Got my first unpaid job tomorrow. Looking for advice

scottduffy

scottduffy

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Hi guys,

I'm shooting a junior investigators conference at a hotel in town tomorrow and Tuesday and I said I'd bring along another student to lighten the load and take some pressure off if required.

Question is how do we shoot it as a team?

I was thinking best was was one of us with a long lens for speakers and the other with a standard zoom for closer shots.

I spoke to cancer research who are hosting it and they don't want any formal shots or head shots, only candids which I thought was strange but they are in charge.

Any idea's of the best way to double team this?

Regards

Scott
 
I would suggest (dependent upon set up of room) to have one at the front facing the audience. The other with the longer lens at the back shooting the speakers etc.
I guess it wont be as formal as say a wedding, therefore you could move around easily and shoot from the side etc?
 
cancer research who are hosting it and they don't want any formal shots or head shots, only candids which I thought was strange
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not strange at all.

Before you start, with your colleague, synchronise the clock in your cameras. You can thank me later.

One on a longer lens and one on more standard sounds good, though you'll mainly both want to be towards the longer end of the spectrum. Don't be afraid to crank the iso, better to expose properly than bin lots of shots due to blur or be dragging them up in the edit.

Don't forget that the attendees and networking moments are just as if not often more important than what's going on on stage
 
Lez325 said:
why unpaid???
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Its for Cancer Research but more importantly i'm a novice so it wouldn't seem fair charging. They have been fully briefed about my lack of expertise and are happy to give me a shot. They are paying travel expenses too and offered us a lovely lunch.

Anyway day 1 went well considering the light was horrid, which i was expecting but even so at times it was a bit of a pain. I was using a 135L f2 lens and to get my shutter speed over 125th (no tripod as no space) i was shooting at f2 or 2.2 and ISO was way north of 2000 most of the day. It was fun though and tomorrow i'm hoping will be even better with us knowing the venue. We couldn't get to the front to shoot back into the audience as the tables were situated right against the walls so mostly we were side on to guests although obviously we could get the speakers face on. The mingling at lunches and break outs was great though as we could get closer and better angles to work with. All in all a good day. Thanks for the advice guys.
 
Enjoy yourself first and foremost. Shame they don't want head shots as the 135 at f2 is just the best in my eyes for that alone.
 
I have only just got this and a 24-70 as a trade for my 70-200 and I took it out the other day and it was fab. I've not used the zoom yet but I'm happy with the prime. It's a great lens. I can't wait to use it with decent light.
 
So all done now and have roughly a week to edit the images and send them in. Once they have theirs i'll post a couple up here. Second day was almost pointless as it followed the exact same schedule as yesterday and they only difference was the speakers. Same attendees, same layout so i asked again if i could maybe take some shots of the speakers as individuals or in a group and they said thanks but no thanks. Fair enough then.
 
scottduffy said:
So all done now and have roughly a week to edit the images and send them in. Once they have theirs i'll post a couple up here. Second day was almost pointless as it followed the exact same schedule as yesterday and they only difference was the speakers. Same attendees, same layout so i asked again if i could maybe take some shots of the speakers as individuals or in a group and they said thanks but no thanks. Fair enough then.
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To be expected. You're shooting a conference.

Standard coverage would be, a few decent shots of each speaker to allow for different layouts or media use depending on framing and expressions, etc. Overview shots to show the venue. Overviews to show how well attended the event was. Tighter shots of attendees being interested in the speakers and presentations. Branding - sponsors' signage with lots of people near it, and sponsors' activations if any. Networking. Maybe some shots of the food and booze at any networking events they put on during the lunches or evenings.

It's pretty simple stuff. They're there for the conference, not to get new LinkedIn headshots taken. You may sometimes get the chance to take a slightly more formal portrait of keynote speakers, or the organising committee group photo, but the "action" at the conference is the main thing.
 
KIPAX said:
All that comes out of the charity pot....Just Sayin ... :)
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scottduffy said:
Its for Cancer Research but more importantly i'm a novice so it wouldn't seem fair charging. They have been fully briefed about my lack of expertise and are happy to give me a shot. They are paying travel expenses too and offered us a lovely lunch.
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You reckon those top level execs are currently studying business management, and briefed CRUK on their complete lack of experience before taking the opportunity?

I'd bet a pint and a bag of chips that at least some of them occasionally donate their time and/or their money to any number of causes.
 
If someone wants to make a point of posting to all and sundry that they are working for free then I will respond... It's how the forum works :)
 
I agree you should charge, charities do get grants etc. To put events on , they will hire sound ,lights . If you get a reputation of being cheap it will stick. But good luck with the event
 
I wonder and I have read of this being done.

Even pro bono work has a value, by that I mean you still have an agreement between both parties where your "price" for the job is part of it but it has a caveat that on this occasion the price is zero. By doing this you make sure your services are seen as having a value and that for future such requests there will be a cost.

Yes, they could find another less savvy free offerer next time but if you are minded (this time) to do for free you at least have possibly opened a door to networked opportunities?
 
I only applied for experience. I knew full well I wouldn't get paid but the next time someone asks what I've done I can say a two day conference in a nice hotel for a large company. No need to advertise the fact to them that I'm free. Just like taking images for friends. Hopefully it'll lead to paid work.
 
Not really wanting to derail Scott's thread any further, and there have been several threads on here about charities and work pro bono (some very recently). But... ;)

Yes, you can get paid working for a charity. But also - you can donate to charities, it's kinda a large part of how they operate. There's a group of people on here who seem to get very offended whenever the idea of working for free is mentioned, as though somehow, someone volunteering to do something for a charity, takes food out of their mouths. And it appears some think they're owed something by everyone else in the country who owns a camera. Quite ridiculous.

None of this is really relevant here though, as I'm sure if Scott was offered an opportunity at this stage in his career, that had little or no remuneration, he would (quite rightly) consider taking it if he felt it could further his opportunities in the future. Whether that be from a non-profit, or from a for-profit organisation. Just as any smart, sensible person would.

For what it's worth, the first major job I ever did was for a non-profit whilst I was studying photography. I did it for no payment. In fact I worked for a few non-profits in that time, for no payment. I still shoot several jobs a year for them all nearly 10 years later, and take thousands in fees - some on full commercial rates, some discounted because I support the charity. That very first job led directly to working with one of my best clients who bring me a lot of jobs every year, and put on events that make my folio a lot better than it would be without them.

To end the ramble; don't let people shame you into thinking you've done something wrong by taking an opportunity that will benefit you (and also happens to help out a non-profit).
 
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I'm not yet at the stage of really looking for paying gigs, but to emphasize the point, I photographed a small charity evening event a while ago for free. It was good experience and was helping out a local charity. That has led to me being booked to photograph a full day conference and that will be paid.
Admittedly I'm not trying to earn a living from photography (yet, who knows though), but doing things for free, helping out charities and individuals is not a bad thing and can open the door to more work or making new contacts and connections, not to mention the benefit of gaining experience and possible images to add to your portfolio.
 
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Just be careful that you don't get taken for a ride , I fell for it , as soon as I Said I wanted paying they lost interest in me. I never got any follow on work , so all I'm saying is be careful, but good luck on the job
 
Charity, no budget....yeah right. How much salaryt does the chief executive get? Oh, that's right, his salary plus anyone doing some work for the charity as well.......NO charity gets my work for free unless every single one of that charrity's staff are complete volunteers......if they get paid for working for the charity, why shouldn't anyone else as an outside contractor?
 
Lensflare said:
Charity, no budget....yeah right. How much salaryt does the chief executive get? Oh, that's right, his salary plus anyone doing some work for the charity as well.......NO charity gets my work for free unless every single one of that charrity's staff are complete volunteers......if they get paid for working for the charity, why shouldn't anyone else as an outside contractor?
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Not relevant here though is it? As Scott said him not charging wasn't anything to do with their budget.
 
Jayst84 said:
Not relevant here though is it? As Scott said him not charging wasn't anything to do with their budget.
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Yes, of course it is relevent, because the charity told him they have no budget. Therefore they were looking to sponge off 'charitable photographers' who would work for free.
 
Hmm... this is what I got from Scott's posts:
It's a charity Scott feels worth donating time/effort towards helping... I have no problem with that irrespective of anything else.
Scott is an amateur, w/o much (if any) experience in this type of work, doesn't feel he can guarantee quality results, and doesn't feel justified in charging at this point. They've been notified of this and are still happy to have him give it a shot... makes sense to me.
They are paying travel and meals as well, so no major expense incurred for the experience/learning... better than the typical deal.

Yeah, way too many are giving away work and I do believe it is affecting the industry. But everyone has to start somewhere... I see nothing to complain about.
 
Guys no point in turning this into an argument. At no point did they say they had no budget. Their job advert mentioned travel expenses and payment depending on experience. I never even asked about that as it only cost me £12 over the two days. One day hopefully I'll be charging for conferences but not yet. I'm not even close to being ready.
 
steve_lyt said:
I agree you should charge, charities do get grants etc. To put events on , they will hire sound ,lights
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I often supply sound and lights for charity events for free. I do it because I want to and I support the charity.


Steve.
 
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