Do you think this person was asking WAY too much? Your thoughts.

I rec'd this email yesterday from a college student - I have eliminated the persons name and their flickr website address- but the rest of the email is in tact. I thought they were asking WAY too many questions - if you want me to help you - call me or make it more personal than sending out a bulk email etc.

I emailed this person back - saying you have to be kidding, are you writing a book, etc etc - if you want a few mins of my time - lets set up a time to talk on the phone. And if they contact me - I will spend that few mins giving them basics on dealing with people - which is something this person needs.

Here is the email:

Hi,

I have either been directed to you from the hockey team you shoot for or I have done some searching on my own. I might have also contacted you in the past. I am a student photographer who is starting to take the steps towards working professionally. I currently take photography classes at (name removed) Community College and as someone that wants to break into shooting hockey professionally, I have many questions to ask. Please answer as thoroughly as possible. Some teams have offered me the opportunity to shoot a game for the experience and portfolio-building and some told me to ask their photographer(s) if I could shadow them for a game. I will be taking my Digital Photography Portfolio class fall quarter.

A quick background on my experience. I received a degree in Sports Management from (name removed) and went back to school to master my photography. I currently shoot with a Canon 40D, Canon EF 70mm-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens, and a Canon 24mm-85mm f/4.5 lens. I played for the (name removed) hockey team and became the team photographer after graduating. Hockey is my specialty since it is the sport I grew up on and played. I spent the 2008-09 season shooting the men's varsity hockey teams of (names removed). I also traveled to both (location removed) to shoot some (name removed) games. I was hired by the (team name removed) to shoot season ticket holders in a pre-game event on opening night. In 2008, I traveled to Ottawa to shoot the NHL Draft. In the off-season, I shoot the (name removed), AAA affiliate of the (name removed). I am in the process of building my portfolio as I prepare to take that step into being a paid professional. My biggest weaknesses with photography are lighting, portraiture and most definitely the business side. I'm more a hands-on learner than a book learner. I have found that some photographers are willing to talk to me, while others I guess see me as a rookie or a threat. Well, we all gotta start somewhere. I have the skills, now all I need is to improve my business knowledge.


1. What sports team(s) do you shoot for?


2. Besides sports teams, do you shoot for any other organizations?


3. How did you get involved with the team(s) you shoot for?


4. How long have you been shooting for them?


5. Are you contracted or directly employed by the team?


6. How are you paid (per game? per season?)? What is pay based on (I know a lot can go into pre-game, game, post-game and non-game events)?


7. What does the team expect from you?


8. Besides sports, what else do you shoot?


9. Do you shoot with strobes? Do you shoot with a preset program or Aperture Priority mode or some other method in the camera (I can never figure out how to set up my camera correctly and then spend too much time in Photoshop afterwards)?


10. Do you use Canon or Nikon? What lenses do you use?


11. Do you shoot in RAW or JPEG?


12. How much post-production do you put into the photos?


13. How do you have your focus set for the lens? Manual or automatic? Do you use all the focusing dots or just one (my camera has I think 9)?


14. Do you shoot through the glass or do you have holes or a box to shoot from?


15. Are polarizing filters worthwhile for shooting through the glass or no?


16. Do you do your own printing or utilize an online site, i.e. SmugMug?


17. What kind of insurance do you carry for your equipment?


18. Do you shoot off-ice events involving the team as well?


19. Do you ever shoot any of the road trips? If so, does the team pay for it or you? And if so, does the team get you credentials for the opposing arena or do you have to go about getting those yourself?


20. Are you licensed? Does the team get you licensed by the league or do you get yourself licensed by the league? How does licensing work? Are there fees involved?


21. Is it considered commercial or editorial when selling photos to players and their families (I get requests all the time, and I'm never sure if I'm allowed to sell prints to them...I don't sell or give photos to fans)? What can and can't you do with your photos? Do you own the rights to your photos or does the team and is this negotiable? What are good definitions of editorial use v. commercial use? What categories would websites, flyers, business cards, and other forms of self-advertising you aren't selling to someone would these fall under?


22. Do you have an assistant? If so, do you provide one or does the team or league provide one? Do you or have you considered taking on interns? Would you allow a student to shadow you for a game?


23. On the business side, how do you go about starting up? Did you already have one set in place or did you set one up after getting with a team? (I've known some photographers with the Cinderella story of shooting games for fun and the team taking them on)


24. Are you affiliated with any photography organizations?


25. Have you shot any college sports? If so, how do you deal with the licensing that goes along with the university and the NCAA? How do you go about selling your photos?

I asked that last question because there is a news station in (state removed) that is revamping its sports set and wants to use one of my college hockey photos in the set design, only I'm not sure I'm allowed to sell it to them because I don't know if that would be editorial or commercial use, and I'm not licensed by anyone. One photog I know that shoots college told me I can't, and another one told me I can. And if I can, I'm not sure how to price this. I'm sure I will think of more questions, but this is quite a bit to muster. Anything else you can add that you think would be helpful to me is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your input,
(Name removed- by the way they only gave their first name)
(flickr website removed)

Well you are much more polite than I would have been.

This sentence alone would have sent the mail directly in the spam folder with no reply at all.

Tommy - you are right. I am all for helping others but this pushes it way beyond the boundaries -- so far that if I hear from this person I will only give them a few people skill tips which it appears they do not have.

That person is just fishing. It's a generic email he or she is sending out to any and all photographers he or she can find contact information for, in the hopes of getting spoon fed. Crap like that belongs in the trash. I wouldn't even give them people skills tips. They don't deserve the help.

Subscribing just in case Scott answers any of the questions.

cdifoto wrote in post #8499090
That person is just fishing. It's a generic email he or she is sending out to any and all photographers he or she can find contact information for, in the hopes of getting spoon fed. Crap like that belongs in the trash. I wouldn't even give them people skills tips. They don't deserve the help.

That would be the only reply i made to the email - certainly wouldnt get any answers to that questionaire.

Wow... that's quite the laundry list of questions and frankly most could be answered by being a little internet savvy and googling around. The other thing is he breaks the absolute golden rule which is never ask pricing from another photog when he throws in the "I'm not sure how to price this" at the end as if to say "Mind telling me your rates so I can undercut you?".

You should just direct him here and tell him to use the Search function

The guy should not try to catalog all photographers with the #1 question. It should have been just "how many teams".

But he should tried a more personal letter, and skipped just about all questions but one: Would you be interested in letting me follow you on one game. Then he could have tried to build a relation and chit-chatted a number of questions in the background, if the personal chemistry was ok.

The list of questions in this mail is ridiculous. I would not think anyone whould be interested in answering them even if receiving full salary for the time spent. Someone who admits that he can't figure out how to set up his camera and have to spend a lot of time in photoshop later should learn by doing, instead of expecting someone else to supply a lifetime of experience condensted to a perfect checklist. And the main goal of this huge list of questions is basically to receive enough information to become a direct competitor by knowing way more than he has a right to know about your business.

stathunter wrote in post #8498607
I have many questions to ask. Please answer as thoroughly as possible

i would've deleted the email by this point ! ... i've requested for help and have been asked for help as well .. and all this time, i've never seen anything like this LOL ...

that email definitely takes the cake LOL! I loved how he claims to "I have the skills" then turn around and ask questions like #9, 11, 13, each of which basically admit to not knowing more then Point-And-Shoot.
Scott, I too would have answered the email, but I would definitely not answer any questions. I would have been sorely tempted to come up with a list of 25-50 questions for him/her though. including all sorts of obsurd things that I have no right to know (SSN, police record, names addresses birthdates for all close relatives, expected salary, full copyright to three of the images from his portfolio... etc.) just for kicks to see what the punk would do.

that email is definitely just a phishing exercise, and I do enjoy a little scambaiting...