Taking Advantage

A few things occurred to me today as the photography situation still continues to spin out of control.

Less than 10 seconds after I got out of my car this morning, I was stopped by a director of alumni relations who asked if I was available to take pictures at an alumni evening event next week.

She did the right thing by going to the VP of my department first, but was then deferred to my boss, who of course, obliviously nominates me for the job.

Now, first of all, I HATE shooting event photography. It is a whole other monster in itself when it comes to corralling people and timing the shots. Plus, I don’t have any event photography experience. I don’t like being around crowds, I hate randomly sticking a camera in people’s faces and I’d rather not work after normal business hours.

Even though I made it clear in my interview that I DO NOT want to do event photography, it clearly didn’t sink in to people’s thick-ass skulls. I enjoy shooting portraits, architectural shots and landscapes. That is where I excel and that is what makes me happy.

The College has already saved thousands of dollars by having me photograph many different things. Yet, there are cases where photography requests have taken away from design time and people start looking at me funny because my work isn’t done.

From day one, I said that there should be some sort of parameter put around the types of photos that I shoot and the ones taken by a professional photographer. ESPECIALLY if it takes time away from the job I interviewed for. Again, it fell on deaf ears.

Remembering all of this, I didn’t get upset. I politely told the director of alumni that I would be happy to help. However, I don’t have the proper equipment to handle such a task… and that was the truth.

For that type of photography, I would really need a speed light, or a high-powered, detachable flash, which would give more control over the lighting situation.

So, as my dad would say, I “put the monkey back on her,” and she agreed to “throw” that bit of information back to my boss.

Getting another piece of camera equipment would be exciting. However, it will eliminate my excuse out of shooting an event. Frankly, it’s a lose/lose situation and I’m sure someone is going to try to pressure me into doing it.

While I am happy that people recognize my talent for things, I don’t want to be taken advantage of… and that is what’s happening. I am not paid my normal photography rates for doing favors for people and I am certainly not making as much as the other designers in my department – even though I believe I have skills that collectively match theirs. So, I ask myself, is that fair? Should I just grin, bear it, and then use the experience to get the hell out of there?

That I’m not sure about, but I will tell you this. I am not the one to be chewed up and spit out a second time. I’m slowly learning to stick up for myself and knock some sense into people the more annoyed I get.