"Looking for Photographer to work for free"

[Harmony]

Why turn them over to the Ministry Of Love, of course.

Ahhh. You read the classics, I see.

 

[wamack]

So what do you think about a hobbyist doing free work? I got thrown into this very uncomfortable situation yesterday, my best friend told this girl she grew up with that I'd shoot her wedding for free without consulting me. It's in 2 weeks. They want a full wedding package with wedding party portraits the whole nine yards. The only portrait experience I have is my son who is 6 mo old and that is mostly experimenting. They offered to sign releases of the photos. The cheapest wedding photographer I could find on CL was $700. I feel like these people are just trying to save money. They are holding the wedding at the largest church in town. No cheap venue. When I told my friend I want at least $100 so that I can buy Adobe elements (I currently use iphoto) because I don't want to put my name on unedited images like that. I want to turn over a polished product, she got indignant like how dare I ask for compensation. I realize that I have no experience so I'm not asking for a competitive rate. But I also did not seek out this gig (in fact I tried not to accept it) because I am not prepared to do something of that caliber. I don't know what to do. Am I wrong? Should I do it for the experience? Should I give away unedited images?

 

[craig]

Call the bride and groom and tell them that you are unable to shoot the wedding.

Love & Bass

 

[Overread]

I agree with craig - you don't sound like your ready nor that you are confidant that you are ready to shoot a wedding. Decline the shoot since it will be far more painful if you go and make a mess of it.

They might think you being selfish or some such but just tell them the reasons and then you will not shoot the wedding.

If you want to shoot weddings the best way to get experience is to ghost an existing pro on some of their jobs - some will let you ghost for free, others will ask for some payment from you for the day. Simple fact is in these cases you are not needed to get any shots right so you can experiment to your hearts content, making sure that you don't get in the way of the pro who does have to get the shots.

 

[Alleh Lindquist]

Well then you're not really with Alleh. He advocates attacking the solicitors:



Pretty much everyone else turned it into a 'don't do the work for free' argument, though.

Actually my point was for photographers as a whole to start demanding respect. If companies who asked photographers to work for free got responses along the lines of "you think you deserve to get paid to do your job but that I should work for free?" rather than a bunch of people going "oh please please please pick me because I want my photos to get used for something." Eventually they would stop asking for the same reason you don't walk into Gap and say "can I get this T-Shirt for free as I will make a good walking advertisement for you." You would look like a fool but if clothing companies really did give away clothes on occasion for free publicity eventually people would start going around to all the stores asking for free stuff rather than paying for it which is exactly what many companies are doing because so many people are willing to work as photographers for free.

We can’t stop them from asking but over time we can remedy the fact that is has become common practice to expect to be able to get photographers to work for free.

 

[Alleh Lindquist]

So what do you think about a hobbyist doing free work? I got thrown into this very uncomfortable situation yesterday, my best friend told this girl she grew up with that I'd shoot her wedding for free without consulting me. It's in 2 weeks. They want a full wedding package with wedding party portraits the whole nine yards. The only portrait experience I have is my son who is 6 mo old and that is mostly experimenting. They offered to sign releases of the photos. The cheapest wedding photographer I could find on CL was $700. I feel like these people are just trying to save money. They are holding the wedding at the largest church in town. No cheap venue. When I told my friend I want at least $100 so that I can buy Adobe elements (I currently use iphoto) because I don't want to put my name on unedited images like that. I want to turn over a polished product, she got indignant like how dare I ask for compensation. I realize that I have no experience so I'm not asking for a competitive rate. But I also did not seek out this gig (in fact I tried not to accept it) because I am not prepared to do something of that caliber. I don't know what to do. Am I wrong? Should I do it for the experience? Should I give away unedited images?

There is nothing wrong with doing work to gain experience but you always want it to be on your terms. That means only when you offer it up as trade for experience not the other way around and weddings are not really the best place for that it’s better to try and get a job as a second shooter to gain wedding experience and a portfolio. Even if I was just starting out and was asked to do a wedding I would ask for a minimum of $500. Even the worst wedding photographers in business charge more than that. At the least charge them what it would cost to rent all the gear your going to use during the wedding.

Your friend though seems to have the exact same mind set as these companies. They just expect that it should be free.

 

[JohnMF]

I'm not too familiar with craigslist, but is it really a sensible idea for so called professional photographers to use it as part of their business model?

It just seems to be full of dirt-cheap and free advertising. I can't imagine any decent client looking on craitslist to find anything, let alone something with artistic merit.

I think if you're and good photographer with a solid business plan and belief in your abilities, then you will always have work, it will find you.

if someone wants to get some random guy they found on craigslist to photograph their wedding for free, then they will get exactly what they paid for.

 

[anubis404]

The only free work I would do is for friends and family. If I wanted to gain experience doing small jobs (like children's birthday parties or something along those lines) I would charge, but not a lot. If I did those for free it would look a little creepy, like "hey, you don't know me, but can I bring my big camera over and take lots of pictures of your small children"? Charging something just makes me look more professional.

 

[craig]

I'm not too familiar with craigslist, but is it really a sensible idea for so called professional photographers to use it as part of their business model?

It just seems to be full of dirt-cheap and free advertising. I can't imagine any decent client looking on craitslist to find anything, let alone something with artistic merit.

I think if you're and good photographer with a solid business plan and belief in your abilities, then you will always have work, it will find you.

if someone wants to get some random guy they found on craigslist to photograph their wedding for free, then they will get exactly what they paid for.

Everything you say about Craigslist is true. I should also mention that thanks to Craigslist I just landed a $1,500 job photographing a hotel in lovely Palm Springs. After that I will be photographing more of his hotels in L.A.

Photo marketing and business is a numbers game. The more people you reach the more work you will get. If work finds you then feel free to tell us more. Personally I am constantly contacting art directors and magazines. And yes a cruise through the Craigslist ads never hurts

Love & Bass

 

[Lacey Anne]

I agree, Portland is pretty bad..

Dude, I didn't know you were in Portland! I'm in Vancouver!

 

[Harmony]

Wait... Vancouver WASHINGTON or Vancouver BC?

 

[Lacey Anne]

Wait... Vancouver WASHINGTON or Vancouver BC?

Washington.

 

[Harmony]

Washington.

Awww. And I got all excited for a second. I think there's only 3 regular posters here who live in BC... and one of them is on Vancouver Island, I think.