Reasons Why Professional Photographers Cannot Work for Free

Oct 12, 2011 | 0 comments

Dear potential photo buyer,

If you have been directed to this page, it is likely that you have requested the use of an image or images for free or minimal compensation.

As professional photographers, we receive requests for free images on a regular basis. In a perfect world, each of us would love to be able to respond in a positive manner and assist, especially with projects or efforts related to areas such as education, social issues, and conservation of natural resources. It is fair to say that in many cases, we wish we had the time and resources to do more to assist than just send photographs.

Unfortunately, such are the practicalities of life that we are often unable to respond, or that when we do, our replies are brief and do not convey an adequate sense of the reasons underlying our response.

Circumstances vary for each situation, but we have found that there are a number of recurring themes, which we have set out below with the objective of communicating more clearly with you, and hopefully avoiding misunderstandings or unintentionally engendering ill will.

Please take the following points in the constructive manner in which they are intended. We certainly hope that after you have had a chance to read this, we will be able to talk again and establish a mutually beneficial working relationship. (more…)

Getting Ready…

Jun 30, 2011 | 0 comments

I was getting ready to shoot Jessica Lea Mayfield & An Horse tonight and I thought I would share my checklist for shooting shows.

A few days in advance I will check setlist.fm to get an idea of what I’m in for. If it’s a band I’m unfamiliar with, I’ll check out some YouTube videos to give me an idea of what their lighting is like. It also helps you to spot potential shots before hand know when a band member might take a flying leap off a stack of amps, or interact with the crowd in a certain manner. (more…)