Free or not to give free that is the question
Professional photographers around the world would understand the pain of receiving calls from people requesting for free Corporate and Event photographers at any event with the promise of us receiving some fruitful business in return. What they don’t understand is that nothing in this world is free and time given up to provide free photography is a cost that can hit companies hard especially if you are a small business. There is the promise of wonderful opportunities such as meeting future clients, your name being bounced across their networks and offers of great perks that can benefit photography companies. Typical lines are “it will mean great exposure for you”, “if you don’t want to do it for free, I know other photographers who will” and “if it all goes well it could lead to opportunities for your company”.
What they forget is the following:
The costs
The Photo Team travel across the UK to provide Corporate Photographers London, Conference Photographers, PR Photographer London and Event Photography London. People forget the expenditure that photography companies have to incur when travelling and the man hours that are spent to commute, set up and deliver a great service. It is also forgotten that Event Photographers take pride in their instruments and therefore the equipment is at no cheap cost.
People also forget other costs that have to be considered such as the value of each photographer’s time, annual marketing expenses, cost of software, repairing/renewing our tools of the trade and subscriptions.
This is not to say that we haven’t provided a free service to a worthy cause but pro bono work is selected on a case by case basis.
Crushing our passion
Professional photographers have been trained to be the best and always maintain that expertise by upskilling themselves and understanding the new technology. This again comes at a cost and the simple fact is no money earnt for something we are passionate about means we can’t earn any money and expand our business. Photographers ultimately don’t want to feel worthless for a creative skill that is so in demand.
Asking for further discounts on a service
If its not asking for a free service then yes photography companies do get potential clients asking for further discounts on a service. There is a reason why the price is what it is. Again no consideration is given to the man hours and other costs that are associated in providing an exemplary service.
Feedback
Past experience from many photography companies is that even when free photography has been provided no feedback is given on the service they have received. It it literally the feeling of out of sight, out of mind which can feel very harsh especially when the favour hasn’t been repaid. Feedback for photography companies can go a long way and help a business attract future clients.
We at The Photo Team speak on behalf of other photography companies out there and say “stop and reflect a while on the points above”, after all professional photographers like any other career out there need to make a living.
Thanks for reading and have a great bank holiday weekend!
The Photo Team
