someone reached out to me yesterday on instagram after seeing my photos on a client’s feed, and said that she would be interested in working together. i was super excited and reached back out right away. unfortunately, the individual was looking for someone to work for free to help her gather images for a business hat she is starting, and offering “exposure” as compensation.
here’s the thing. i could’ve been a jerk about it, and even if i wasn’t trying to be one, it could’ve been easy to sound like one, so i had to be careful about how i worded my response. essentially, what i said was, i love photography and working with new clients on building their brands, however i cannot work for free. i told her that she might be able to find a student or budding photographer through craigslist by posting that she is looking for tfp (time for photos) in the creative gigs section, and wished her the best of luck. i also said that if she is able to put together a budget for photos, then i would love to work with her.
i have to say, i found it interesting that she was looking for someone to work for free to help her build a business that she hopes to earn money through. as we’ve discussed before, i am a firm believer that getting started requires investment if you’re actually serious about seeing returns. it sucks putting all your money into your business st the beginning, but it’s worth it, so worth it.
at the same time, sometimes that is just not an option, and that is completely understandable. not everyone is building from a position of strength, and not all investments are a sure road to success. for this particular person, i believe that a strong social media presence with high quality images would do wonders for her and help her grow rapidly, but there are other ways, and not all of them require money.
truth be told, she could do a lot of good for herself with a good smartphone, a remote trigger and decent lighting. given that she is looking to do one-on-one yoga training, she could start a blog and a youtube channel making videos that show some of her routines and techniques—and most of all, her personality so that people know she will be a positive person to work with. she could put together sequence of images that walk through some techniques to help people improve their practice. these are just a few.
the point is, as much as i want to help her out, i can’t work for free, but there are a lot of things she could do for free that would probably do more for her than a few nice pictures on instagram. i probably shouldn’t publish this because i’m essentially telling people they don’t need me, but fuck it. this is supposed to be real talk, so let’s keep it real.