Questions about Starting up in Portraits

[sillyphaunt]

I am finishing up school in mid June (Hallelujah!), and wanted to focus on photography this summer. I enjoy doing portraits, but have limited experience, mostly only my family and a few friends (all children).

I had a couple ideas but wanted to run them by those of you who have businesses and see if you thought they would work.

My church is having an auction in July to help raise money for a missions trip. People in the church donate services/items/etc and they auction them off. I thought that maybe I could offer a few free sessions with an 8x10 print included. This way I could have some practice without the pressure of a normal session.

AND/OR

My mom is a pastor at the church, so said I could set up a display on the bulletin board with a few pictures I've taken and say that I'm offering a free session fee and 8x10 for the month of July.

There is a bunch of new babies and toddlers in our church, and I know quite a few families. I'm just trying to think of a way to build a portfolio and get some experience without trying to sell myself hard and charge people when I really am not confident in my ability yet.

If I offered that and then said they could buy any other poses/pictures that they wanted, do you think that would work? Do you forsee any problems with either scenario?

Also, does anyone have a link to a model release type form? If I take the pictures, I am free to use them on a website or in a portfolio, right? How does that work?

Thanks !

 

[sillyphaunt]

Oh thank you thank you for the ideas.. Good things to think about.