The other day an ardent follower of this column wrote me narrating how she had kept track of her huge expenses on photos that are normally taken by professional photographers during events such as conferences, weddings and other such large gatherings.
As many of you will agree with her, most of the photographers will not even ask you whether they should take your picture or not. Some come right in front of you as the guest of honour is speaking knowing that you are so attentive—you just realise some flash off your face.
During break time, you find a whole horde of great photographs lined on some table with top notch quality. You will see photographs that show you as somebody who is really good looking, often misleading as cameras can sometimes be.
What do you do then? Fish out a couple of K500 notes or more. They will sometimes bring you one big picture in a fancy frame with the event’s name well inscribed on it—you look great and there you go parting with another K5 000 or more. Was this expenditure planned? Perhaps not.
By the way, donors have agreed to no longer pay allowances during conferences. Everything will have to be paid for unless otherwise agreed. So there will be hardly any cash to spare for photos. You will have to dig deeper to pay off.
So, planning in advance if you will need a memorabia is worthwhile than taking a whole envelope full of photographs you did not plan for. Unless you were the conference presenter or something taking an active role, ask yourself if you really need the photo memory, otherwise consider it a want not a need.
Hey photographers, before you hate me, I am not saying people should not buy from you, but you may as well check on the people you photograph before taking the shots. Otherwise the leftover photos on your conference display tables are a loss too. After all, if you were in the conference delegates’ shoes, you would also want to plan your expenditures.
These days before I buy anything, I ask myself a series of questions. Was the purchase planned? If not, is it going to improve my or family’s life in some important way? Does the purchase help me meet any of my family’s life goals? I have found these to be useful questions for evaluating the value of a purchase before making it. It turns out that the biggest money mistakes in today’s world come in the form of paying for things that you neither need nor get any real benefit from.
A rule of thumb: Always initiate your own purchases and never let anyone else start the process for you.
Have a blessed weekend as you plan on your memory photographs during conferences, weddings and such other large gatherings where professional photographers stroll around ready to pounce on your pocket.
