Apologies if this isn’t allowed, it’s more of a rant. Just wondering how everyone deals with the whole family asking for free photos thing.

For context, I’m a professional fashion/commercial photographer so family portraits aren’t going to help my portfolio or anything. My schedule is incredibly busy year round, even more so during the holidays, and I’m also a mother of two young kids. So if I’m not in parent mode, I’m working- often until midnight, and then I’m awake around 5:30 with the kids. I know it sounds like I’m complaining and… well, I kind of am, but want to give an accurate picture of how little time I have available to be doing free photos.

So every year, my in-laws want a family session. Not just a quick snap but like a full session. And every year I do it because they’re my in-laws and I don’t want them to think badly of me. The one time I hinted at being annoyed at this yearly request they were flabbergasted, saying “I thought you liked photography? It doesn’t take much time, does it?” This year I feel like I might snap. I’ve been racing to meet deadlines for huge clients that I’ve worked hard to get and I keep getting sidetracked with all of these family shoots (it is also happening with friends, other relatives). It’s not just the shoot- it’s deciding a location, responding to lengthy texts about what to wear, doing the editing- you guys know. It’s never “just a few pics”.

How can I deal with this?! Do I need to just suck it up and be a nicer person? I’m just burnt out af. Help.

  • JCKphotograph@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    If I had a family member that did roofs professionally, I wouldn’t feel comfortable or respectful going, hey, could you just come swing hammers for a few hours and redo that little patch over there during the holidays? Don’t worry about getting all of it, we have the next few Christmases to get the rest…

    You have mouths to feed, and bills to pay girl. If I was in your shoes, I might say “I just have the extra capacity to do one quick shot this year without putting our family income in jeopardy. I have a lot of deadlines I have to meet and am already burning the candle at three ends. If we want to hire one of my colleagues, they do great work, I think they run $500 for a session which is pretty normal for that much work, I can ask them if that’s what you’d like to do.”

    Many people as you well know think it’s just so easy to push the button and your fancy camera does all the magic. (“yOuR cAmeRa tAkEs grEat pIctureS”).