night club photos (NWS) (2)

Brandsanity wrote in post #13946943
Ahh I see. Not even sure to be honest! Guess I kinda am a Rough Hill member of staff... Do you reckon I should just leave it and send the images then? Then again, it only says this on my invoices: "Services Photographer Full Moon @ Leeds the 2012-02-16 £30"

They're wanting this full album:
http://brandsanity.com​/Mischief-08-09-2012

On another note - the 60D has really impressed me tonight! The rapid shooting and 12800 ISO are unreal.

Does anyone here change their Camera Calibration in Lightroom?

Brandsanity, As you know I do work for Roughhill too and i can assure you that you are still self employed, Although they pay it into your account it is considered "Paying an Act" and you are expected to do your own taxes on the income, they should also send you a weekly invoice email...

Out of curiosity how much are you charging roughhill?

I am currently charging them £30 p/h

Was hoping you might post Aidan! Ahh, I wasn't aware of that...

What would you do in my situation?

£30 an hour is amazing, wish I could charge that... I work 3 nights a week for Rough Hill and get £30 a night working 11pm-1am (plus my editing time), so I guess you could say that's £15 an hour (minus editing time!). I know it's not as much as some get, but when at uni and most people are working for £6 an hour in a shop or behind a bar, it really can't be beaten... I ****ing love the job too. I don't really "charge" them - it was them who told me what they usually pay which I agreed to! I had no real previous experience or portfolio other than some crappy stuff I was doing at a small bar in Barnsley so wasn't really in a position to ask for more. I would have taken the job no matter what the pay to be honest, in fact I offered to go in for free one night in hopes to build a portfolio and it just so happened their last photographer had recently quit so they gave me a trial!

Not sure how it works over there, but it does sound like you are still a contractor. The images are yours unless you signed away the rights in the beginning.

I almost had a situation like this with a site I used to shoot for way back when. The site started as an independent blog/forum/photo gallery, and got purchased by the company that owned Clubplanet. They were having huge problems breaking into the Miami market, and essentially they bought us so they could have access to the venues we had relationships with. I went from a contributor to a small-time site to a employee of a national media company in the space of a week. However, through bureaucratic inefficiencies, I never signed a contract or any papers relating to my employment, except for federal tax forms, which don't count as a contract. However, subsequent photographers hired by the company were work-for-hire and their works were used and reused constantly, despite my protests. I got paid little so I actually had to "work on the side" and sell my photos directly to the clubs just to make ends meet. This actually all came up in federal court when the relationship went sour and myself and my friends had to leave the company. I retained all rights to my archive. My concession was that they could only use what was uploaded, and I only uploaded the minimum resolution required for the website which was 512 px in the long dimension. You can't do anything with that.

So I would definitely look into anything you may have signed before charging them more or suggesting it, you might not actually be able to.

I haven't signed anything. Aidan is right - I'm pretty sure we are just standalone photographers that they simply choose to use time after time - they could scrap us any time we wanted and vice versa. There's no contract whatsoever, they've just asked me to photograph for them and like my stuff, and so asked if I could do it permanently! So I suppose in reality that doesn't give them rights to my full res images? But what about the fact they are allowing me on their premises to shoot in the first place? The only thing worrying me is if I ask to be paid for the photos - it doesn't go down well and then I lose my job.

I honestly don't have an issue providing the images for free, I just don't want to be screwed over either :/

A few from tonight anyway, still getting used to the new camera:

Update: So just received an email from someone asking for some more photos, saying they want to use them for presentations on the brand...

How I should word it if I want to ask to be paid for them?! I don't want to come across too harsh, but maybe just test the water

"Would there be any chance of me receiving commission on the photos used? I honestly don't mind giving them for free if they are only going to be used in house, but if they were to be used across print and other media it would be really appreciated."

Man, I ****ing suck at writing formally. I need to grow a dick.

I was already working for a lot of clubs when i started for RH and they approached me and i told them my rate (Which at the time was £20 p/h) they agreed and we were fine but at this point it was just for facebook.
about 3 months ago they asked for high res versions and i just upright said sure but it will be £30 p/h for now on, one email to head office from the area manager and it was agreed £30 p/h was the new rate.

It helps to have more clubs and club nights, they way if you have a dispute you can just move on.
At the moment my week looks like this

Monday:
Mansion (awaiting RE-launch) (Club Night)
Plus 1 (RH)
Wed:
Society (Bar)
Ran$om (Club Night) (Whole night club slot booking)
Fri:
Society (Bar)
Vanity (Club Night)
Boutique (Club Night)
Sat:
Society (Bar)
Aurum (Club)
Bad Apple (Club)

So as you can see i try to not 'Put all my eggs in one basket'

If i have a dispute with one then its easy to move on and get new work to replace it.
but in my experience with RH they are usualy fine with rates increase, after all you are a self employed professional.

Brandsanity:

Refer here for proper fair pricing for use of images:

http://www.londonfreel​ance.org …K§ion=Welco​me#general

I would word it as the following:

Dear Rough Hill,

First, I would like to thank you for employing me as a photographer in your clubs. You, and your staff always provide a friendly, safe, and comfortable environment to work in.

I am honored, that you would like to use my images beyond our agreement of your website, and into print and media. With this additional use, it is only fair to provide an increase in compensation as well. If you refer to the National Union of Photo Journalists, the standard rates for your requests are listed below:

xxxxx per xxxx.

Please keep in mind, the prices listed above are an average, and subject to negotiation. Feel free to get back to me if you have any further questions, and I enjoy working with you in the future.

Thanks again,

BrandSanity


Or something like this

Thanks alot for the advice Aidan and fminus!

That's a great start to the email man, could have never started to write that myself, thanks a bunch... I'm going to ask for a small rates increase as Aidan did instead, should I say how much extra I want?

You must make a fortune Aidan! All those nights at £30 an hour... Wow.

I'm just going to ask for £20 p/h (I currently get £15 p/h)

Brandsanity wrote in post #13951689
I'm just going to ask for £20 p/h (I currently get £15 p/h)

Im just going to say I am sure glad I don't do this for a living or I would never have the gear I have today LOL!

Aidan, quick question.

I've noticed a lot of nightclub togs down here doing what you do recently, working in more than 1 club a night.

how do you justify that to the promoter/manager?

I feel that if I am not in a club between midnight and 2am then I haven't got the peak of the night. nightclubs are dead before 12 and dead after 2am. so how do you juggle working more than 1 club?

328iGuy wrote in post #13951989
Im just going to say I am sure glad I don't do this for a living or I would never have the gear I have today LOL!

Haha! People offer to do my job for free here, so I've kinda dropped on...

But yeah I know it isn't a lot of money, gives me a bit of spendo while I study though and pays for my equipment £120 a week is a lot at uni!

Jesus, I am amazed how little you guys make a night. I work, 1.5 hours, and get paid roughly 70£. I am even thinking of raising my rates at this point. I want to start shifting more out of clubs, and into events and bar like atmospheres.

Srika: What's your lighting setup? Last picture looks like an off camera flash.

GambitLive wrote in post #13952133
Aidan, quick question.

I've noticed a lot of nightclub togs down here doing what you do recently, working in more than 1 club a night.

how do you justify that to the promoter/manager?

I feel that if I am not in a club between midnight and 2am then I haven't got the peak of the night. nightclubs are dead before 12 and dead after 2am. so how do you juggle working more than 1 club?

i dunno, i guess its all about timeing.

firstly i split my night up into bar hours and club hours

Bar hours are from 10 - 12 and club hours are anywhere from 1 - 3 (12 till 1 can be either)

up here the nightclubs are not too bad after 2 so 2 till 3 is not really an issue

srika wrote in post #13952421

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/delobbo/6922091​925/
V-Live Chicago 18-Feb 2012 mood2 by Rasidel Slika, on Flickr

From that angle she looks eerily similar to one of 'my' dancers. Thought maybe she traveled. Which is in the realm of possibility since the company they work for down here does business in Chicago as well, though on a smaller scale from what I understand.