Paid Contests :: Never Do Spec Work

The Art of Photography

Ted Forbes

Diy, Art, Arts, Visual Arts, Image, Technology, Photography, Tv & Film, Culture, Tutorials, Gadgets, Photographers

4.5 • 942 Ratings

🗓️ 12 October 2015

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I’ve recently been asked a question about my feelings on spec work. Three words – never do it. Allow me to explain… Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedforbes Instagram: http://instagram.com/tedforbes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aop.podcast Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/tedforbes Website: http://theartofphotography.tv And get on our mailing list to stay up to date on photography news and the latest episodes: http://theartofphotography.tv/about/mailing-list/ Ted Forbes The Art of Photography 3100 Main St #135 Dallas, Texas 75226 Thanks for watching - if you like this video, remember to share it with your friends! My name is Ted Forbes and I make videos about photography. I’ve been making photographs most of my life and I have a tremendously deep passion for photography that I want to share with you on YouTube. The Art of Photography is my channel and I produce photography videos to provide a 360 degree look into the world of making images. We all want to get better so lets do this together! I make videos covering famous photographers, photography techniques, composition, the history of photography and much more. I also have a strong community of photographers who watch the show and we frequently do social media challenges for photographers to submit their own work. I feature the best and most interesting on the show when we do these so come check it out and get involved!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the show everybody. We've got a question today and I'm going to warn you that this is one of those topics that I get pretty passionate and frustrated and a little bit annoyed with.
0:08.3	But it's a very honest question, but I just wanted to warn you in advance and this comes to us from Dana.
0:12.6	And Dana writes, I have recently been invited to submit some photographs
0:16.1	to a band that I really like.
0:18.0	They have opened this as sort of a contest but the photographer that they select
0:21.6	will get paid and be featured on their website, some posters, etc.
0:25.0	Any advice on how I can stand out and better my chances at being selected.
0:29.0	Dana.
0:30.0	Dana, thank you for the question.
0:31.0	This is what's known in the business traditionally
0:33.2	as spec work.
0:35.0	How do you stand out?
0:36.0	You avoid it like the plague.
0:37.4	You run, have nothing to do with this.
0:40.5	I hate these types of setups.
0:42.3	And if you're not familiar with spec work
0:43.7	basically what the deal is it's somebody that thinks this is a wonderful idea
0:48.1	that they will ask for kind of a cattle call of entries of something whether that's graphic design or
0:53.8	photography or whatever and it's usually based on some sort of
0:57.1	specification so they'll say here's what we need and you guys go ahead and do the
1:01.0	work we're gonna pick the best one and we'll pay them so it's okay.
1:05.3	You know what, it's not okay.
	...

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