If you’ve been a professional photographer for any amount of time, you’ve had friends and family ask you to shoot their wedding, birthday, or portrait. For amateur photographers, this can be a great opportunity to build a portfolio in a more relaxed environment. But for the working professional, this situation could end in a nightmare unless you treat it very carefully. For this reason, many photographers refuse to work for friends, afraid of repeating a bad experience that they or a colleague had. But if you keep a few things in mind, working for friends and family can be a rewarding experience that is beneficial for both you the photographer as well as your friend or relative.

Making sure the whole process runs smoothly starts when your friend or family member asks you to photograph them. Nothing is more critical at this first step than ensuring that you understand their true expectations. Look out for dangerous phrases like “snap some photos” and “take a few shots”. Very rarely does anyone actually want just a few snapshots. Otherwise they wouldn’t have asked you. A fellow photographer I am friends with recently spoke on the phone with another friend of ours about doing a few “quick” portraits of his daughter. What he described as “passport-style shots” turned out were going to be used as senior portraits. Had the photographer taken some boring passport photos, the girl would have surely been disappointed, and worse, would have expressed her disappointment to her friends. There’s a clear lesson in that story: ask questions, and don’t stop until you’re absolutely sure about your friend’s expectations. Whether they are direct about it or not, your friend is asking you to photograph them because they trust you. They trust you because they’ve seen your top quality work and level of professionalism. Don’t let them convince you that they are interested in anything but your best work.

More than trust, price almost always plays a factor in family and friends requesting your services as a photographer. Most people’s budgets are tighter these days, and you as their friend the professional photographer are a perfect way to fit in under budget for their wedding. There are several ways to approach pricing yourself in these situations, all of which are valid and depend on both your business and your relationship with your friend.

The first way is to charge your regular rate. If you are a busy wedding photographer and your friend’s wedding will fill a date you will likely get other inquiries for, this is a good option. Your second choice is to give your friends a discount. Lower your normal rate, and treat the discounted amount as your wedding gift to them. The third and final option is to only charge them for expenses, but not your time. To properly photograph an event, you’ll need assistant(s), possibly rental gear, and other items. Don’t ignore these or you may very well end up losing money by photographing them. This is only appropriate for photographers with low rates such that only charging for expenses would not be a huge discount. Notice that doing the event for free is not mentioned here. If your friend is not even willing to cover your costs, that likely indicates that photographing them will be far more trouble than it’s worth. When you don’t charge any money, you are no longer a professional, but a volunteer. If you cannot respect your business enough by charging friends and family members, they surely won’t respect the fact that you a professional.

Once you’ve agreed on a price, the worst mistake you can make is deciding that because you are such good friends, a contract is unnecessary. A contract ensures that both parties understand each other’s expectations and binds them to a set of terms. The same way a contract protects you in the event a regular client is unhappy, it ensures that you are not liable for anything outside of your friend of family’s expectations. What happens when your friend who just wanted you to take a few “family snapshots” at his wedding is upset that you haven’t delivered a stunning portrait of his bride? Photographers worry that insisting on a contract could upset their friend and damage their friendship. In reality, not signing a contract could do just that. Signing a contract and then having to use it to defend yourself to a friend is an unfortunate and uncomfortable experience, one that we all hope to never be part of. But having a friend sue you and demand that you pay for a restaged wedding and a new photographer will surely sever your relationship with that friend. Don’t opt to skip a contract. You’ll only be sorry later.

Photographing family and friends can be a fun experience. Because your subjects know you well, the session can be more relaxed and produce beautiful portfolio quality images. But if there is confusion about the expectations of the photographer and the client, it could also be your worst nightmare. A solid understanding of expectations and payment formalized in a contract will prevent future hassles. Be friendly, but be professional, but remember: make everyone’s expectations clear. With that in mind, have fun photographing your friends and family and providing them with beautiful images they will cherish forever.

Please leave a comment below, or join the PPBF to discuss this topic further.

Photographing a Friend’s Wedding is a post from: The Pro Photo Business Forum

Do I really need a contract before I shoot a wedding?
by Bryan Lindsey
BCL Photography

Well, what is the purpose of a contract? On a principled level, it spells out the expectations between two parties – party A agrees to do THIS if party B agrees to do THAT. It avoids confusion and misguided expectations. On a legal level, it is the basis for lawsuits, arbitration, and all sorts of stuff that lawyers get big bucks to dispute. Will YOU ever need a contract on the legal level? As a photographer, will you ever need to produce a document in court as part of a legal dispute with one of your customers? Probably not (hopefully not!). So the benefits of a contract are really in principle – the contract preempts future disputes by spelling out what services the photographer will provide and what price the customer will pay. Personally, if a customer is not able to easily sign and return a contract or if I book something at the last minute, I often require just an email stating that they have read and agree to my standard contract. I want agreement in principle, not necessarily a legally binding document. Some other photographers will contend that point, but again, I value the clarity and principled agreement that the contract provides over its legal value.

What should be included in the contract? At the VERY least the contract should include the agreed upon date and time that shooting will commence, the duration of shooting, and the price to be paid. Also to be included are the deliverables – the number of prints, an album, a DVD of images, etc. There should be no confusion as to when the contract is fulfilled. It is when payment is made, and the deliverables are delivered. Residual sales items (prints, albums, etc.) will often not be part of the contract (since the customer wants to see what you shoot before they commit, which is understandable), although it doesn’t hurt to have your price list and lead times for these items included in your contract. This will help prevent future confusion/discussion/negotiation for those items.

What else? A complete contract also includes language that limits your liability. Is there a retainer required? What if the wedding is cancelled? What if things are running late? What if you are told to go left by one person and then told to go right by another person? What if your camera spontaneously combusts? What if, what if, what if?!? The more scenarios that you can cover in your contract, the better off you’ll be IF those scenarios arise. I often tell the customer that the reason these items are covered is because they have come up before, perhaps not with ME, but they have caused a problem for someone in the past and have resulted in a dispute. The contract is for the protection of both parties, and the customer should welcome the fact that these things are down in writing. If they don’t value the contract or try to put it off or wiggle out of signing, WATCH OUT. Many photographers will not book a date without a signed contract and paid retainer – there are logical reasons for this. If you are looking for ideas for contracts, just Google “photographer contract” and several templates come up in the search results ranging from simple to complex contract templates. Use protection – protect yourself and your business. Save yourself a bunch of hassle. You really need a contract before shooting a wedding.

www.bclphotography.com

Do I really need a contract before I shoot a wedding? is a post from: The Pro Photo Business Forum