Yep 100%. I shot a wedding for friends and spent upwards of $400 on film
and processing. They also had a pro wedding photographer. The pro shot the
wedding party and entrance to the church. I shot the actual ceremony and
the reception (and piggybacked on the pro earlier).
I was extremely happy with the results and was pretty sure they were at
least as good as the pro's proofs, given what I had seen from a former
wedding using the same photog. The bride & groom loved them. The parents
somehow acted a little ho-hum, even though they were the ones that asked me
to do this. I provided my services because we were friends of the family.
To this day I don't really know if they 1) expected better, 2) just weren't
the type that get excited over photos, or 3) were simply tired after the
exhausting days leading up to the wedding. I suspect 2 &3, plus the fact
they wouldn't have realized how much I had invested emotionally.
To be fair, they did offer to pay me in advance for materials & for the
processing. I turned it down because I figured it was my gift. In
retrospect, they might have been more excited had they the feeling of
purchasing something, versus being given something.
The same goes for computer skills. Of course because I'm a software
developer, friends think I should know EVERYTHING about computers and why
their PC does not work right, and what DLL's they've got hosed up, and
should come over and fix it or figure it out over the phone. Well I don't,
and it got to the point that I was contemplating listing them my hourly
rate. Many of these folks were employed in various fields, an engineer, a
carpet cleaner. I wouldn't think of inviting my carpet cleaner friend to
come to my house and clean my carpets for free, because it was his expertise
(and I doubt he would). Now I "just don't know", "it could be about
anything and would probably take hours to figure out".
I suppose the same can be said for photography. If your friends view you
like a pro, you should probably charge like a pro. If things go bad, then
don't charge or reshoot if possible.
Tom C
From: "Treena Harp" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sadly, this attitude applies no matter what skill you possess. I'm a
skilled
> and experienced seamstress, but I utterly refuse to sew for other people.
I
> tried to out of the goodness of my heart for friends, but when I did,
> suddenly I was treated as a servant -- they wanted EVERYTHING for free,
were
> hypercritical of everything I did and were totally ungrateful no matter
how
> good the finished product was. This goes for my other hobbies, too,
> photography included. I believe most people truly don't appreciate things
> that don't cost them anything. I say no because I'd rather have them
> experience a couple of moments of annoyance with me, than do it and
possibly
> lose a friendship over it.
>
> >
> > I was asked (didn't offer) some years ago to shoot a wedding for a
> colleague
> > at work. I said I would do it but didn't negotiate a fee because I was
> > willing as an amateur to do it at cost.
> >
> > I did it and got lots of praise for the results around the office. Not
> once
> > was I even offered the cost of film and processing let alone thanked. My
> > view was that a token thanks such as a bottle of Scotch might have been
a
> > reasonable gesture.
> >
> > Peter
> >
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