For Photographers

Unpaid Photo Internships

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Some companies offer unpaid internships to photographers. Typically the company requires the photographer to supply camera equipment, computer, and car. In return, the photographer can work up to full-time hours and get nothing in return except a credit line.

These “internships” are illegal.

From the Ontario Ministry of Labour:

The fact that you are called “an intern” does not mean that you are not an employee for purposes of the [Employment Standards Act]. Generally speaking, if you perform work for another person or a company or other organization and you are not in business for yourself, you would be considered to be an employee, and therefore entitled to [Employment Standards Act] rights such as the minimum wage. There are some exceptions, but they are very limited, and the fact that you are called an intern is not relevant.

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Working for free

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Photographers, do yourself a favour and read this article by US brand strategist Patty Soffer:

Freebies are the scourge of freelance workers everywhere. Beginners notwithstanding (yes, we all pay our dues) many are tempted to work for free because they believe it will lead to paying work. News flash: it won’t. It leads exactly nowhere. When the un-payer decides to ante up, they hire someone else because they want to work with professionals who value themselves. Clearly you don’t if you were willing to give it away for nothing.

– Patty Soffer

 

When someone asks you to work for free, it means they think your photography is worthless. When you work for free, it means you agree.

The best situation is to charge what your photography is worth. But if you must offer a discount, rather than work for free, simply charge less than what your photography is worth but more than what it costs.

 

Grammatically Correct

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Today, March 4th, is National Grammar Day in the USA. But here in Canada, we don’t got no Grammar Day to write about.

A few days ago, I had reason to review and edit photo captions from a number of photographers. The spelling and grammar were atrocious. The photographers should have been extremely embarrassed that they weren’t smarter than a fifth grader.

All of these photographers work for daily newspapers and they apparently assume that someone else at their newspaper will correct their captions. But after checking some newspaper websites, this is not always the case. A photographer’s poorly written caption was often copied verbatim onto the website.

Every self-employed photographer knows, or should know, that good grammar and proper spelling are essential business tools. Grammar and spelling add to a photographer’s credibility and professionalism.

 

Why Not To Lower Prices In A Poor Economy

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Architectural photographer Brad Feinknopf explains why photographers should not lower their prices in a slow economy:

Please, do not let a poor economy bring the industry of photography to its knees by merely bending to market pressure. (…) We, as architectural photographers, bring great value and please do recognize that! (…) we are assisting our clients to sell their wares, to generate new business, to help them win awards and sometimes, even get them published. Without architectural photography, the publications would merely be words, as would be the websites. They do need us and, believe it or not, most value what we do. We need to value it, too. Do not forget the value you bring and demand adequate compensation for that value.

– Brad Feinknopf

It’s worth reading his entire blog post to understand the clothing store analogy that he uses. Although he refers to architectural photographers, the analogy Feinknopf uses also applies to other professional photographers.

 

Chequing and Saving

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Some professional photographers may still have to write cheques to pay bills, models, stylists, assistants, etc. When your customized business cheques run out, there’s no need to buy refills through your bank. Purchasing cheques from a third-party printer can be much less expensive.

There are a few companies in Canada that produce cheques which meet the same standards and have the same security features as the cheques purchased through your bank.

Although cheques are becoming obsolete, if you need custom business cheques, consider ordering from a third-party printer, (very often another small business), rather than automatically buying from your bank. I recently purchased a bundle of cheques for 53% less cost than from my bank.

 

Firewire 800 Card Reader

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Since Firewire 800 card readers are no longer sold by Sandisk or Lexar, even though many photographers still use FW800, it may be difficult to find a suitable speedy card reader. Apple’s painfully slow rollout of USB 3 also doesn’t help.

For photographers who need a FW800 card reader, there’s good news and bad news:

The good news is that there’s one company which still sells a FW800 card reader. The card reader, which is sold in Canada, is small, reasonably priced and, when in stock, delivered quickly by Canada Post.

The bad news is that the card reader works only with UDMA compact flash cards. However, it won’t work with first-generation UDMA cards such as the Sandisk Extreme III (30MB/s). So if a photographer uses older compact flash cards or other formats such as SD cards, it will still be necessary to carry another card reader.

 

Penniless Canadians

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Starting tomorrow on February 4, the Canadian Mint will no longer be distributing pennies. The once copper but now mostly steel coins will be taken out of circulation, melted down and the metal recycled. The last one-cent coins which were minted on May 4, 2012, cost 1.6¢ each to make.

After tomorrow, banks will not distribute pennies to their customers but the public can still use the pennies they have. Businesses which accept cash are being asked to change their pricing policy to accommodate our new “penny-less” world.
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