Reasons Why Professional Photographers Cannot Work for Free

[Jeffbridge]

I've found that a common complaint is that photographers are often expected to work for free - for close friends.

http://www.photographytalk.com/4315-...-work-for-free

[nimitzbenedicto]

I've found that a common complaint is that photographers are often expected to work for free - for close friends.

Hi Jeff, How do you deal with it when your friends ask you to shoot them for free?

Thanks

[Inkanyezi]

I started reading that article, and I guess that any user of "royal we" will trigger that gut feeling. Not that I am a pro now, but I have been shooting professionally, and I never mixed issues. If I would do someone a favour, it could include making a picture just as well as baby-sitting. I cannot see the difference when I give away some of my time to a friend - and yes, I have also been paid for baby-sitting.

I am greatly disturbed by the tone of the writer, using the royal "we", as were it inclusive. Bad style; one can only hope that he is a better photographer than writer.

post edit:
And now, after reading the entire article, the gut feeling remains. It is really bad style to use the "we" form in a document like that, and it does not relate to requests from friends, but to requests from organisations of various kinds.

I think it is not worthy of so much verbiage, when a simple "no" is the obvious answer to such a request.

[Mike Buckley]

There is nothing wrong in my mind with an organization or individual asking a photographer or anyone to work for little or no compensation. It happens every day in business. It's viewed as an opportunity for those who agree to it and not for those who don't and there's also nothing wrong with either of those two choices.

I've found that a common complaint is that photographers are often expected to work for free - for close friends.

No truly close friend would expect any work to be done for free. They might hope and ask, but they wouldn't expect it. If their request is rejected, the nature of their close friendship would remain unchanged. Otherwise, the person is not a close friend and is more akin to an acquaintance.

[Colin Southern]

I have to say that I pretty much agree with the article.

I suspect that a lot of the time those doing the asking just don't know the value of what they're asking for; a good example might be friends or family who ask their professional wedding photographer friend/brother/ associate to shoot their wedding for free instead of coming as a guest and bringing a wedding present.

Average cost of a wedding present? I dunno? $75? $100?

Cost to photographer to provide that service for the day (keeping in mind that this means he can't be shooting and getting paid for another wedding on that day)? Probably in the order of $2000+

I've gone through a "phase" of shooting friends and friends of friends for no charge, but past a certain point I just "got over it". I love to do things for free, but unfortunately, my studio landlord, electricity provider, equipment providers, insurers, bank, supermarkets, DON'T share my "give things away for free" mentality. The bottom line is ... the bottom line. Doing stuff for free is actually subsidising THEIR event with MY money.

[Venser]

I'm just a hobbyist photographer. I sell prints and did some paid gigs, but nothing with any real frequency and they just happen to come my way.

The problem I have is when other photographers say that if I do a shoot for free I'm hurting them. It's a commodity based service. If I'm willing to give my time away for free, there's literally nothing you can do about it. Suck it up buttercup.

I would never think to charge friends for anything. It's not the way I roll.

[Loose Canon]

I'm just a hobbyist photographer. I sell prints and did some paid gigs, but nothing with any real frequency and they just happen to come my way.

The problem I have is when other photographers say that if I do a shoot for free I'm hurting them. It's a commodity based service. If I'm willing to give my time away for free, there's literally nothing you can do about it. Suck it up buttercup.

I would never think to charge friends for anything. It's not the way I roll.

Just yesterday my youngest granddaughter asked me for a basketball session involving her in her uniform with a ball and in the studio. She was quite adamant and excited about what she wanted and even showed me some examples of what she was thinking.

Of all the unmitigated gall! I'm sending her the link to this thread!

Its always family for me that harbors no compunction whatsoever about asking for and expecting freebies!

They suffer no burden concerning morals, scruples, ethics, or values!

A true chip off the old block!

[Mike Buckley]

She was quite adamant and excited about what she wanted and even showed me some examples of what she was thinking.

Tell her that she can forget about her examples and ideas, that you're gonna take whatever photo you want to of her because you're doing it for free.

[flashback]

Never to young to learn the concept of quid pro quo. Grampy's got to have something that needs raking, washing or emptying out.

[Manfred M]

I am not a “professional photographer”, and have no intention of ever becoming one, but I can see where the writer is coming from. I know a number of successful commercial photographers who are having a tough time making a decent living when trying to compete against photographers who are effectively working “for free” and in many cases, probably below cost. What’s worse are the one’s I’ve spoken to that have no idea as to how to price their work and have no idea as to what their input costs are. Frankly, from what I’ve seen, is that they price their work far too low.

The ones working at below cost will either eventually go broke, or exit the business because they can’t afford to stay in it. Unfortunately, for there will always be a batch of newcomers who will be there to take their place. Commercial photography has been a very cut-throat business for a very long time. There will always be a role for the very top end ones, and they will continue to be successful. The problem is really the middle ground where “commodity” photographers compete. The problem with any product that viewed as a commodity is that the main product differentiator is price. It is very difficult if someone is offering to do the same work you are for free.

I’ve heard commercial photographers complain about the quality of the products turned out by these part-time pros, and while I won’t necessarily agree (or disagree). The issue is that “value” is defined by the buyer, not the seller. When an excellent image for a cost has to compete with a “good enough” image for no cost, “good enough” will often win. The second part of the problem means that “good enough” is now the new norm, which opens up the business to a lot of photographers who are just barely “good enough”.

[RustBeltRaw]

I ran into Marco Mancinelli at an open-air market in Detroit this past weekend. He's a big local name, but he's been struggling hugely since 2004, and even then, he was pretty far down from his heyday earning $150,000-$200,000/year. I asked myself how someone with work as strong as his and 30+ years of relationships and contacts behind him could possibly be struggling these days, and I was struck with a rather bone-chilling suspicion.

Is it my fault?

I still shoot mainly for free, despite my efforts to the contrary. Is my hobby, which I can lose money on because I have a day job, killing Marco's livelihood? Should I stop doing it because of that risk? Since I don't need it, should I exit the market to leave it richer for those who do?

No one has offered anything untrue in the previous discussions, but I haven't seen many conclusions as far as what we should do. Personally, I am trying like hell to elevate my work and rates to professionally-competitive levels, keeping the market expecting and planning for the kind of rates that will keep guys like Marco, who is four times the photographer I am, afloat. In my cynical moments, I suspect this is quixotic. Regardless, I think skilled amateurs have something of an obligation to the career pros from whom much wisdom flows.

I bought a couple of Marco's prints. They were good photos, and I wanted them, but truth be told, I was feeling a little guilty.

[Mike Buckley]

We could discuss forever the issue of amateurs and semi-professionals taking away market share from the established pros and helping to create a market that lowers the pros' prices and prevents the semi-professionals' prices from rising. All that discussion won't change anything other than perhaps one or two individuals' view about what's right and wrong. In the end, we have to do what is a good fit with our values and each of us is going to have different values.

My own take is that I recently left what had been a lucrative niche in the printing industry because so much less printing is being done that it is no longer nearly so lucrative. I don't hear anyone complaining about printers having less business than they used to have, and rightfully so; it's their responsibility to adapt to a new normal, change industries, or whatever. I feel the same way about professional photographers.

[Colin Southern]

We could discuss forever the issue of amateurs and semi-professionals taking away market share from the established pros and helping to create a market that lowers the pros' prices and prevents the semi-professionals' prices from rising. All that discussion won't change anything other than perhaps one or two individuals' view about what's right and wrong. In the end, we have to do what is a good fit with our values and each of us is going to have different values.

My own take is that I recently left what had been a lucrative niche in the printing industry because so much less printing is being done that it is no longer nearly so lucrative. I don't hear anyone complaining about printers having less business than they used to have, and rightfully so; it's their responsibility to adapt to a new normal, change industries, or whatever. I feel the same way about professional photographers.

I agree with all of that.

Back in my amateur flying days people would sometimes want cheap rides to places (sorta legal if the pilot paid an equal share) (cheap flying for the pilot). Did a few myself, but I always had to tell people who were aiming for a particular date that I couldn't guarantee that it would be possible to fly on any given day due to the weather -- so if a particular date was important then they needed to book with the big boys. I think there's a parallel with photographers there; an amateur photographer, usually there's little expectations - so if they end up with a handful of "cool shots" then people are happy with those. On the other hand, a professional who only produces a handful of cool shots would be in deep doggy doo-doo.

So generally I feel that professionals have to differentiate themselves by being able to produce a consistent level of high performance (especially in difficult circumstances) - which often comes down to their extensive experience and having a lot more equipment (especially lighting equipment) to be able to be able to produce great results in "any weather".

Any "professional" who doesn't have the skill nor the equipment to do this is probably going to fail or struggle because he's not differentiating himself from the (free) competition. Whether that's in fact what's happening I don't know; a lot of it is going to be down to people just not having the money to pay anyway (think "cheap weddings etc). All in all I think pros are just going to have to lift their game; get better at producing consistent results - invest in the right equipment to do that - get more savvy about sales and marketing (in fact all parts of business) - and generally stop competing in areas where there isn't any money and start working markets where there is.

Nobody said being in business is easy, but competition is always going to be there.

[Loose Canon]

Never to young to learn the concept of quid pro quo. Grampy's got to have something that needs raking, washing or emptying out.

I like the way you think Jack! That's the first thing I heard all day that makes sense!

I ran into an awesome area photographer a while back. He has done a lot of commercial stuff. High end automobiles, a local big dairy producer, all kinds of stuff. He asked me out to his studio. He naturally has a gallery of his stuff. I asked him about his incredible portrait work.

He told me he has dumped the portrait end and is just keeping his commercial accounts. He said he got tired of competing with the soccer moms who buy an entry level dslr at Wal-Mart and are immediate professional photographers. They have no intention of ever becoming a photographer and the work shows.

The way this can be solved is do away with all auto functions and offer only manual. They would sell their camera the first day! The camera manufacturers would also probably go out of business that same day!

[rpcrowe]

Being retired is doing what I want to do without worrying about a paycheck...

A large portion of my shooting is of our rescue dogs which, of course, I do for free... However, I get great payback when I see a rescue being adopted into a loving furever home...

Since September 2013 Maltese Rescue California (when we became an independent rescue organization) has rescued 154 dogs and placed into furever homes 116 dogs. This statistic is as of Friday, April 25th. We have placed five more dogs into homes this weekend, including little Pugsley who is a Maltese-Pug and was one of my favorite puppies. He isn't a great beauty but, his personality and disposition are just wonderful...



Our website: http://www.malteserescuecalifornia.org/index.html

Our facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MalteseRescueCalifornia

121 dogs into furever homes in eight months... That's payback enough for me...

BTW: We love competition... The more rescue groups out there, the more dogs that can be saved... We try our best to coordinate with other rescue groups to best serve the homeless dogs in our areas...

[Simon Garrett]

Hmm... Apart from the affected and rather irritating use of the Royal We, the author of the article doth complain too much, methink.

If he doesn't want to do work for free, he just needs to take a deep breath and say "no". If he thinks that will lose friends, then he needs to get better friends. And I don't think he'll make many new friends with that article. It may have fellow professionals nodding their heads in agreement, but others are likely to find it a bit pompous.

As for amateurs taking work from pros, well, this is part of the wider changing technological landscape. Think of the Chicago Sun Times firing all their photographers last year and giving smartphones to their reporters. Perhaps the pendulum has swung too far, and will move back a bit. The Chicago Sun Times has rehired 4 of the 29 photographers they fired. But IMHO it's never going back to the "old days". In many cases where a pro would have been used, now they use an intern with a compact. The results may be a bit grim, but that's probably perceived as good enough for many markets.

Trying to persuade people not do do something for free or below cost is a form of economic rent-seeking that I think is likely to fail - certainly in current economic times. That isn't a moral judgement - it's an economic one.

[Stagecoach]

The way this can be solved is do away with all auto functions and offer only manual. They would sell their camera the first day! The camera manufacturers would also probably go out of business that same day!

It could also assist them to improve as they would have to learn the basics and would soon understand what they are doing. Lets not forget the 'soccer mums' drive cars, operate washing machines and have come up through a world of quickly changing technology.