Advice for doing a fundraiser/santa gig

GFP

Last January I read a thread somewhere about someones experience doing a fundraiser for a local fire department or emergency crew, and I liked the idea and stored it away for this coming Christmas. Although I can not find that thread now, not even sure which forum it was on.

I was wondering if anyone here has done something like this before.

Im not even sure what the usual prices are and what you get with it. Im sure it varies area to area, but if anyone has any idea, Id love to hear what it is normally brought in.

I want to do this because it will help out a local group that could probably really use the money, and its also a good opportunity to make extra money for myself as well.

I figure its also a way to get my name and my studio name out around this area more so.

I figure I would charge $xx amount for a set of pictures, the group would get all minus the print costs. Then any additional sales would go to me, such as more prints, digital files, accessories, etc.

The group the fundraiser is for would supply someone from thier crew to be Santa, and the location could be their station or a local coffee shop that would appreciate the increase in foot traffic. One idea is using a local antique store, which is filled with props.

I figure Ill need at least one assistant to help with the paperwork/money collecting.

I dont particularly want to deal with on site printing, I prefer to use a pro lab with machines that are much higher quality than what I could buy, not to mention the costs are cheaper this way to, but it does mean asking them to come back in a week to pick up the pictures. Im not sure a FD would be a fan of having people come in for weeks after, but then again for the $$$ they may not mind.

Feedback and opinions would be welcome.

Glort

GFP wrote: »

I dont particularly want to deal with on site printing, I prefer to use a pro lab with machines that are much higher quality than what I could buy, not to mention the costs are cheaper this way to, but it does mean asking them to come back in a week to pick up the pictures. Im not sure a FD would be a fan of having people come in for weeks after, but then again for the $$$ they may not mind.

I think you are getting too concerned with what you percieve as quality over practacality.

You are basicaly trying to do a low cost, low volume/ impulse based promotion and produce upmarket quality prints.

I do onsite printing and there is nothing wrong with the quality of what we produce and it is way cheaper than what I can get lab prints made for. Currently an 8x12 costs me under. 50c ea with quality heavy weight Kodak or Canon paper. I have started using Ilford for higher end work and can still get that in under $1.

Aside from this, the increase in sales you are likley to see by doing onsite printing in this application and the convinence in not having to come back to pick them up far outweighs any cost or possible quality issues.

I have canon printers that cost around $100 ea and would defy anyone to produce better silver halide prints. If you set the printer and your computer up in the first place, you can produce very high quality prints in volume at high speeds. One thing I love about the ilford paper is the profiles you can download off their website for free and the results they produce.
Ironicaly, I have left the Ilford profile in place when printing the Kodak and Canon papers and find the results with these to be excellent as well. Wish I had loaded these before trying to manualy calibrate my computers last time.

I have an event on Friday night where I have to produce 300 prints. I now have 6 printers of one model and 4 of another which I can printer pool to batch prints and produce a 5x7 about every 5 seconds using just 6 machines. I'll take 3 and use 2 and that will be amply sufficent for the time I have.

For this event i would also suggest offering a range of print options such as cards, different size pics batched on one sheet, Xmas overlays etc.
These can all be done very quickly and efficently if you set them up as actions in photoshop before hand. All you need do is bring up the image, hit the corresponding F ket and PS will do levels, sharpening etc and then set up the prints sizes, overlays etc as required and spit them out the printer. I do this with T&I shots and it is fast and requires no hands on time after pressing the button for what you want. Definately the way to go.

I would strongly suggest you look into doing onsite printing for this and any other similar events and don't get caught up in the forum quality misnomer but rather approach things from a business aspect.

TonyL

Last year I did a free, yes free photoshoot at my house.
My house was decorated in 22,000 lights and one night I had donations from the local coffee and pizza shops.
I had Marines at my house, etc.
It was for Toys for Tots so I had someone as Santa. I did not have on site printing (I want to this year) but in lieu of a sitting fee they were required to bring a toy.
I had cops driving by checking for traffic, etc.
It became hectic really fast. What you can also do is create a package that they can prepay for. Say 2 5x7's and an 8x10 for xxxx.
Then you can have your lab print the orders or you can do it at a later time.
Unless you have help and I did, it can get crazy really fast.
This year I am going to use square on my android phone and ipad2 to get paid.

Glort, LR has the same ability with packages now too right?

Glort

TonyL wrote: »

Glort, LR has the same ability with packages now too right?

Sorry, No Idea. I have LR but dont use it, just PS.

TonyL

Glort wrote: »

Sorry, No Idea. I have LR but dont use it, just PS.

No problem.
I made the jump last year.
I just haven't used that module yet.

sweet caroline

I do a Santa fundraiser with a preschool. They charge a certain amount per kid to participate. Each kid decorates a cookie and sits on Santa's lap for a photo. I deliver one 4x6 per child to the school within a few days. Parents can go to the website to purchase additional prints, and about half of them do. I donate my time and the 4x6 prints, which costs me a total of about 5 hours and $15 plus gas. I end up gaining about 1 or 2 new clients each year as a result, and make a couple hundred in print sales. Since it's a fundraiser, and I care about this particular preschool, I go in not caring whether I make any money.