Funny thing about photography. It's probably the only job in the world where people have no problem in asking you to do it for free. You'd never call a friend who was a dentist and ask him to fill a tooth or do a root canal for free. You'd never ask your accountant to do your taxes for free. But for some strange reason no one has a problem asking photographers to shoot for free. People frequently ask me to shoot their kids, their jewelry designs, their pets, their promotional packages, modeling photos, weddings, bar mitzvahs, etc., etc. Like it's a privilege to "let" me take such photos. Do I really need another photo of some 35-year-old "wannabe/has been" model whose best modeling days were 18 years ago in my portfolio? Do they think it's thrilling for me? Do they think I get some great pleasure in dragging 50+ lbs of equipment to their home to take a photo of them? Not to mention the 3 hours of editing, retouching and burning DVDs I usually do afterwards? And, to make it even more ridiculous, when I DO agree to shoot and they "kindly" offer to buy me dinner or coffee after we're done. A photoshoot for $12...seriously?
It's a strange phenomenon in the world of jobs.
My friend Katherine found this post from a photographer in Atlanta that sums it up pretty well.
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