the child on the floor to play and you can take some informal pictures, or take some pictures of mom/dad holding the child, etc.

Sometimes I think it's best to be friendly and helpful but assertive in setting limits - I wonder if people can be persistent because they want to get someone to do it for free instead of paying a professional photographer. Maybe you could offer help in another way, by giving them suggestions on how to take good pictures themselves, or sharing what you did to get the photos you did, etc. It might be best to keep favors for your own family and close friends that you wouldn't have concerns or hesitations about.
 
^^^ Eeek, I'm not keen to try to train them up on photography - at least not to the level they'd want to be at.

I'm surprised this thread has kept going, but I keep getting useful ideas out of it, so that's all well and good!

I'm quite happy with this charity idea. It stops it being a business transaction and I'm happy with that; I have a £1m public liability thrown in free with my house insurance - it just (of course) does not cover any kind of business related activity.

You do raise an interesting and useful point about directing the shoot tho in terms of reducing accidents, regardless of liability; the trouble is they all seem to want posed portraits, not good quality candids. Guess I'll just have to lay on the floor :) I have a large rectangular reflector that'd work as a background provided I had something like a blanket or sheepskin rug to put infront of it to hide the black frame. Or just make suggestions and let them position the baby / child. Thanks! :)



This does now seem to be snowballing though; I took a photo of my daughter as a cheapy mothers day present for my mother at the weekend, went up in the loft and found an old frame for it, printed it, framed it and left it on a side table next to the printer. Yesterday our next door neighbour was over to visit my wife, saw it, and now wants photos of her kids done too!

It seems like all the time you're taking photos of TFP models, your wife, etc, no-one is much interested, but as soon as you take a few half-decent photos of your kids, suddenly everyone with a child wants to hire you lol

Ah well, more money for charity, although if it does significatly snowball from here I'm going to have to decide what to do with this.
 
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