Should You Work for Free?

I read an interesting article about excuses for shooting for free and why they’re bogus.  Most of the excuses are variations on a theme:

For the most part, I agree with these points.  I thought some of his comments were a bit smarmy, such as excuse #7:

I like my day job in IT, but at night I am passionate about photography. I don’t mind self-funding my work because it gives me more creative freedom.
Guess what, IT guy? When India’s night work takes over your day job, don’t call me crying about it. Also, don’t bother trying to make a living from your “passion,” because you’re already doing all you can to undermine your chances — as well as everyone else’s.

The author thinks everyone in IT is a desktop support jockey who will lose his call-center job to outsourcing.  That shows ignorance of the IT industry in general.  

That doesn’t surprise me, but I am surprised that he thinks we’re all responsible for everyone else’s chances to do business. It sounds like he’s blaming the enthusiast for the business problems of “professional” photographers.  

In most cases, I agree that you should charge what the job is worth.  The problem is that there are some circumstances where you haven’t proven your worth yet for someone to pay you.  So how do you get experience in a given field if you can’t get hired to do the job?

You work for free.  You use the opportunity for your own benefit and stop worrying if someone else is using you.  John’s first example is concert photography.  He phrased it in an unbelievable scenario, though, where a guy is saying it’s hard to get into concert photography (it is), so when bands call him, he does the job for free.

Dude, bands aren’t calling you if you don’t have any experience.  Maybe your cousin’s garage band knows you have a camera and wants you to do a free shoot, but you’re not going to get a call from someone who has money, but hasn’t seen proof of your work.  If you want to get that proof, you may consider making an arrangement.

For example, I know a man who’s been in the photography business for a few years and is a great shooter.  He loves concert photography and builds his experience and collection of images by working for a wire service.  The service gets him access, but there’s no pay.  My friend is no dummy. This is not a long-term solution, but it gives him access to build his experience and a reputation based upon a body of work.  He’s working out his own plan and using the wire service to get to the career he wants to develop.

Working for free because you hope it will lead to something better is foolish.  Working for free because you’ve considered how it fits into your overall strategy may be a very smart move.  As with most things in life, you can’t make blanket statement of dismissal.  Evaluate the situation and determine for yourself if it presents an opportunity to advance your objectives or if it’s just a cheap guy wanting to use you.  One may be a good idea; the other, not so much.