My previous entry “Photography: Shoot for Free or Not?” basically stated that you should not shoot for free if you consider yourself to be a professional photographer. Now here is an interesting conundrum; how are you supposed to get paid for assignments if you do not have work to show a potential client? You guessed it you have to shoot for free; which is also called building your portfolio. Now, the thing about building your portfolio is that it is not entirely free. Sure you can do TFP/ TFCD shoots all day long to build your portfolio; however, the truth of the matter is that TFP /TFCD shoots come at a cost. Some photographers will argue my cost analysis of TFP / TFCD photo shoots.
Cost analysis of a TFP / TFCD photo shoot will vary from photographer to photographer based solely on how the photographer values their time and service. I cannot speak for other photographers; however, I value my time and service so if I do a TFP/TFCD shoot it has be for something that I am lacking in my portfolio or experiment with new techniques. A TFP/TFCD shoot cost you time and energy. Time is spent planning/researching the shoot, executing the shoot and post-processing the shoot. Now, if you had to invoice a client for your services listed above how much would you charge?
Building your portfolio can be hard work when starting out. Here is the scenario that many photographers face when attempting to build their portfolio. You have your new DSLR and a few lights (i.e. mono and/or speed lights) now you need to find you a model or two work with. Most models will not do a TFP/TFCD shoot with just anyone. So, now you are faced with the frustration of having equipment, read all your manuals but now no model to shoot with. One way to find models to work with is to join a local photography group. Joining a local photography group has several advantages from networking with other photographers, make-up artist and hair stylists to being informed about events that are happening in your area that you did not even know were going on. A great place to find local photography groups is on meetup.com. Below is a list of active photography groups that are free to join.
Photography groups:
Acronyms:
"TFP" is a term used frequently in the modeling world. It means, quite simply, "Time for Prints." “TFCD” means “Time for Compact Disc” or digital images.http://www.meetup.com/ChicagoProAmPhotography/
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