Offered Event Photographer Position. What do I need to know?

[aribabybug]

For several years, I have been an unofficial photographer for a fairly large event that takes place over 6 weekends during the summer. I was given free entry to the event and free lunch, and I uploaded my photos to Facebook for participants to view and provided DVDs of the images to some of the organizers at the end of the season.

This winter, the man who runs the entire event finally looked at my images, and has decided that he would like me to be the primary photographer for the event. I have no idea what the pay would be, but since I would be there anyway, I'll be happy with pretty much anything he offers me.

I'm not sure what I need to ask him before accepting the position though. I have a few questions, but I'm sure I'm missing some.

1) Can I still upload photos to my Facebook photography page as I have in the past? (This is something I really enjoy, as many of the participants are friends, and I love to chat about the photos with them.)

2) Will I be given any photographer's credit? How and where?

3) What is the compensation?

4) Can I use the images in my portfolio? Do I retain the rights to them?

5) When and how do you expect delivery of the images?

6) Will I have any duties, responsibilities, or requirements that I did not have in previous years?

7) What happens if I fail to deliver photos for a certain day (illness, poor weather, etc) or you are not satisfied with what I provide?



Is there anything else I need to be thinking about or ask? This is my first "real" event gig (I've shot a few small events my dad was helping run, but nothing this large or serious). Primarily, I want to be sure that I am still able to post the images on Facebook and that I can use them in my portfolio if I want to. Should there be some sort of contract? If so, what should be in it? I don't want to get into a bind because I didn't think this through clearly enough.

Thanks for the advice!

[Ensleygirl]

Honestly, I would not ask him any of those questions. Those are for you, as a paid photographer, to dictate. That's not to say there can't be compromise, but you need something to go on first. Numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 (at least) should be covered in a contract you draw up for him to sign. I would sit down and figure out how much time you are going to be putting into this (shooting and editing) and what kind of images you are going to provide (digital vs. prints). And then you can figure out how much you are going to charge them to do this, #3 on your list. I'm not sure what you mean by #6 because you don't specifically state what your duties have been in the past as an "unofficial" photographer. There is a big difference between doing something for fun and doing it for pay.

Best of luck!!