If you aren’t good enough to charge, you aren’t good enough to donate.

Oh, there she goes again, ranting and raving.

Yep, I’m in a soapbox tangent phase right now. I’m a 48 year-old woman with hot flashes. You figure it out.

So many times I see relatively new photographers try to make a name for themselves in their community by doing good deeds. Honey, donate your time at a cat shelter or give a cash donation in your business name, but for the love of all that is holy, do not volunteer to photograph the animals that need adopting if you’ve never photographed an animal before.

Basically – here’s what I’m saying. Do not “donate” your services when your main goal is to harvest more fodder for your portfolio. Most charities do need donations, it’s how most of them make it. Some of them have auctions and raffles. Do not leap into action and donate a large framed print or some other awesome-sounding product, when you can’t even sell the same product to a client…because you don’t really have clients, yet. Non-profit organizations deserve to have top quality donations. “Beggars can’t be choosers” does not apply here.

Don’t put the charity in a position of accepting a donation that they will have trouble getting people to bid on. It will only embarrass you and them.

And don’t look at a donation as an opportunity to get someone through through the studio door in hopes that you can upsell something to them.

Give from the heart because you believe in the cause.

It’s just good Karma with a little bit of Wootness™! thrown in for good measure.