THINGS U SHOULD KNOW PART (5) : What is shooting on SPEC ?

For those of u who are following along , ud know we have an ongoing series called THINGS U SHOULD KNOW discussing topics like copyright and licensing ... Those of u who just joined , or who werent paying attention we discussed :

1) Copyright
2) Licensing
3) Royalty free
4) Third party distribution rights

Today we discuss : Shooting on spec ...


What's wrong with shooting on spec?

Shooting on "spec" (or speculative) means to shoot to a client's specifications without the guaranteed payment of an assignment. It can be a tempting opportunity, especially when first starting out, that comes from speaking with an Art Director who mentions, for instance, that they have a story coming up in your area. While they don't have money for an assignment, continues the AD, they'll be looking for photos of X, Y, and Z and they'd like to see your stuff. Often, the AD will mention that these shots will probably be great stock shots for you to have anyway in an attempt to convince you to go shoot them. If this is true, and the images really are good, generic, saleable stock images, then by all means, go build your stock library and submit some images. But be careful. Do not let the client dictate what it is they are looking for to the extent that the images become too specific to be of any future value. For instance, a recent "stock" request mentioned, "There's a great overlook of the James River about 3-4 miles from the Balcony Falls Trailhead. A road does follow the River in some spots, but there's one bend that the road veers more north, making it possible to have a nice wilderness-like photo. " This sounds pretty specific and more like directions that should be given in an assignment. After all, when else will you ever have the chance to license an image from 3-4 miles down the Balcony Falls Trail, overlooking the James River, showing only a wilderness view, not the road that also follows the river?
The problems with shooting on spec are many. First, you're the only one guaranteed to be laying out money for expenses like film and processing, travel, road meals, packaging, and FedEx, not to mention the time involved to travel, hike, shoot, return, visit the lab, sort, label, package, and re-file the returned images. You're by no means guaranteed to make the sale and if you think that they're going to just sit around and wait on you to submit stuff, you're wrong. If they wanted that, they'd give out an assignment. They'll also be calling other eager shooters and probably combing stock libraries as well, so the chances of yours being the only images they'll see are slim at best.
Second, even if you do make the sale, you must first cover all of your own expenses, leaving little money left to pay for your time. In contrast, if hired for an assignment, your client should pick up the expenses of the trip, the film and processing costs, and then pay you a fee on top of that. Many a spec shooter has made a sale, only to discover that it ended up costing them money, just for the privilege of being published. Flattering, but not a very smart way to try to stay in business. Remember, we should never be so desperate or so vain to simply get published that we forget that the goal of getting published is to make a living.
Finally, shooting on spec erodes the number of assignments available by once again proving to an AD that there will always be a photographer more desperate to get published than to make a living.
As tempting as spec shooting may sound, no opportunity is free. As businesspeople, we must always weigh the benefit of an opportunity compared to all of its costs, tangible and intangible, current and future, and only then can we decide if this is a good deal for us at this time. For instance, the potential benefits of shooting on spec are: POSSIBLE publication; POSSIBLE income of a few hundred dollars; POSSIBLY beginning a relationship with a new client; and finally building stock that has only POSSIBLE future value. The costs are: DEFINITE commitment of time for travel, shooting, sorting, packaging, and filing; DEFINITE costs for film and processing; DEFINITE costs for gas and a day's travel; DEFINITE costs for packaging and shipping; and DEFINITE erosion of available future assignments. It seems that if you were to take this on, you would be the only one with DEFINITE commitments, while your potential client remains just that -- a POTENTIAL client -- and assumes none of the risk. This doesn't seem like a win-win situation or a smart business decision.

Article from http://www.editorialphoto.com/resources/faq.asp#anchor14