Volunteer work as the photographer.

[surapon]

This is the exact opposite approach to what I normally take. I try to hide my gear, use only the gear required, and it stays protected at all costs. I appreciate the volunteer work though. It is surprising that you haven't gotten flamed on the volunteerism piece. So many photogs complain about people taking food out of their mouths. My perspective is if someone can do as good a job as you can for free, then you are in the wrong business.

Thanks you, Sir, Mr. talicoa .
Thank you for speak from bottom of your heart. Well, I have two thing to tell you :
1) In the Fast Action Photography Job like the Walk and Run for NAMI , Non-Profit Organization ( National Alliance on Mental Illness) Like this , I must have 4 Lens on my hands all the times---SORRY, NOT SHOW OFF THE EQUIPMENT, But for the Fast Capture of the action of the Party, The Speakers and The Run and Walk of the Participation for 5K---No, Sir, If I bring just 1 Camera , and 4 Lenses that I need and Hide the Lenses that you suggest---I have to change the Lens every time that the real Action Change---That Time that I waste, I will lose the Great Photos----Every time that I change the Lenses, The Dust can go in the Camera to contaminate the Sensor, Our If I am too hurry, I might Drop and Damage the $ 2,000 US Dollars Lens.
YES, Sir---When I take the Photos in the Bad area, , In the early morning, or in the Night time---I just bring my $ 335 US Dollars Canon EOS-M with 22 mm F/ 2.0 Kit Lens in my Grocery plastic bag.

2) Yes, Sir, When I work for the City, or County in USA as the Professional Photographer, I charge them Full FEE= $ 150-to $ 200 US DOLLARS per Hours + Expense ( Yes, Still cheap than Hire the Lawyer = 400-600 US Dollars per Hour.) And I charge $ 5,000 US Dollars for Weekly Project, Such as take the Photos of the Historical Place in The County, for The County Tourism Department for their Publication/ Booklets for Public advertizing---Yes, I do the Job like this for 6 County in North Carolina, USA.---Yes, For Money + Happy life for do my Love Hobby/ Photography

BUT, For NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION, such as NAMI( my Second years, and 4 times), Suzan G. Komen Cancer Pink Ribbon ( 4 years and 4 times)----The Ceremony at 3 Churches---Yes, I just Volunteer to shoot the Recorded Photos for their Publication with out ask for the FEE/ Money, Just donate my times for the good causes that they try to do for the public, and Citizen like us.

YES, Same Thing that We go to Church on Sunday, We donate our money , up to 15% of our salary to the Church, To Run the Church , which serve our Religion Needs/ Functions.

Nice to talk to you, Sir.
Have a great Sunday night.
Surapon

PS. Another thing that I do= Volunteer to be a Chef/ Cook in The local Soup Kitchen, 1 evening per month. Yes I donate Money to Soup Kitchen to buy the Raw Food to cook in every months too. You might ask me, Why just hand the money out to the homeless people---No, Sir, If I hand out the Money $ 50 Us Dollars to each homeless, The First ting that most of then will do, go to but the whiskey or drug---Not The foods that they needs. Help them have a warm meal in the cold night = the heaven for them, and the most happy feeling for me and my family.
Plus past two years at soup Kitchen, During I finish my job, I come to the dinning room, And talk to the Homeless Veteran from Vietnam war, and Irag war--Yes, When I know 3 men that can do and know carpenter works, I tell them to go to see my friend / General Contractors---Yes, Now 3 of these HERO, The War Veterans are my dear friends who get the job as the skill worker first and go up to be job superintendents.
THAT MAKE ME VERY PROUD as the good American citizen.

 

[surapon]

Congratulations Mr. Surapon, for the good deeds you are doing, and also for the smart idea of using this work as good photography practice and as a nice way to meet business contacts. Add to all that the fact you are getting good exercise, and it you have four good things coming from just one good idea!

Thank you, Sir, Dear Friend ScottyP.
Your Great Words will make my days.
Good Sunday night, Sir.
Surapon

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I also volunteer and not only take photos, buy make up and print photo books for the subjects. I charge them $5.00, but it costs me $20 to print them, so its just a token fee.

Every fall, I photograph the local grange trail ride. I setup as the group of 30-40 riders head out in the morning, and snap them riding out, or posed, however they want. Then, I drive back home, and print 4 X 6 photos with the image number printed in the margin so they can get another if they want.

The grange sells them for $5 which goes into their operating fund.

My wife dug out her elk skin jacket that here sister owned in the early 1950's and wore it on one recent trail ride. The Jacket is at least 65 or 70 years old, and she wore it in the 1960's (before we met) for the scanned inset photo. I could not get the same colors, but the current photo has accurate colors. The horse is different. He is named "The Cisco Kid" not by us, he came with the name. How many remember listening to "The Cisco Kid" on the radio and later watching on TV?

 

[privatebydesign]

"I could not get the same colors, but the current photo has accurate colors."

Maybe more like this?

 

[GGNoble]

Give me a break, Four cameras . Two at the most .

 

[sanj]

You inspire us to be better human beings.

 

[talicoa]

Surapon,
It sounds like your heart is in the right place. I volunteer for a local marching band and a NJROTC group. About 250 kids all together. I have been able to take portraits, sell them at a low rate, and then give 50% of the profit back to the organizations. I charge money to keep the full time pros happy, I charge a cheap rate to keep the parents happy, and the organizations get a large kickback. It works out well, except I am tired afterward. That's why I could never see shooting like you do. I would probably shoot your event with a 24-70, and a 135L. Maybe carry an 85mm 1.8 in a small backpack. Only in bad dusty conditions would I refrain from changing lenses, I have had very little trouble with dust. I shoot everything manual, and would prefer to have one camera to think about. If I do use a strap for the camera(5DIII) I use an old one from a rebel XT. It draw very little attention at all. I have used gaffer tape to cover the 5d logo, but that is rare.
Even in a good area, walking around with 10K dollars in camera gear can be dangerous. Remember too that all of gear you have with you at a volunteer event is your responsibility. If you trip and fall I will guarantee that you will damage thousands of dollars worth of gear when it is attached that way. I would have one hand on my camera and two lenses in a padded bag. I could roll and be OK. Maybe you have great insurance, or can afford the risk. I know I can't.
I have worked very hard with my photography to purchase my gear, and I have 6 lenses and two bodies. When I am out running around, most of it usually stays home.

But I guess if what you need to shoot primes at f1.2 and cover from 24-300mm all without changing lenses and some with flash and some without, you don't have much choice but to do what you are doing.

You must be very specific with what tool you want to take each photo with. My brain can't handle that many choices in a quick situation.

How many photos do you end up taking at an event like this? Do you have the people looking at them online afterward? My experience with events like this is you can take 5K photos, post them all online and you will get 50 people look at them if you are lucky. People just don't care about photography like we as photographers do.

Anyway, good luck and keep shooting. I'm glad what you do is working for you and thank you for volunteering your time and helping people.

Have a great day, you deserve it!

Tom

 

[sanj]

Each to his own, but yeah I agree with one poster that too many cameras.

 

[Arctic Photo]

I should clarify, if you don't own L lenses, then you may want to take extra precaution with your cheaper lenses. All my glass is L or Zeiss, so I'm not sure on the build quality of the lesser lenses, but from what I have read, it is not quite as good. In that case it might be wise to protect them somewhat. It really just depends on what gear you have. Sorry about not being too clear on the first post.

So your first lens was an 'L' lens?

He he

 

[Arctic Photo]

This is the exact opposite approach to what I normally take. I try to hide my gear, use only the gear required, and it stays protected at all costs. I appreciate the volunteer work though. It is surprising that you haven't gotten flamed on the volunteerism piece. So many photogs complain about people taking food out of their mouths. My perspective is if someone can do as good a job as you can for free, then you are in the wrong business.

As a self employed business owner (IT Consulting), I always try to take the high road. There is plenty of business to go around and I don't have time to waste with negative thoughts and comments. If another IT guy wants the business bad enough, he can have it. I just try to provide good service and keep my clients that way. If a client doesn't want my services, I'm not going to beg or try to hold on to them. It's just not worth it. Most of my work is obtained by word of mouth and referrals anyway.

So, with that in mind, I sort of chuckle about pro photographers getting angry about volunteer competition. If the recipient of the photos could afford to hire a pro, they wouldn't use a volunteer. And if the volunteer is as good as or worth the same as the pro, so be it. They still probably don't have the money anyway or they would offer to pay the volunteer or just go without the better quality photos.

I think many pro quality photographers are no different than other tradesmen that offer to do pro-bono work. And you don't usually hear about other electricians, plumbers, carpenters, roofers, IT guys, etc getting upset about losing that business. What's the difference? And how much revenue is really being lost anyway?

I've shot for my childrens' school for free and also the horse stable where they go riding. Those places didn't have budget to hire a pro, the school had a communications officer, but she didn't have enough time and I could take better shots than her anyway. The horse stable would have to settle for less images and of worse quality, this way I hope have helped their business to make sure the stable can continue their operations. They now have good pictures, maybe not super pro quality as I'm not a pro. But at least good quality.

 

[RustyTheGeek]

Hey there Arctic,

Glad you are so generous. You described it well. You are doing the same thing I'm doing, helping out organizations with your time and talents who wouldn't otherwise have what you provide. I shoot my son's high school swim team, church events, a lot of boy scout activities and various other things. It keeps me busier than most pros. But people appreciate it and I get a lot of experience and improve my abilities. It all gives my amateur shooting an important purpose and pushes me to improve.

I try to be considerate when a pro might be involved. My church hosted a 5K fun run race event last fall and I shot it along with the hired photog from the company that promoted the event for the church. I waited a month before I posted my pictures on my site to give the pro a chance to sell images. The pastor later thanked me and commented that they liked my pictures better. I was glad the event was a success and my pictures were well received but I was also glad I didn't initially "compete" with the hired photog either. It's all about a bit of balance and keeping egos in check.

 

[Dylan777]

Hey there Arctic,

Glad you are so generous. You described it well. You are doing the same thing I'm doing, helping out organizations with your time and talents who wouldn't otherwise have what you provide. I shoot my son's high school swim team, church events, a lot of boy scout activities and various other things. It keeps me busier than most pros. But people appreciate it and I get a lot of experience and improve my abilities. It all gives my amateur shooting an important purpose and pushes me to improve.

I try to be considerate when a pro might be involved. My church hosted a 5K fun run race event last fall and I shot it along with the hired photog from the company that promoted the event for the church. I waited a month before I posted my pictures on my site to give the pro a chance to sell images. The pastor later thanked me and commented that they liked my pictures better. I was glad the event was a success and my pictures were well received but I was also glad I didn't initially "compete" with the hired photog either. It's all about a bit of balance and keeping egos in check.

Same here RustyTheGeek

Both of my kids currently enroll in small catholic church. It's a small private school. Funding from gov. is almost to none. Every pennies important, however, we the parents like to keep it that way

It's good to know that I'm not the only one

 

[RustyTheGeek]

Hey surapon, I'm so glad to see you are wearing a large HAT to keep the sun off of you! All you need now is to get a water hydration pack to add to all the other equipment so you can stay hydrated! I'm sort of half kidding and half serious. If you are like me, you get so caught up in shooting that you look at your watch and it has been 2+ hours shooting and you are getting light headed from all the effort. Hanging a water bottle off of your belt isn't a good option with all the cameras but a Camelbak type water pack would stay out of the way. There are many brands and designs available. Just a thought!

 

[Arctic Photo]

Hey there Arctic,

Glad you are so generous. You described it well. You are doing the same thing I'm doing, helping out organizations with your time and talents who wouldn't otherwise have what you provide. I shoot my son's high school swim team, church events, a lot of boy scout activities and various other things. It keeps me busier than most pros. But people appreciate it and I get a lot of experience and improve my abilities. It all gives my amateur shooting an important purpose and pushes me to improve.

I try to be considerate when a pro might be involved. My church hosted a 5K fun run race event last fall and I shot it along with the hired photog from the company that promoted the event for the church. I waited a month before I posted my pictures on my site to give the pro a chance to sell images. The pastor later thanked me and commented that they liked my pictures better. I was glad the event was a success and my pictures were well received but I was also glad I didn't initially "compete" with the hired photog either. It's all about a bit of balance and keeping egos in check.

Hi Rusty. thanks for your words. I only do it where my kids are involved, but I know I make other parents and kids happy too which is very nice. Also, it's good practice for me. Just this afternoon I shot horse riding with my oldest daughter, I shot about 250 photos in an hour during very difficult lighting conditions. Fun and challenging. The teacher had me working a bit with the horses so they wouldn't be scared of the camera and the white lens (70-200 2.8) when I pointed it at them. I only shot jpg (there are limits to my kindness ) so I don't have to edit. The pictures will be used for their Facebook page and their homepage.

Photography is only a hobby for me so I don't need any pay and these places wouldn't hire a photographer anyway so I am not stealing any business.

Keep up the great work and have fun!

 

[surapon]

Hey surapon, I'm so glad to see you are wearing a large HAT to keep the sun off of you! All you need now is to get a water hydration pack to add to all the other equipment so you can stay hydrated! I'm sort of half kidding and half serious. If you are like me, you get so caught up in shooting that you look at your watch and it has been 2+ hours shooting and you are getting light headed from all the effort. Hanging a water bottle off of your belt isn't a good option with all the cameras but a Camelbak type water pack would stay out of the way. There are many brands and designs available. Just a thought!

 

[surapon]

Hey surapon, I'm so glad to see you are wearing a large HAT to keep the sun off of you! All you need now is to get a water hydration pack to add to all the other equipment so you can stay hydrated! I'm sort of half kidding and half serious. If you are like me, you get so caught up in shooting that you look at your watch and it has been 2+ hours shooting and you are getting light headed from all the effort. Hanging a water bottle off of your belt isn't a good option with all the cameras but a Camelbak type water pack would stay out of the way. There are many brands and designs available. Just a thought!

Ha, Ha, Ha, Dear RustyTheGeek my friend.
Yes, That is a great Idea, to have that Water Hydration pack on my back. Yes, I use to have a bottle of water at my Belt, But Now, When I get old, I must have 4 Can of Cold beers in my Thermos Soft Bag.
Ha, Ha, Ha. Just Kidding.
Have a great mother day, Sir.
Surapon