Photographer and teacher/employee. Can they coexist?

bledererphoto · Oct 26, 2012

I work as a teacher at a small school. I also do photography on the side as a business. This is the situation. I wanted to do pictures as a fundraiser for the school for our football game. Basically I would put them in a password protected gallery online and parents and fans could go there and purchase whatever they wanted. The majority of proceeds would go to the athletic fund. Apparently things are held up because I am an employee wanting to due things as a business and that's a sticking point to it being allowed. This is not to mention those that are "press" clearance (have a internet blog so the school counts that) that can do as they please shooting from the sideline. I wanted to see about what people thought about this because I think it would be great to break into a possible new source of clients but I also don't want my full-time job to be in jeopardy as well. I also thought it would be a great fundraiser for the school as well and its more for them then it would be for me in the near term.

2WheelPhoto · Oct 26, 2012

I would ask my manager or the principle that question.

MLeeK · Oct 26, 2012

If you aren't doing this as a profit or through your business, I don't know why it'd be a problem. I am just plain confused here. The school is telling a business that they can't donate a service to the team as a fundraiser? I haven't ever seen such a thing. Normally anyone who wants to donate something to raise $ is not a big deal.
THe problem may be that you are doing it on school grounds and then it becomes an additional fundraiser done by the team? Some schools seriously limit the amount of fund raisers that an organization can do in a season. I know that one of the schools for our wrestling team only allows 2, one you have to have board approval and the other just doesn't care. (we have a joint team that is 3 schools combined)

bledererphoto · Oct 26, 2012

It does sound like it's going to have to go through the school board but I'm in the same camp that if it is a fundraiser then it shouldn't be a problem.

tirediron · Oct 26, 2012

Without knowing any real detail, one work-around might be to offer the images for donation rather than straight sale. That would be that you wouldn't get "a cut", but there would still be benefit to the school, and potentially, that could be viewed in a better light by the administrators.

tirediron · Oct 26, 2012

MLeeK said:
If you aren't doing this as a profit or through your business, I don't know why it'd be a problem. I am just plain confused here. The school is telling a business that they can't donate a service to the team as a fundraiser? I haven't ever seen such a thing. Normally anyone who wants to donate something to raise $ is not a big deal.
THe problem may be that you are doing it on school grounds and then it becomes an additional fundraiser done by the team? Some schools seriously limit the amount of fund raisers that an organization can do in a season. I know that one of the schools for our wrestling team only allows 2, one you have to have board approval and the other just doesn't care. (we have a joint team that is 3 schools combined)

I suspect, (and I'm only guessing here) that a couple of potential concerns could be: Using a teacher who has a side-business could be viewed as favoritism, that is, no one else got an opportunity to try this. There's also the employee/insurance aspect of it. Would the OP be covered as a teacher, or as a contract employee while doing this, and what are the contract and union rules affecting this?

KmH · Oct 26, 2012

I wonder what country the OP is in?

tirediron · Oct 26, 2012

KmH said:
I wonder what country the OP is in?

Good question, 'though based on the way the way post is written, the US doesn't seem too much of a stretch to me...

bledererphoto · Oct 26, 2012

I'm on the East Coast US. We have contract times and I would be off the clock so to speak. The reason I thought it be best to go through my online service would be the ease for people to obtain the images and have it sent straight to them as opposed to printing them all or trying to figure out which pictures their son is in and then having those individual ones printed. I've done a lot of work for the middle and high school for taking pictures for yearbook and just in general when no one else has in the past. I understand the favoritism concern but no one else within the schools does photography as far as I know and I don't think anyone is knocking down the door to do it either on the sidelines. And I'm not sure all of the technical aspects between vendor and press in the eyes of the school. I am business licensed and it would be good to get this worked out in case seniors ask about senior portraits or other potential jobs. We'd done pictures for our middle school graduation where we had made a backdrop to stand in front of and sold pictures in which they'd buy a ticket and then hand it to me for a picture and we printed them all off. This one just happens to be where I'd do them and then see who all wants them and these would of course be online to view.

kathyt · Oct 26, 2012

Honesty, I think this is a very thin line that I would not cross. There needs to be a seperation between church and state. If something were to come up either between you and a student, or between you and another teacher this could just be one thing that could be seen as favoritism. Especially if/when money is exchanging hands in the process. I will discuss my photography business very briefly at work if asked, but I will not discuss details to the point it interferes or becomes the topic of conversation. I don't think it is the right place to promote your business if you are in a teaching role.

imagemaker46 · Oct 27, 2012

This is the kind of thing that really frustrates me. You are willing to take the photos and use a portion, (obviously you want to make a little bit of money to cover costs) of the sales to help support the athletics program in your own school, and you are concerned that it might cost you your full time job. The first thing you should have done before posting the question on a forum was to go to the principal players involved within your school and the school board and tell them of your idea. It's a win situation for everyone concerned. If they say no, then fine, walk away, and everyone loses. When budget time comes around and they are looking for ideas on funding, quietly raise the subject again.

Unfortunately you may find that all the narrow minded idiots float to the top. I have run into this on several times in the past and as a result I just washed my hands of all of it, but at least I tried. It wasn't the players or their parents that had a problem with having photos shot, it was the executive of the league that were too lazy to even entertain the idea of having free money put into their league. So everyone loses.

MLeeK · Oct 27, 2012

Kathy is right, you need to keep the two very separate, however that doesn't mean that you can't do it. You have to go through the full press approval process through the school-as a business and NOTHING to do with you being a district employee.
I know as a sideline photographer who works for the schools I'd be protesting a bit if you suddenly showed up on the sidelines and were undercutting business and if you didn't have to go through the approval process that I did I'd definitely complain. I do get paid by a few schools, but most of my $ comes from those parents and I donate a lot to the school for that little bit of $ I make from the parents.
Further more if you are mixing your employee status with this you are then looking at some major accounting problems with it and the whole selling of a product thing. It's now a fundraiser instead of a donation and there are at the very least guidelines on what can and can't be done. Then I know that there is a ton of paperwork and accounting that has to go to the school, the club, etc that goes with it. I am dealing with all of that presently for wrestling where one school allows us only 2 fundraisers, one everything has to be approved by the board and one that doesn't care as long as the accounting gets done correctly.
Just get your approval, run it as your business and donate the $ or buy them something with the $. You'll find that it's not much anyway and probably give up after one season of standing down there through some crappy weather for a mere few hundred bucks to donate and a LOT of wear and tear on your equipment.

bledererphoto · Oct 27, 2012

Yeah i'm coming around to that conclusion that its not worth the headache and the possible conflicts of interest. I guess its the case of wanting to do too much and should keep the the two separate. May also be the case of having the feeling that i have the means and ability to provide that service and not wanting an outsider filling that role. In the end if i take pictures for our yearbook and keep the business and monetary aspect out then the will be end if it. Would be nice if our budget could handle getting gear so do i dont get wear on mine.