Black Star shooter Sean Johnson muses about what it really costs when asked to shoot for free in this post on Black Star Rising. In one of the comments, a reader suggests charging friends a little something. Frankly, I’m over that Friends and Family Rate thing. I give people my time and advice constantly without charging but I can’t remember a single instance when I ever received a special rate for services from any of my F&F except for a few partnership projects that required personal time/expense investments.

Maybe that is because I don’t expect people to work for free or drop their prices so I can make more profit. I’m just too embarrassed to even ask. I’ve hired countless photographers, writers, editors, designers, assistants, printers and retouchers over the years. I tend to give work to my F&F before going to strangers. People I enjoy working with and trust to deliver quality I usually consider my friends! Don’t most of us work that way? I reveal my budget from the beginning and if they can do it for that price, great, if not, no problem.

I also can’t count the times that NPOs, start-ups and the like used their charity status to practically demand that I reduce licensing or assignment fees, so I understand where Sean is coming from. End of rant for the week.