Linking Around

Just a collection of variously interesting photography and non-photography related links for today. I should really do a proper update this week, but piles of things happening. Oh and it's almost Christmas...ACK! Still have so much shopping to do!

1.) Adorably cute cat loves him some boxes. Which must be followed up by this one.

2.) Joe McNally weighs in on the working for FREE conversation and writes the best thing I've read in a long time ...on photography. Makes you realize how passionate someone can be about taking photos.

3.) A good old What the Duck comic.

4.) An awesome commercial photo for Xbox's Fable II.


5.) The speed ring setup I'm seriously considering using thanks to David Tejada.

6.) And reading David Hobby's conversation with Rembrandt over beers makes me realize that I should be looking through all those art history books my mom has at her house. Perhaps my Christmas reading.

7.) MSNBC's Year in Pictures. It's always a well polished collection of amazing photojournalism.

8.) And my favourite photo couple (Matt Adcock and Sol Tamargo at del Sol Photography) reach their first anniversary!

Shooting for FREE

Okay, so this is a double edged topic for most photographers. Trying to balance out the idea of making money for shooting pictures and also getting the opportunity to shoot pictures in the first place by not charging money for it.

Really this comes up today because of a post on David Hobby's Strobist site. Have a read, and this post might make more sense.

For the last while I've done a lot of pondering about this interesting dichotomy and had been reading some things that helped me form my opinion....

So, here is what I think of it.

YES, it's perfectly acceptable to shoot for free. I would say this even if was pulling down major bucks to shoot on a full-time basis.

The reasons? You ask?

1. I refuse to shoot anything at a discounted rate. The rate I would charge someone for a shoot is the rate that is required for me to meet my basic costs, pay for my skills and training, the maintenance of my gear, storage of final files etc. Discounting my rate hurts me, devalues my work and devalues the industry as a whole. If I'm not going to shoot it at full value then I'll shoot it for FREE. But...

2. Shooting for FREE happens when one of two requirements is met: a.) I've created the project from scratch, b.) I feel the proposed project would otherwise not happen because the person/group is unable to pay for it and that project is worthwhile/will have added benefits down the road.

3. I'm in the process of building my portfolio and shooting what I want for that portfolio means having to come up with the ideas myself = doing it for FREE.

4. Doing things for FREE gives me opportunities that I might not otherwise get if I were to charge people for them.

5. The possibilities that can come out of me setting aside some personal time to shoot projects for FREE are endless.

All of this comes up at a very opportune moment. It makes me really happy to see that my thinking is in line with a lot of photography's heavy hitters and I feel like my plan (yes, still being vague) is right on the money.

More soon...

Lessons I've Learned

Okay, I thought I would continue the lessons learned part of my last post on another day, but I'm feeling like I need to wrap a few things up in the next few weeks before the next stage begins and so I'll post them now. (Yes, I'm being deliberately cryptic :D).

Further things that I learned in the last year:
-To stop saying "One day I will ______" and just start doing ______;
-That practice may make perfect but sometimes perfection is elusive;
-Digital allows you to make mistakes over and over and over again until you figure out the right way to do it;
-Film is so underrated;
-Patience may be a virtue but I love getting results now;
-When you love a hobby you don't care how much time you spend obsessing over it;
-That it helps to have charged batteries when taking pictures;
-That it also helps to have empty memory cards when trying to take pictures;
-Flickr can become a great way to get praise: "Love my photo! Please tell me it's as great as I think it is! Hello? Anyone?"
-You can have more photography related magazines than you have time to read and still keep getting more;
-Suddenly you critique every picture ever made right down to the ISO, how the model did or didn't flex her foot, or the post work on her left eyebrow;
-Although I've never met them, I have weekly meetings with Kelby, Hobby, McNally, Prihoda, Talkington, Jarvis, Laforet and Ziser;
-Being nervous as hell is okay, just remind yourself that you know what you're doing;
-Making mistakes is all part of learning. Keep screwing up, you'll keep growing;
-Lens envy is a very easy disease to catch;
-So is camera envy;

But most importantly I've learned to shoot what I love.

More soon...