Grad Night Release

[MattM]

I have been asked to shoot a "Grad Night" party by a local high school as a volunteer.

Does anybody know what I need to address in the order of releases since there will be minors present and I have been asked to post the shots on a secure website for viewing and possibly ordering prints (Shutterfly) ?

[JDArt]

Why are you volunteering for this?

Photography is hard work. You ought to be getting paid.

If they want someone to shoot their "party" for free, they can tell the kids to bring their point-and-shoot things and get the most tech savvy kid to post the pics. I wouldn't touch a gig like this for free.

So I'd say the first thing you need to address is your pay. This business about "releases" is just one indication of how much is involved in this assignment.

[MattM]

I am not a pro.

I do have ties to the school district and have been reccommended by a few of the parents as I have taken various photos at some fundraisers.

There is no room in the budget for hiring a photographer so I thought if I do it for no up front cost maybe I could charge for prints that were ordered through Shutterfly's Buisiness Storefront and make a little money to cover my expenses.

I also thought this may be a way to "start" off streamlining a procedure I can use for more fundraisers and school events.

[JDArt]

I don't mean you any offense here, let me say that up front.

But the "I am not a pro" line doesn't wash with me. If you're being asked to shoot an event and supply results, you're essentially being hired to do a job. Call yourself a pro or not, it's work. You should be getting paid. If they don't want to pay you, they can go get a "pro" or, as I said, get a true amateur--one of the kids, perhaps.

"No room in the budget": Great line! I love it. When someone tells me there's "no room in the budget" to hire me to do a job they want done, I say, "go find room or find someone else." If I could have gotten someone to build me a house for free because there was "no room in my budget," how happy I'd be! I should have tried that line. Hey, there was "no room in my budget" for a car, either! A camera! A computer! I'm going to go to the gas station after work today and tell they guy at the station that there's "no room in my budget" for gas, but I really, really want to get home, and I chose his gas station because he seemed to have really nice pumps.

Jeez, there's no room in my budget for much of anything, actually. Somehow I found room for the things I really wanted.

You don't do the profession of photography - or your clients - any favors by working for free.

The "maybe I can charge for prints" line worries me, too. Will you or won't you? Will these people with no room in their budget for a photographer have any room for prints? If you're working for free, you'd better charge really high prices for those prints. Make sure those really high prices are laid out beforehand.

[MattM]

JD,

No offense taken.

I understand your point.

When I said "maybe I can charge for prints", I was contemplating using the website as a store front and the kids or their families could then order. The money would come from the parents or kids and not the school.



Basically I thought this may be a good idea in order to get some future buisiness and add this to my portfollio.

I have also been apporached by the parents of some of the kids on my kids' sports teams and have been offered money for quite a few of the photos of their kids I have shot while shooting my own. There really is not much work in those shots. I am shooting most of the team anyway and figured uploading to a website for them to purchase prints would not take too much time or effort.

The thing with the grad night is that truthfully I have not done an event of this size. I am interested in maybe doing this in the future but I can't feel good about charging up front when I am not actually sure I can deliver.
If I were to charge "pro" prices, I better be able to deliver "pro" shots.

I thought this would be a good learning experience and a chance to fine tune a workflow and/or bussiness model.

Remember no offense taken - just trying to learn.

[gzamira]

If you want to do this for free, go ahead and do it for free. I do stuff like this for my kids school all the time. I chaperoned my daughters "Grad Night" last year. I stayed up all night and then went to work the next day. It's called volunteering. "Grad Nights" are great function's. They keep the kids in a safe environment thats alcohol and drug free. I feel thats payment enough. I'm not an expert in this but if they advertise that photos will be taken at the event for later purchasing I would think any parent that had problems with this could keep their kid home.

[Jon]

Never change the oil in the hot chick's car - you'll never have a chance with her after that, because you'll forever after be the nice guy that changes her oil for her.


In other words, if you don't value your work, no one else will either, and you're done before you start.

[Mark McCall]

I agree with JD and Jon,
Everything costs money....the decor, the band, electricity, cleanup, ect. ect.
The photography seems to be an afterthought here.

I know a DJ that once raised his even prices when he found out the organizer paid more from broccoli than they did for him!

But I see where your coming from Matt. Been there, done that.

Early in your career, there is nothing wrong with doing an event for free or on speculation of future sales.
But don't keep it free. Raise your fee incrimentally until your comfortable with the time/compensation ratio.
Nobody starts out at the top.

About releases....you won't need anything for this event.
Your being asked to provide photography services by the event organizer (school). No releases are needed.