I’m sure that many of us have been asked to work for free in all sorts of annoying ways. One cheeky couple recently sent an email to a photographer asking for a coverage of their 10-hour wedding. In return, they offered exposure to the incredible number of 300 guests, 117 of them unmarried. What a tempting offer, right?
The screenshot of the email was posted on Reddit and we don’t know the name of the photographer who received this incredible offer. I’m quite fascinated with how the email was worded, almost as if the couple is doing him or her a favor. The couple asks the photographer top “sponsor” their wedding with “10 hours of continuous photography coverage.” In return, this is what they offer:
“In exchange, we will be showcasing your company to:
3000+ combined Facebook followers
300 total wedding guests
196 wedding guests based in the Chicagoland area
117 unmarried guests between the ages of 24 to 35 years old
73 parents with unmarried children between the ages of 24 to 35 years old
“Our wedding brochure will include your logo and contact information, which will be distributed to all 300 wedding guets. In addition, we will also have your company information posted in our Facebook wedding album as well as our wedding website.”
I just love how they divided the 300 guests into categories based on age, area, and marital and family status. I honestly wonder what the photographer replied to this quite incredible offer.
The comments, as you probably expect, are not at all in favor of the couple. Some Redditors point out that shooting this wedding for free exposure will mean that other guests would expect the same “price” if they hire the photographer. Others point out that 3,000 people on Facebook isn’t actually a big number.
I tend to agree with the comments. As one Redditor put it: “If you did that, one of the guests will see the wedding brochure and contact you. The first thing out of their mouth would be, ‘I heard you did the photos for my friend’s wedding for free. Can you do mine? No? But you did theirs for free!’” That’s pretty much the scenario I see in my mind, too.
On the other hand, there are some situations when you should work for free. I agreed with my teammate Dave that one of them includes helping out a friend whose budget is tight. But I believe that helping your friends is a whole different thing than this.
When it comes to shooting a client’s wedding for “exposure,” let’s see what the “exposure calculator” says. According to this precious tool, my work is worth 293 “exposures,” which equals 25,000+ social media followers. So, shooting your 10-hour wedding for exposure to 3,000 people… Bitch, please!
Joke aside, if unknown people asked me to shoot a 10-hour wedding for “exposure,” I’d go beyond my usual well-mannered behavior and reject them in a reply as sarcastic as possible. What would you do if you received an offer like this?
[via FStoppers; image credits: ANURAG1112 on Pixabay]
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!