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Sports Photographers Wanted
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On the same kind of topic, I got Married July 2009 and paid a photographer £1000 – for quality work. It was a fair price at the time.
Since then however, I have seen a MASSIVE increase on amateur photographers offering wedding photography for free so the photog can gain experience. I have seen others that are wanting paid, offering wedding photography from as little as £100!! Now personally I wouldn’t dream of doing this for my wedding as I want peace of mind that I am getting a good photog and its one less thing to worry about on the day. But in times of finacial strife, people are opting for budget options, maybe not realising fully the professionalism and technical know-how needed to pull of great wedding photos.
I find this practice very damaging, both to the customer and to the pro photographers. Customers aren’t getting the quality they perhaps deserve or want and the amateur photog dramitically under cutting pro rates, are damaging the very market they are trying to break into! It’s unsustainable!!
We need to keep the wheel turning..
rant over :)
I’ve read this thread with interest of the past couple of days.
It has thrown up different reactions from a lot of people which I believe is healthy…….. it helps photographers to look at scenarios from different view points.
I’m a Professional Wedding and Portrait photographer trying to make ends meet in very challenging times. As mentioned in previous posts, there are plenty of “Uncle Bob’s” out there with “good cameras” willing to cover weddings for nieces and nephews for free….or upcoming photographers putting adds in the local newspapers advertising “Free Weddings” in lieu of the experience they will gain. I firmly believe that these people will not put the likes of me out of business. The market is shrinking due to the economic climate and there is an ever increasing number of people turning to photography on a part time basis in order to increase their incomes. I don’t see anything wrong with this because at the end of the day, the vast majority of people realize that quality services/products come at a price and some people are willing to step up to the cost and some aren’t. When being interviewed by potential Brides and Grooms, there is inevitable haggling with regards to people doing weddings for half my price. The only inconvenience for me with this is the small amount of time I spend explaining the benefits of using a “Professional Photographer”.
Last year, I attended a soccer match in Dublin. It was Ireland V Paraguay in the RDS and I travelled up from Galway with my 5 year old son to see it. Andy was covering the match and posted some images from it on this forum for feedback. Low and behold, there was an image of Kevin Doyle scoring a goal for Ireland and sitting in the stands in the background, I was clearly visible with my son sitting on my lap. Considering it was a special moment with my son on my lap, I contacted Andy via pm and asked him a couple of questions regarding how did he get to cover internationals as well as could I purchase a high resolution image the one with me and my son.
Andy e-mailed me the image FOC as well as giving a detailed explanation about his work and how he gets to cover the International matches. I remember thinking at the time that “Photography Ireland” was a great resource for information from fellow photographers and Andy’s actions (detailed e-mail and free image to a fellow photographer) were above and beyond what a lot of fellow photographers might have done. Knowing how generous he was regarding the image and the sharing of some muchly appreciated knowledge, I think that his original post has been misconstrued by some.Good luck with your venture Andy, it will appeal to some and be loathed by others and once you accept that, you’ll be grand!!
Happy New Year to all!! :D
Andy e-mailed me the image FOC as well as giving a detailed explanation about his work and how he gets to cover the International matches. I remember thinking at the time that “Photography Ireland” was a great resource for information from fellow photographers and Andy’s actions (detailed e-mail and free image to a fellow photographer) were above and beyond what a lot of fellow photographers might have done. Knowing how generous he was regarding the image and the sharing of some muchly appreciated knowledge, I think that his original post has been misconstrued by some.
It’s very refreshing to hear a pro giving credit where credit is due. Well done Johnnymc and of course Andy
http://jhische.com/workforfree.html” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Dont forget, if you work for free more than a few times (granted it can be good to get your foot in the door) you get branded as a ‘free photographer’ and when you eventually do ask for payment you will be laughed at.
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