jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

A local playhouse asked my son - who does a lot of video for them - to take publicity pictures of the cast. Since he was working that night, I filled in. Thirteen cast members were there, but I had to return for the six missing people. They liked the results and asked if they could have copies for themselves. I printed everyone an 8 x 10 and a sheet with mixed sizes.

Printing was a problem. The small Canon always had vertical lines through two of the smaller prints on the mixed sheet. I switched to my HP, and that printed okay, but the color was a bit different - better. Then the colored ink cartridge ran dry, and the new one didn't have good color. That led me to switch to the Canon Pro-100. Again, the color was a bit different, so I had to go back and reprocess all the portraits. Print size was another consideration. Just how large is an 8 x 10 print? These were printing smaller than that (despite what Lightroom said), so I emailed the director and asked her for the size of the prints I had already given her. She said they were 8 x 10, so I made the adjustment and printed the last six portraits larger.

When I went to deliver the remaining portraits and private pictures, I discovered that the director must have used a different kind of ruler because all of her 8 x 10s were the original smaller size that I had printed. I have to make one more trip back there with a few more prints. So, I will have made four trips (128 miles), burning $8.00 worth of gas. I began with a new color cartridge ($65) in the HP and used that up, and I went through almost a hundred sheets of 8 x 10 gloss paper. As for the hours I spent on this freebee, I didn't keep track, but they were many. I know they will ask me to come back for the next play, but I will not be working for them again.

As some of you know, it is very expensive to put on a play. Royalties can cost thousands of dollars, and this group just manages to get through each year and pay the bills. They have no photography budget, so this must all be voluntary. I hope they find someone satisfactory next year.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I would have discussed with them the expenses so as to be compensated. You have invested considerable time and efforts for free.
I do not believe they are going to find someone next year that will do the same for FREE.

SparkyNYC Loc: NYC & Coconut Creek,Fl

Jerry,
Did you enjoy the smiles and joy that you brought to them?
Did you develop better people and photography skills?
You were compensated,just not monetarily.

LarryFitz Loc: Beacon NY

Can you bill them, then donate the billed amount. Put on your taxes as a charity donation?
I am not a lawyer or accountant..

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

No good deed... I have the same "problem" with a club I belong to and where I used to work. Once an organization finds out you have some camera skills...and free time because you're retired (although I'm generally busier now than when I worked) you're going to get tapped on a routine basis. Like the playhouse, my club has little money for professional services so I just chalk it up to my contribution to keep it running. We have tradespersons and others who provide their skills and materials at their own expense so it's not like I'm being taken advantage of. No doubt the playhouse has no idea of the trials and tribulations you went through with your printers; they probably think you took a few shots of each actor and printed them out in one try, at your home. It would be kinda nice if they gave you a credit somewhere on the playbill when the show runs, though.

Pablo8 Loc: Nottingham UK.

You certainly had problems with that 'Job'. Pro' Photography is NOT a 'Bed of Roses', but I stuck at it for over fourty years.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Wow...that's tough.

Let me see.....

1 roll of color film = $2.50

Chems to develop = 25 cents

Printing paper = 10 cents per 8x10 x 19 portraits = $1.90

Time to develop 15 minutes

Time to print 2 hours

Total cost of job = $4.25

I can see that the error was that you were shooting digital. :)

CanonTom Loc: Birmingham

I am a CPA: He could but if he did deduct the billed amount as charity, he would first have to recognize the billed amount as income, which would not help. If he did this, it would actually be detrimental to him as the billed recognized income would increase his adjusted gross income, and he would likely loose certain other deductions which are limited to certain percentages of adjusted gross income. Or another way of putting it, since he would not have to recognize the billed amount until he collected it, he would have no tax "basis" in the contribution. No "basis", no deduction.
"There ain't no free lunch."

Bill_de Loc: US

If you went in knowing it was a freebie their should be no regrets on that end. The fact that you had problems with your printer shouldn't really change that. The only thing I might do at this point is ask for some free tickets.

One other thought, if your son gets paid and you were filling in for him, have him bill them. If you don't want to volunteer in the future, so be it.

--

--

chefpat1

I think it's awesome that you went through all the trouble to do that for them and that you worked through the issues to make sure you delivered professional results. Karma will take care of you.
They would really benefit from hooking up with one or two larger print shops that are geared up to do this type of thing every day, all day long instead of someone who is tinkering with problematic equipment and expensive materials that aren't being purchased in bulk.
A large shop would bang the job out quickly and have the ability write it off as well as publicize that they support their local art community.
Kudos to you for doing it this time and I hope you are not feeling guilty about not doing it again.
Take care, Pat

P.S. I can relate to the printer problems you had...right now I am trying to get this image to print properly( I'm just learning how to use my Canon 100) and am having a hard time understanding how to set the printer settings so that they allow Photoshop settings to control the printing.

d3200prime

So, if I understand, you were asked, by your son, to fill in taking photos of the cast. You did your son a favor. It ended up being a nightmare. Inform your son you will not be filling in for him again. Problem solved. Lesson learned.

repleo Loc: Boston

Jerry,
I always knew you were a nice guy.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Remuneration in small theaters is weird and biased in odd ways. Frequently, actors will be asked to work for free while tech staff is paid a living wage. I have spent over 45 years as an actor and director. About 15 years in I started refusing jobs where actors went unpaid (unless the job was VERY interesting and no one else was being paid.)

That was also around the time I stopped auditioning (with a rare exception) and only took offered jobs.

Doddy Loc: Barnard Castle-England

You live and learn jerry...it might have worked out cheaper (and stress free) going online and getting a bulk order printed off.

elee950021 Loc: New York, NY

I've done a few freebies but now I don't supply prints. I just send the "clients" to a Dropbox link and let them pick and choose and download whatever they want. A lot faster and you can satisfy different requirements, i.e., theatre, director, AD, makeup artist, costume designer, actors and anyone else who needs an image. Aesthetically and according to Murphy, the "clients" always want the one that wasn't printed! Odds are the principles will want to post the images to social media or their own website. Now, even prints on plain paper come out acceptable. Cheers. Ed