Free pics for friends? - what should I do?

[jjsterling]

As a professional photographer, do you provide your social friends free photos (files) from group events such as dancing and parties?

I am building a wedding & portrait photography business. My friends still expect to continue to receive for free, the pictures that I take at our social events like I have been doing for years. These may be dances at music festival or club dance / party that I go to socialize.

Should I continue to provide the free image files, or start charging them like a client? Perhaps putting them on a pro sharing site. And have them purchase a hard copy picture or a file.

Thoughts:
1
It is better to continue my friendships and not cause ill will and hope that people may provide referrals for my wedding & portrait business.

2
Am I devaluing my work by providing free picture. People are less likely to see me as a professional.

3
People may be disappointed when they are unable to get what they have been previously getting for free.

What should I do?
Joe

[texkam]

4. Leave your camera at home.

[auddii]

Depends (sorry, that's not an answer in your poll). If you are asked in advance to take pictures for a friend, then it would make sense to charge them. Not sure if you want to give them a discount or not. If you are starting a business, keep in mind, you should be charging what you are worth, and it may be hard to branch out from friends to get clients, especially if you are relying on word of mouth. You may not know the person, but they may know that you charged your friend "bob" half of what you are charging them, so now they want that price too.

However, if you and your friends are going to the club and dancing out all night and you bring your camera, that may be a different story. No one asked you to take photos, and I could see people being pissed off if you try and charge them after the fact. I think a better solution would be to give them watermarked photos and make sure you have a website up and running to reel in people who may see them on a social website. But, I would tell your friends up front that you are bringing a camera to take photos to build your portfolio.

If you don't feel comfortable giving away your photos for free, but you are just going out with friends, then I agree with Mark. It may be better to leave your camera at home and just spend the night with friends.

[Redneck]

Originally Posted by texkam

4. Leave your camera at home.

+1. Stop shooting your social gatherings. That's the only way I see to get out of this without hurting your relationships.

[pbyd]

If you opened a new car dealership, would you give your friends cars? Or any other type business? Not if you are going to pay the bills and stay open.
In the time I have been in business my family and friends know my only discount is for Military and Uniformed services, no one else.
I have keep this rule for over 41 years and no one expects anything else, nor do the complain. I would prefer they go to a cheaper or free photographer and continue to value my services as professional.
Just saying,
Wayne
Photography by Design

[auddii]

Originally Posted by pbyd

If you opened a new car dealership, would you give your friends cars? Or any other type business? Not if you are going to pay the bills and stay open.
In the time I have been in business my family and friends know my only discount is for Military and Uniformed services, no one else.
I have keep this rule for over 41 years and no one expects anything else, nor do the complain. I would prefer they go to a cheaper or free photographer and continue to value my services as professional.
Just saying,
Wayne
Photography by Design

I completely understand and agree with this analogy, but I don't know if it applies here. It's not like the friends are coming to the dealership and asking for a free car. It's more like, they all arrange to go out to dinner, and he picks them up in a car from the dealership. If they want to get home from dinner, then they need to buy the car.

Again, if you're going out with friends to have a good time, you shouldn't be trying to turn it into a work opportunity.

[Tommy Scarmardo]

Originally Posted by Redneck

+1. Stop shooting your social gatherings. That's the only way I see to get out of this without hurting your relationships.

+2

Friend/Family member: "Tommy, did you bring your camera?"

Me: My camera doesn't leave it's case unless there's money in it."

[Tom]

My DLSR is for work only. I don't bring it to social events. If my friends invite me, it is as a friend, not as a photographer.

[BenE]

You said it is a social event, but you are asked to give free images.

What other friends are asked to give something free in order to socialize with the friends?

It seems that "photographers" are always expected to give away their work, and that is because the majority of photographers are willing to do so.

Either you are an invited guest or you are not. If you are, then friends should expect nothing for free. Next time you are invited to attend, just show up without your camera, and if you suddenly find yourself not being asked to attend anymore, perhaps you will understand why you were being asked.

That was not on the poll. but I will vote to charge the same as for anyone else.

[kayumangi]

Like what everyone said if you're invited as a guest and you take photos then don't charge anything. If you don't like giving away your images then leave the camera at home.

Or consider putting up a centralized public gallery where you host all the images and just share that link to your friends, that way you get traffic. If you make decent enough photos your friends can forward that link to their other friends.

And if your hosting provider has the capability of harvesting e-mails of site visitors, turn that feature on. After a while you build up a nice mailing list that you can use for your marketing mojo.

Just food for thought.

[bryanlindsey]

Wow, I think people need to chillax.

Does it feel like work? Then charge for it.

Is it something that you were going to do anyway, for fun? Don't charge.

The "leave your camera at home" thing never worked for me. The whole reason I got into this gig is because I love taking pictures. Because I charge for photography in certain settings doesn't preclude me from enjoying photography in other settings.

FWIW

[d2creative]

If I happened to bring my camera to a night out with friends, of course I'd give them images for free. Just because I'm carrying my camera with me doesn't mean i'm working. Just because I use my camera to make money, doesn't mean that's the only time I use it. If I brought my camera with me to a social event, that means I wanted to because I enjoy taking photos, and I'm willing to share that joy with friends. That's what friends do. If you want to charge your friends for candid pictures, are they really your friends???

I went to Italy a couple times with friends. Of course I took my camera. 10k worth of gear. I did this for one reason and one reason only. Me. I wanted great memories and awesome shots of a place I'd likely never travel to again. There were 10 of us on these trips. Do you think for one second I ever thought of charging them for the hundreds of fully processed photos I ended up with??? Heck no! It's just the bonus of having a photographer as a friend.

Lets say my friend was a mechanic and we were on a road trip in my car. My car breaks down on the way. He looks under the hood, finds something simple and fixes it. Saves me a ton of time and money, and we continue on our way. He doesn't ask for labor fees and I don't look to pay him. Maybe I'll buy his lunch at the next stop as a way to say thank you.

Now if your friends are putting on an event, and they are expecting you to provide a recording of the event, that's different and you might need to have a polite discussion with them.

[BenE]

Originally Posted by d2creative

If I happened to bring my camera to a night out with friends, of course I'd give them images for free. Just because I'm carrying my camera with me doesn't mean i'm working. Just because I use my camera to make money, doesn't mean that's the only time I use it. If I brought my camera with me to a social event, that means I wanted to because I enjoy taking photos, and I'm willing to share that joy with friends. That's what friends do. If you want to charge your friends for candid pictures, are they really your friends???

I went to Italy a couple times with friends. Of course I took my camera. 10k worth of gear. I did this for one reason and one reason only. Me. I wanted great memories and awesome shots of a place I'd likely never travel to again. There were 10 of us on these trips. Do you think for one second I ever thought of charging them for the hundreds of fully processed photos I ended up with??? Heck no! It's just the bonus of having a photographer as a friend.

Lets say my friend was a mechanic and we were on a road trip in my car. My car breaks down on the way. He looks under the hood, finds something simple and fixes it. Saves me a ton of time and money, and we continue on our way. He doesn't ask for labor fees and I don't look to pay him. Maybe I'll buy his lunch at the next stop as a way to say thank you.

Now if your friends are putting on an event, and they are expecting you to provide a recording of the event, that's different and you might need to have a polite discussion with them.

OP stated:

My friends still expect to continue to receive for free, the pictures that I take at our social events like I have been doing for years. These may be dances at music festival or club dance / party that I go to socialize.

Notice the comment was "they expect to receive free pictured".

The comparison of you and your mechanic friend is not exactly the same, but could be like this:

You invite your fiend over to a party, and expect him to do some free work on ....everyone's auto.

Free photos for all.
Free mechanic work for all.

That is the same situation, and not an emergency on a road trip.

[auddii]

Originally Posted by BenE

OP stated:


Notice the comment was "they expect to receive free pictured".

The comparison of you and your mechanic friend is not exactly the same, but could be like this:

You invite your fiend over to a party, and expect him to do some free work on ....everyone's auto.

Free photos for all.
Free mechanic work for all.

That is the same situation, and not an emergency on a road trip.

If I go to a dance club with a group of friends, I honestly would expect to see the photos up on facebook, or if I email them, that I could get a copy. Whether it's a point and shoot or dslr. I'd be pissed off if they demanded money for them, and there's no way in hell I'd buy them. Of course, shots of us drunk and dancing aren't that important to me.

One thing that I've seen from various opinions on this is that the matter will be very personal for every individual. There will be no consensus on this, and Joe is going to have to decide what to do on his own.

Personally, I had friends offer to pay me to take photos of the first year old's birthday party. They aren't the closest friends, and I would not have been invited if I wasn't taking the photos. They did offer to pay, which I turned down a) because of my skill level (they mostly looked like snapshots), and b) because I decided to give it to them as a gift. My choice.

[Snarfy]

This thread is quickly digressing into a semantic argument. That's silly.

My camera goes almost everywhere I do. When I take it to social events, I share the best photos on facebook; generally my circles know that they can bug me to email a few full-res images so that they can print them. My friends and family know that if they request my services as an event photographer, I prefer to be paid but that can be as simple as a 6-pack and a meal.

When the requests get unrealistic, I'll tell people that they'd need to pay me at a discounted rate. If anyone can, your friends and family should be able to understand that.

Finally, understand that if you take some great shots and your friends get them printed, that can turn into free advertising. Prompt your friends to take the prints to work and to give out your information when their coworkers come asking.