lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

This was posted to another Blog I read and Participate in - I posted back to the author some sarcasm and said it was weird. What does the UHH think:

"Good morning everyone!!! Would it be unproffessional to hire a photographer and ask that they use my equipment, i.e., my camera, strobes, lighting, backdrops etc? I'm hosting my 4 & 5 year old toddlers birthdays in one day and I will be so busy and need pictures taken. Just wanted to find out before I ask around."

I don't even know the person who posted this, but it sure is the first time I ever heard or thought of such a question or situation. It is a new one on me. Anyone ever heard this one before or have suggestions for her?

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

I can't imagine any reason for wanting to use equipment other than his own.

Dennis

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

The hired person would possibly be unfamiliar with the requestor's equipment.
Second if there was a failure of equipment or the photos didn't come out there would be a lot of finger pointing.
I personally if approached by the poster with this proposition would turn it down. To big of a risk.
Kind of silly too to ask this.

juanbalv Loc: Los Angeles / Hawthorne

I am in total agreement with dennis2146. Why would you want to impose a learning curve on a hired professional? Unless, of course, she happens to have the exact equipment as you; doubtful.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Unrealistic, and why would the hired photographer want to use equipment he is not familiar with.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

Lets see. When you hire a photographer part of his/her bill will be depreciation on equipment. So is this move and attempt to just hire one finger?

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

That is very strange, a photographer will want to use his own equipment and would not do that - period!!!

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Maybe if it was something really unique about the equipment. The backdrop, for example. Then again, I'm sure there are some starving photographers who are willing to do anything for a paid assignment.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

Why not just pay a photographer to do the job.....Oh yes...they might want paying..per image
Perhaps she just wants to know if her camera is one of those 'good at childrens parties' camera's that everyone asks...

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

UPDATE.

Thanks for the replies, they are all pretty much what I had thought. She actually responded on my post on the other site. She gave an explanation. Though that raises other questions.

It seems the last time she hired another photographer to shoot an even that she was participating in and not able to photograph herself, she found that afterwards she did not like his processing (Lightroom). So she asked for a redo or for the image files so she could reprocess them from Raw herself. But he said he did not keep any of her images on his camera or computer. So all she could get were the "bad" file processed images. Seems this is a trust issue now and she just wants someone to shoot it with her camera and leave it to her to process to her own liking. Makes sense but there are still all the issues that we've pointed out. As I said originally, I don't know this Photographer-Customer. And I'm certainly not offering my services. I just found it a curious question. Actually she may get an offer on the other site. Some daring photographers there it seems. Thanks for reading and giving your comments.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I think she was offering to pay. It seems she wants to do her own Post Processing.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

She should take her own photos.

Bill_de Loc: US

Years back photographers would take jobs and hand over the unprocessed film. The same could be achieved today by hiring somebody to shoot and handing over the memory cards.

As for the equipment, the only thing I can think of is they have it set in a way they think the picture taker can point and shoot and she wont have to worry slow shutters, high ISO etc. If the event is in a venue they know, like their home, it may have some merit.

For kids parties, I'd rather pay somebody to host the party and I'd take the pictures.

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JPL

Why not? I would be happy to leave my gear at home instead of bringing it to a bunch of 4-5 years old partying!!

tdekany Loc: Oregon

Would you really want to fiddle around with an Olympus camera for the first time while you are getting paid?