Photography Assignments
Due to the lack of a more appropriate sub-forum, I'm posting this topic here. What I hope to achieve is start a discussion regarding photography assignments within NUS.
Personally, I don't believe that NUSPS should shoot for free (there is VPC to do that), even if its giving our members exposure. I'm not too sure about now but I believe this was the stand the 37th MC took. What was done then was that assignments were handled down to a couple of photographers within NUSPS to bid for.
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Possible issues with free services:
1) If we do agree to cover for free, then I believe its the inexperienced members who will pick it up. If so, can the party that engages us demand deliverables. Can they tell us, "I need 100 shots of 50 people shaking with the VIP while receiving their certs?" What happens when a member agrees and (touch wood) screws up. Who is liable for damages in this case?
2) Since we shoot for free, then it also goes that the party that engages us has totally no right to the photos. What happens when a member refuses to release the photos? Yeah there is always that talk about crediting the photographer and the society. But trust me, unless its a magazine fashion shoot I dun see how a small name at the corner of an image will have any impact for a photographer. There can be 10 people with the same name out there.
3) At the end of the day, the society's reputation is at stake. If anything happens, people will remember that the photographers were contracted through NUSPS.
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"Paid Assignments"
4) Some Departments may come and expect to pay "student rates" for services. Now these "student rates" I believe range from 6-10 dollars/hour. Since that is what NUS generally pays students who part-time in the school. What I have to say about this is that it is totally NOT REALISTIC for photography.
4a) These clients expect delieverables, I shall not go into detail again as to what will happen when something goes wrong.
4b) At 10/hour, do they expect me to shoot with a handphone camera, a digital camera or a dslr? If NUSPS wants to portray a professional image then dslrs are the way to go. But at 10/hr is it even possible to cover the costs of a member's camera?
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Suggestions
Here's what I propose.
5) Perhaps the jobs should be left to the freelancers. Then that'll have nothing to do with NUSPS anymore.
6) To allow the members to gain the experience they need, they can assist the offical photographers instead. It'd be like a no-obligations kind of shoot for them.
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Conclusions
You may agree or disagree with me, writing this at midnight after 2 days of work is erhm, taking a toil on my brains. There're prob going to be many areas I haven covered but I believe this is a good start.
In all spirit of discussion, do drop your comments here.
Cheers!
Gerald Tay
I quote Ming Feng "I might
I quote Ming Feng "I might add a clause in future such that whoever takes up the job has to bring an assistant with him along."
I would say that it is not a must to bring an assistant along. Depending on situations where there are newbies interested in taking up the job, then the main photographer will bring an assistant along (subjected to clients' approval).
Peiyan
Assistants tagging along
Hi All,
I like the idea of having assistants tagging along. Since I often get requests from external sources requesting for photogrpahers, I might add a clause in future such that whoever takes up the job has to bring an assistant with him along. As of now, I don't see any of the pro photographers offering to do that, so it seems that I gotta do something about this when requests for photographers come in.
As for the issue with allowing not-so-pro photographers cover events, I always make it clear to those who approach NUSPS that they get what they pay for. Those who want to pay $10 an hour will get the not-so-pro ones, whereas the pro ones will cost at least $50 an hour, so it's their choice.
In terms of marketing, this is about variety in the product line. For example, Apple offers the Ipod Shuffle, the Ipod Nano, the Ipod Classic and the Ipod Touch, catering to consumers with different budgets and needs. Eventually everyone can buy something from Apple.
Regards,
Ming Feng
(Disclaimer: These views are my own and do not represent the society or the comittee's views.)
Well, regarding fifi's stand
Well, regarding fifi's stand on charities. What I feel is that it is not impossible to provide free services if the cause is right.
But when it comes to things like shooting for other student groups or school events. These events normally have HUGE budgets. And they want to scrimp on photography.
Lets say charities on the other hand. They really don't have the money and it'd make us look really good if we helped out. Then should the charity write NUSPS a receipt acknowledging the value of the services as a donation. This way, it helps to maintain the photographer's worth.
Free services can be a viable avenue. But there are many issues such as terms and conditions that the society has to work out. Its tough just to simply field members without protecting their interests in any form of black and white.
And as I was talking to Patrick last night, every committee's stand is different. What the current committee does may chnage tomorrow. What I feel is that we have need for a more permanent solution that will protect both the interests of the freelancers and those who are willing to shoot for experience. A sort of compromise should be arrived at sometime so that a more permanent directive can be set.
Think about how NUSPS looks if we tell others a different story every year.
Regards,
Gerald
web: www.maverickatwork.com | blog: www.maverickblogging.blogspot.com
free svc: fyi, shoot for cca
free svc:
fyi, shoot for cca pts = shoot for free. as long as there's no monetary reward = shoot for free.
as a member of 37th n 38th MC myself, we've been fightin hard to support this stand. haha.
but den of cos, it depends on e nature of e shoot n e size of ur heart. (e.g. charity/fund raising shoot)
paid ass:
woot! $10/hr. cant believe i need to shoot for 2hrs before i can buy one pack of cigarettes!
pls la. dun insult e photographer. even if u shoot for free, u stil need to consider e cost of equipment usage during shoot, cost of PP equipment, time spent on PP.
as gerald said, do not involve NUSPS in this. we are "Photographers from NUSPS" n not "NUSPS Photographers".
those who wanna learn, can tag along wif us if situation allows. dun think u can learn much from shootin for free by urself aniwaes.
Thanx!
Fii
What I can add on is to tell
What I can add on is to tell them that we provide them with either freelancing service or student service. Student service I mean more of like photographers who want to shoot and gain experience.
If worried abt the image of PS, then you can tell them b4 hand that PS is not responsible for the images produced by photographers. In my opinion, no need DSLR to give image of a person, a prosumer PnS is also good.
By the way, I feel that we should talk to the client more to let them understand why is photography service more expensive. Must let them know that, after shooting have to post process and so on, so have to spent time there more than just the event itself.
Hope it helps.