Many of you know David Hobby, aka Strobist. He and I are dear friends. We talk often. And we’ve been talking for several weeks now about free photography.
Free? Huh? Whadaya mean FREE?! FREE? This is where some of you may freak out.
Ya, I mean free. Not as in licensing photographs you’ve already taken, but as in taking pictures for someone’s use, in exchange for zero money. A project, a test, an assignment. I’ve been waiting for David to post his idea on this for some time now, and he’s finally done so in thoughtful fashion – it’s worth the read.
It’s likely of little surprise that the comments over at Strobist’s post have begun to pour in on both sides of the fence. Lots of readers are on board for this working for FREE idea… “Of course you should take photos for free, you can get x, y, and z (read: portfolio shots, experience, clients, etc, or whatever).” On the flip side there are–as you well know–some other folks, “What?! you’re devaluing the industry, devaluing your skill set, my livelihood! Stop the madness!” Both sides have something to say… [click the ‘continue reading’ link below]—
I say hold your horses. This is fun. Let’s look at this on face value.
Quite frankly, I think the FREE that David is discussing is not evil. It can do some good for a spectrum of those involved. It can do bad things if mismanaged, but it needs conceptual discussion. And I think so for a couple of reasons:
1. FREE already happens all over the place, right now, today, but people rarely talk about it. It’s not always unhealthy nor malicious. Photographers do stuff for free all the time. Good or bad, wrong or right, whatever your opinion. True, people often don’t speak about it publicly or openly, but it does exist on widespread basis. In fact, since my soapbox has long been about removing the black box of photography, I’ll let you in on a little secret…FREE happens at every level of the industry, from simple favors to entire ad agencies doing entire campaigns pro bono, or at a huge loss in the hopes of getting to do something cool, interesting, or something that will ultimately come full circle to help the world, help themselves, or help their business succeed.
2. FREE has a place. Should all assignment photography be free? Of course not. That’s totally absurd. Only a tiny tiny fraction could ever be considered. Should some people give their work away in some cases to meet certain objectives? Sure, under certain circumstances depending very specifically on level, quality, career stage, business cycle, or perhaps a whole host of other considerations. There are a number of dynamic factors that require consideration, and both wisdom and moderation have their places. But don’t bother with the slippery slope argument or the stigma argument. I ain’t buying it. FREE has a place and it has since the beginning of business. It’s certainly not everywhere and it may not even be often, but it has a place. Why? See point one above.
Let’s take for example a well known musician, someone with broad appeal. Dave Matthews Band is a good example, love em or hate em. I chose him after a quick Google search looking for top grossing music tours. Dave can sell out any stadium. A LOT of people like him. If he does a benefit concert for free, is he selling out his other artist buddies. Is Justin Timberlake suddenly out of business? No. Can Dave turn around and sell out another stadium the following week? You bet. Has this free concert devalued the music industry? No. Other things might be devaluing the music industry, but The Dave Matthews band playing a select benefit show for free is not. I’m banking that, for Dave, at the end of the day, he wants to play music and he wants to balance his playing of music with making a nice, sustainable living and working on interesting and worthwhile projects. Period.
To underscore my point, consider this: I normally charge a considerable fee for assignment work. But, effective immediately, I’m looking for one, interesting shoot/project–the right project– to do for free. Anywhere in the world, any subject matter, photo or video/motion. Send me your ideas. I don’t care if you’re a low budget magazine, a break dance crew, an individual, a non-profit, an agency or a brand, whatever. If you have an interesting project in mind–large or small–send me reasonably detailed brief, describing the opportunity and referencing this post, to info at chasejarvis dot com. I’ll review whatever comes in – if anything does, and I’ll get back you. Whether it takes three weeks or three months or longer — if something sounds like a good match, creative, or cool to me, then I’ll contact you, and I’ll do that shoot for free. It will be fun.
Don’t hesitate. Be bold. We’ll have a blast – I’ll bring the whole dog and pony show and do it right, front to back, concept to final file. And then I’ll go right back to charging my normal rates, I promise. And no one will get harmed in the making of this point. I have no idea if this idea will have any traction, but…
Unleash creativity, in many cases leads the gain of money. Thanks for sharing.
Chase,
You seem like a decent guy, but comparing Dave Matthews or yourself working for free with someone starting out or just turning pro is completely different. You have a MARKET VALUE, not just based on the quality of your images, but on your reputation. People hire you just to say Chase Jarvis shot our campaign. You are a brand. So, when you agree to work for free people bow down and consider themselves lucky and honored. And this is the same situation for any internationally known photographer. But you are the top 10% of photographers (being generous, really most likely top 1%) ,,, THE REST OF US MUST fight against clients who expect everyone but the top 1% to work for credit, portfolio contact etc and be happy. SCREW THAT. For most pros they are one step away from being out of business. They MUST be paid regularly in order to not just live but pay for gear etc. Sure an occasional job for a friend or a special client who has paid you well for several shoots is possible. But that is NOT what we are talking about. We are talking about an UNRELENTING ABUSING DELUGE of “clients” who expect that you will work for free because you are NOT a BRAND. YOU ARE NOT WORTHY TO EXPECT T BE PAID. And sorry, this happens because stupid kids out of photo school funded by Daddy’s money have taught clients it’s okay to expect or at least try to get photography for free. Try to find ANY qualified electrician, no matter how inexperienced, to work for free. WON’T HAPPEN. This must stop and it will only stop when photographers don’t work for client’s for free. DO ALL THE TEST YOU WANT. That is your work for your use, but don’t work for someone else for free. This is a game of chicken. Clients would shoot it themselves if they could. If they are coming to you it is because they need you so MAKE SURE THEY PAY if not for yourself for you fellow photographers.
I think you are misinterpreting this altogether, especially if you read the strobist’s post. They are not saying that photographers should work for free for people who call them up and ask them to do so. On the contrary, the strobist’s says that you should definitely NOT work for those types of people and businesses for free. They are saying that coming up with projects or assignments on your own and offering your skills for free can be very beneficial. For one, it grants you complete control, Two, it allows you to pursue a project or develop a skill that you might not get paid to develop and three, it could result in PAID assignments or jobs down the road as a result of the images you produce.
My lifelong dream was/is to be a fantastic photographer, to have a photo published in National Geographic Magazine.
But life happens as it will, so at the ripe yound age of 42 I am still a blank slate with the same BIG dream……
What do you think of “Teaching someone as best you can in a pre-determined amount of time?” Not exactly the creative shoot you meantioned but certainly a creative challenge. Basically, i’m asking for a chance for you to train me. If you’d like to talk about it feel free to email me rmusteen@gmail.com.
On the whole I like this idea, especially getting a combination of professionals to work together, for free, for the love of it, to create something unique.
I wonder if this is still going, this would be amazing! All I really want to do (as a model) is create amazing art that challenges me and the photographer, So many times you have these ideas and a $0 budget and somehow need to find someone who will be able to get on board and carry it off! The budget comes not because I don’t want to be able to pay people I just cant afford to! Anyways I guess the best bet is to come up with an amazing idea and email and see!