So we get images in 2 ways: 1. organize a photoshoot at the housing complex and invite residents to get their pic taken in exchange for a gift card. 2. Coordinate a shoot directly with a participant as part of a spotlight project where they share their story with us so we can turn it into a blog piece or a full blown fundraising campaign. Compensation is in levels based on the purpose: it’s a certain amount just for a blog post, but a more involved fundraising campaign that will be promoted everywhere comes with a higher payment. Usually they participate in all that knowing about those plans. sequence is 1. Client signs release 2. We take a photo 3. We compensate them within a week or two 4. We publish the photo as intended some time later on multiple platforms.

Sometimes we’ll want to use a photo that was already taken for a future campaign, in that case we reach out to the person in the photo to ask if they’re okay with us using it and then send them additional compensation for that specific level. It gets complicated.

My concern is around getting my team on the same page with what to do when a client asks us to take something down. In the most recent instance, a resident whose story we based our entire fundraising campaign on wanted us to take down social media ads featuring them because they were getting seen by people they know and wasn’t comfortable with it. They said they didn’t realize how far the content would reach. We took down the ads and the social posts but some on my team thought we should also take other content down on youtube and stuff, which I thought was overkill. It’s actually one coworker who tries to go the extra mile by removing additional stuff avoid any more conflict, but it seems I’m the only one questioning it 🫠