Should you ever WORK for FREE? A photographer's thoughts

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[lawrencekeeney]

I have a bit if a different story. I spent my working love as an Electronic Engineer with a hobby of photography. When I retired, I took up photography as a business. I am now 86 years old. About 4 years ago I got tired of collecting and paying the taxes, and all the paperwork required to run a business. I continued doing photographic jobs, but strictly as a hobby. I have had numerous clients want to pay me for my work, but I always refuse. This has made photography much more fun for me. I recently did a shoot for a large company which consisted of numerous days of photographing their factory. They almost insisted on paying me, but I refused to accept any money, I just enjoyed the challenge of this shoot.

[turnipmadras]

Another situation where shooting for free is a no no in my mind is if you are taking work away from another professional photographer.

[juelraun]

Great insight in you world of photography and being a pro 😀
I have been a semi-pro photographer since the early 80's with film, stopped 20 years ago for other jobs and getting family. Didn't shoot until late 2018, when I got into DSLR with cheap, used pro gear. At first I did shoot for my sons handball club for free to get practice. Upgraded to 1DX and R6 and make a bit beside my full time job. I ended up shooting national league handball for the top team for free. My name and images got published and was contacted by new clients 😁 From the beginning I planned to do this along a full time job.

[youareslick]

What sort of prices would you be looking at for Amateur, semi pro (non league) and fully pro football league/premier league? I wouldn't want to price myself out of a job and want to be fair but would not have a clue what to charge for a game. I know there is no specific price, but would you be looking at £30 a game or £100 or more to supply digital images?

[SteveChick]

Great video Rob and one which resonates with me. A couple of years ago I offered to shoot a few local sports teams for free to build my portfolio. I am now in a position where i have shot around 5 or 6 games for free for one team. I do get thanked and credited whenever my photos are shared but i know if i ask for payment it won't be forthcoming and so i am starting to step away from that team and make myself less available. The sad thing is I like the guys and actually feel guilty for not shooting their games but i can't keep doing stuff for free. Shooting for free worked for my portfolio but i am now really struggling to make that transition to paid work, most of the sport in my area is amateur and most clubs are not prepared to pay even £50 to cover fuel and food. It's tough but i have to put a value on my own family time and if people are not prepared to pay I'll spend time with my family.

I have a lot of musician friends and the "exposure" justification is used by people trying to get them to play for free. One of my mates actually tells his clients when supermarkets and landlords start taking exposure as payment he'll play for exposure!. Sorry, this turned into War & peace!! I'll go now.

[darrelltheriault]

Thanks for raising this discussion, I think it’s a valuable one. To my mind there are a couple of other instances where working for free makes sense. If you are new to a particular kind of photography, for example a particular sport, it would make sense to offer some photos for a chance to gain some experience. Also collaborations can be beneficial to both parties. For example, if you are trying to build a portfolio of portraits, collaborating with a model can be practical; he/she gets some photos, you get images for your website, both sides win. Thanks again.

[DITTOE]

Only if you are trying to break into a new genre of photography..

[fasttracksportsphotography]

Should you shoot for free? Absolutely you should on occasion to get your foot in the door. It's like going into a chocolate shop and the staff offers be a small taste of their product. They do it in as a form of advertising and to entice me to make a purchase. I do it but only provide a couple photos.

[roywiddowson]

Hi Rob, another great video!
I now regularly supply images of events held locally to a local media company.I don't charge for them because I'm just happy to get credited for them on their Facebook page.If it's something I'd be going to anyway I offer the agency some of my pics.
It's NOT taking work away from other photographers, usually the local paper and City Council guys, because the agency I supply to are completely independent from them.They do their thing and I do mine, and everyone wins.

[darrenfrancis]

Hi Rob, what about when you are a team photographer and all the other photographers are sending in their work to the team for free and on social media? What’s your feelings on this?

[hurtighansen]

True. i will shoot for free. Here is my low res, with my logo over.
O so you wan't to buy.
np. just pay up.

[garymann]

Hi Rob. I regularly get people contacting me to use my wildlife photography images through Flickr asking if the can use my images for books they are publishing. They all seem to state the books are not to make a profit there they can not pay for the images. I am sorry I don’t believe them and I don’t give permission to use my images. Obviously this is a common practise.