Job-related Photography

A few thoughts on transitioning from being a student intern to being a full-time employee.

Even though dpc is barely a shell of its former self, in its heyday, it was an incredible resource for me. The exposure to an international spectrum of people, experiences, and situations was almost as valuable as developing my photography. In some ways, it was very similar to traditional education: get the theory in the classroom, test it out in real life, come back and discuss. For me, this was true whether in the form of a challenge (such as “Yellow”), or a situation (such as “how much do I charge to shoot my cousin’s wedding?”).

I quickly separated out the people who worked professionally, semi-professionally, and non-professionally. There were some who were absolutely great at photography (and challenges) that should never take money for anything related to photography. There were others that were between good and good enough that were actually making decent money. I spent a fair amount of time figuring out the differences. And I took what I saw online with me as I started to interact with prospects, clients, and other photographers.

One particular situation that I ran into over and over was “job-related photography”. This typically involved someone in a non-photography job where everyone at the job knew that 1) the person was a good photographer, and 2) had decent equipment. Sound familiar? The chronically problematic situation was that the photography became expected, but not compensated. In the worse situations, the person felt that they couldn’t say no and quit doing it for fear of losing their job!

Here are some examples I have encountered:

• Every time our office has a function, I’m expected to photograph it
• Our marketing department wants to use photos I took of our building and they claim they already own the copyright
• My boss asked me to bring my camera to a job site, then he sent the photos to a magazine
• Because they know I have studio lights, they are asking me to do the company headshots

Basically, whether intentionally or not, companies and employers are exploiting their employees, getting use of their skills, experience, and equipment rather than paying professional rates. Again, sound familiar?

These skills and resources you have are a double-edged sword, one that you have to control to avoid cutting yourself. Depending on your read of a situation, you will have to decide whether to deal with it up front, or when it reaches a certain point. Going into an employment situation, be aware of some workplace standards:

• employment contracts that have job descriptions that detail your position and responsibilities. Photography may or may not be part of your job description.
• employment contracts that specify intellectual property ownership. Some jobs (especially higher paying jobs) will specifically state that the company owns anything you create (whether an idea, drawing, photography, etc) while during working hours. Some contracts will go as far as to dictate what work-related things you can include in your portfolio.
• employment contracts that specify whether or not you can moonlight, have a second job, or do work that competes with their primary business. For example, most software companies do not allow their employees to do any freelancing.

You need to be ready to discuss not only your situation and its expectations, but also how to handle things that fall outside the defined expectations. Your skills, experience, and equipment are all bargaining chips that you can leverage for either getting work and/or getting compensated. The worst thing that I have seen happen is when people come to feel exploited, unappreciated, and uncompensated. By handling it at the outset, you can prevent the inevitable toxic work relationship.

How?

By making it part of the conversation. Rather than offering it up as a giveway consideration, wait until you know what will be expected of you in a job position. Probe to find out what types of skills and experience are they looking for in the optimal job candidate. It might be that your photography skills are a critical part of the job and that they will provide everything you need.

On the other hand, you might find that you have something that will give you a competitive edge in getting the job. How and when you play it is up to you.

Whether your value-add is either part of the job or expected of you, you must determine whether or not it will require special gear, equipment, tools, and/or software. Maybe all you need is a cellphone. Maybe you need a complete professional setup. More importantly, if the necessary tools are not already in place, who is going to provide them?

Consider the following conversation points:

This moves your equipment out of the equation. Either you are covered for the additional wear-and-tear, or it doesn’t get used. (Of course, you might decide that there might be more benefit to you in the long run to go on and use your own gear if there’s a situation where it will really make a difference and where you’ll wind up with a portfolio piece that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.)

As with the equipment issue, you will need to address “add-on duties.” First, decide if you want to bring it up during the interview process, at the time of hire, or at a job/performance review. Either way, you have to be able to articulate your value-add. It has to be fair, reasonable, and accurate. Think along the lines of “If you were to bring in a professional to do this, this is what you get and this is what it would cost.” Depending on when you have the conversation, you will either be forecasting or recapping.

The point to stress is that you are not asking for the professional compensation, but that you would like the value to be acknowledged. Maybe a bonus? Maybe some other benefits, opportunities, recognition? The point is that you don’t want it to become an assumed part of your job if it wasn’t already part of your job description.

However you get there, it is your responsibility to make your employer cognizant of the additional value you bring that is beyond simply being able to do the work you were hired to do. In addition to your skills and experience, this value may well include your equipment.

The bottom line is this: if you make your value-add part of the conversation, you will know whether you are being treated fairly and valued, or if you should be looking for another place to work (even if not immediately, sooner than later).

YMMV