Calendar Photo Contest ... Fishing for Free Work?

[epp_b]

So, there's a local car club that's asking for photos of members' cars to make a wall calendar for next year. My brother is member of this club, so I have a fair number of qualifying shots.

When someone posed the question of compensation, the answer was quite concisely ... nope. There will be a credit line and that's it (I've fallen for this before, credit doesn't pay the bills or even get you referrals). They will be selling this calendar for a profit to both members and to the general public. But, even if they were giving it away, it still has considerable promotional value for the club.

As much as I'd like to help my brother get a shot of his car in the calendar, I'm peeved that they won't even entertain the idea of actually paying for work (they even said no to giving the winners free calendars).

Am I getting ruffled up over nothing here or do you think this sentiment is justified?

 

[pic_chick]

no your not let them use low IQ point and shoot bad lighting blown out picks of maybe good angles and save yourself time and headache.....Or you could help your bor just to be brotherly

 

[Overread]

Eh the problem is that they really don't care about producing a quality product - furthermore there is unlikely to be any actual budget to pay for this beyond the printing costs. As a result if they don't get the content for free it likely wouldn't happen - plus with cameras being easily bought and with them not really after top line results they can easily take general submissions without much worry.

You can get in a fuss about it, but you likely won't change much if anything. If you know someone well on the board in control you might have some luck with them raising the issue of compensation for the photographers- but the fact that submission is voluntary and most hobbyists won't be thinking about their own pocket (they just want to be in print) again means that you're unlikely to get anywhere.

 

[sapper6fd]

They can pound sand. Not even a free pint? Hahaha. Sorry, my camera is broken that weekend.

 

[480sparky]

My price? One weekend with one of the cars for every 25 calendars sold.

 

[epp_b]

My price? One weekend with one of the cars for every 25 calendars sold.

Ooooh, I could go for that

 

[amolitor]

It would be interesting to see how it plays out.

It's entirely possible they'll get a bunch of excellent work. They only need 12 good photographs, right? Photography is pretty much fully democratized, and superb work can be had for pennies on, say, the microstock sites. Just because YOU won't work for nothing doesn't mean there aren't people who will.

 

[epp_b]

Photography is pretty much fully democratized, and superb work can be had for pennies on, say, the microstock sites.

They aren't going to find any custom shots of cars in their club on a stock site.

 

[shorty97]

If i was you i would just do it for the experience, for your brother and so you can get your name on the calendar and then someone might see it and actually want to hire you.

 

[Tony S]

It's a fund raiser for the car club, if you are interested throw a pic or two to help out. If you are more concerned about the almighty $ keep your images. Sometimes you get more good karma from doing good without expecting something in return. At least they are being up front about it all.