I recently was hired to shoot for a client who will be participating in a sporting event. Said sporting event also has official photographers by the event organizers, but they are only paid via direct sales to participants, no upfront payment. Taking this job means ill be cutting in potential sales for the official photographers, whom I am also friends and shoot with from time to time.
My question is, is it morally ok for me to take the job in these situations? My client came directly to me even when they could’ve chosen the official photographers themselves. Should I just honor my clients wishes and go ahead? Looking at the big picture I realize the bigger assholes are the organizers who don’t pay their official photographers upfront.
Has anyone been put in similar situations? I’d really appreciate some second thoughts and discussions. Thanks.
To everyone crying for the poor take-advantage-of photographers who accidently got themselves into this awful arrangement, gimme a break. I do plenty of direct-to-participant speculative event sales, which I find profitable enough that I’m happy to pay the photographers I have trained in my methods $500 a day plus all flights, hotels, and travel expenses to shoot with my gear and give me the memory cards to upload. I’d highly suspect they don’t need your advice or pity.
If they didn’t negotiate exclusivity, shoot your shots and stay out of their way. Don’t make it weird, if you know them, just say hello and point out who you are there for–if I was shooting the event officially from a publicly-accessible area, I’d be happy to duck down when your athlete was going, or share settings etc. “I’m working with that girl, she hired me for this as a part of some other work I was doing for her…if you guys are ever shorthanded for events like this, I’d be happy to talk!” is a lot better than trying to be sneaky and coming off like a creep, plus they might end up booking you for a larger event in the future!