Working for Free...

[Sean Setters]

I met my neighbor yesterday. It turns out that his kids play in a small band (kids are about 10-14 years old). I had a stroke of inspiration, and told him I lived over a garage and it would be the perfect place to shoot a band photo of his kids--I offered to do it for free. I suggested doing it the next day, as my schedule was pretty clear. "Sounds great! How about noon?," he said. I agreed.

So, today (the day of the shoot), I started getting things ready. What did that involve?

- Sweeping out the garage. Moving items that would be in the shot to another location so as to be unseen to the camera.
- Setting up 3 monolights with power cords and wireless triggers
- Setting up 3 shoe-mount flashes
- Setting up a 64" PLM (with PCB mount), a 48" octabox, and a stripbox.

Setting up the camera equipment took me about 40 minutes (not counting the sweeping and moving things in the garage). I assumed the kids would need some time to set up their band equipment, so I went over to my neighbor's house around 11:40am.

That's when I get, "Oh, hey. Yeah, the kids aren't going to be able to do the shoot today. Their friend (one of the band members) couldn't make it. Sorry. Maybe next week?"

The man had my card (with my phone number on it), and he lives NEXT DOOR. For some odd reason, he didn't think it was necessary to let me know the shoot wouldn't be happening before I contacted him 20 minutes ahead of the session time.

The problem is simple--no one around here knows how I work. They have no idea the complexity involved in getting the shots that I get. They have no idea that I'm working 2-3 longer than some guy with nothing but a camera. I put in about 2 hours into a shoot that never happened. Plus I turned down lunch with my dad because of the shoot. I practically wasted an entire day of my holiday from work.

But the root of the problem is this--if people aren't paying for it, they don't value your time and effort. It is irrelevant to them. Working for free is only beneficial if you're 100% certain you're getting something out of it. Otherwise, more often than not, you're just wasting your time.

[ddt0725]

People just don't get what all goes into photography! I can so relate to this to some extent! My family is so "point and shoot" orientated that they don't understand that when I want to take some shots of them, that I need time to set things up and make sure lighting is perfect! They do not understand that the more effort that goes into it, the better that will come out of it! They act like I do not know what I am doing if it takes me more than 5 minutes to set-up the background, the lights and stands, attach the softboxes and get the flash settings how I want them. I have yet to take portraits of my son and his kids because he just doesn't have the patience and my daughter once again handed me JC Penney photos of my grandbaby the other day! I could do that if they would just give me a chance to try! I have even set it all up ahead of time and taking the shots still wasn't fast enough for them!

Sorry Sean, you just gave me the perfect opening to vent alittle! Too bad you couldn't have least been able to take advantage of shooting a few individual band member shots after explaining to your neighbor the time you have already invested in this!

Denise

[bob williams]

Sean and Denise, I too have had similar issues with friends and family which is one reason I like my humming birds. Sean, With the equipment set-up as you described I would have been furious if the "pro bono customer" failed to show. Perhaps next time, it's only free if they show up, otherwise you will charge them a $100 set-up fee. I am not sure what else to tell you other than "I feel your pain, man"

Here is an idea for you---Since he is next door, perhaps you could point all of your mono-lights at his bedroom window and fire them every three seconds throughout the night

[thekingb]

That's really awful Sean. I totally agree that it's worth charging a few dollars. I've done very little work for money, but in those few cases I have told the "customer" (read: not family) that there's a $100 fee. They feel good about getting a good deal; they take the shoot more seriously; and I put the money in a little photo equipment fund.

I'm sure the guy, as you said, has no idea what goes into a shoot. I'd tell him when the time is right. I bet he would do things differently if he knew that you weren't just going to show up with a DSLR and fire off a few frames.

[Sean Setters]

Here is an idea for you---Since he is next door, perhaps you could point all of your mono-lights at his bedroom window and fire them every three seconds throughout the night

I like the way you think... :-)

I've done very little work for money, but in those few cases I have told the "customer" (read: not family) that there's a $100 fee.

If he ever brings up the subject again, I thought about saying, "Oh, no problem. I told you the shoot would be free. However, you do owe me for the setup and breakdown that resulted from your inconsiderate lack of communication from the last shoot. That'll be $150."

After he sputters and shakes his head, I won't ever have to deal with him again. :-)