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Manuela Marin Salcedo is a research and development team member and content developer at Momenta Workshops. Her expertise is in visual communications and social media. In addition to her work for Momenta, Manuela is working on long-term, independent multimedia projects. Her work has been featured at LookBetween 2014, Fototazo, and Light Work. She was also chosen to participate in the 2014 New York Times Portfolio Review. 

Working with nonprofits provides the opportunity to produce important imagery that can spark global dialogue. The experience can be both rewarding and fulfilling for visual creators. However, many photographers fail to price appropriately (or even at all) for their services.

I have worked with the team at Momenta Workshops to put together a basic list of top tips to consider when beginning your exploration of the nonprofit photography marketplace.

The James House Organization provides community-based child and youth care development programs in Hout Bay, South Africa. Photo © Lukas Spieker/Momenta Workshops 2015.

1. Know if a nonprofit can afford you

Nonprofits who value good imagery will understand strong visuals have an immediate impact on their donors. Before meeting with a client, you’ll need to do your research and see if the group has the budget to afford you. Chances are if they have a staff of more than 10 people, a nice office, and big donations coming from corporations… they can afford you. So negotiate reasonably, and find a way to make their budget work for their needs.

2. Understand their visual needs

Congratulations! They’ve hired you. Now, you’ll want to be clear on their visual needs and desires before you go out on the shoot. What kinds of issues is this nonprofit grappling with? What images do they tend to use most often? Do they want single image or a photo story? These are all questions you’ll need answers to before you begin photographing.

3. Be clear about your deliverables

Before going into the field, you will also want to be clear about what they can expect from you in terms of deliverables. For example, there is no need to provide them with the RAW images, especially if they do not have the software to process them. So, be upfront if you’re only handing over jpegs. Additionally, be clear about how long they are allowed to use the imagery, and get it in writing. Then, set a reminder on your calendar on the day their use expires. This way, you can reach out to see if they’d like to renew their contract or even hire you to produce new imagery.

4. Be honest with your imagery

Though you are taking what may be considered promotional imagery for marketing purposes, remember nonprofits deal with issues rooted in reality, and their audience will appreciate the real moments you document. For example, anybody that has photographed a group of schoolchildren before knows that things are not fine and dandy at all times. Smiles can turn into frowns in an instant. But explain to the client that these situations provide the opportunity for a volunteer to hug or comfort the upset child, and you’ll want to capture that gesture.

5. Don’t forget to follow up

Follow through is key to making lasting clients. Ask the client what they liked and what they didn’t like from your shoot. Take criticism constructively, and work on that during the next shoot. Follow up with them in 1-2 months to see how the images are working for them and ask if they need more work done during the coming months, the holidays, special events, etc. Keeping in touch with clients will help put yourself above the rest of the pack and keep you valuable to them for their imagery needs!

If you’re interested in going into more detail about these topics, Momenta offers 10% off to all liveBooks members for our workshops, including the one-day The Business of Nonprofit Photography seminars as well as our longer Working with Nonprofits series with Leica Camera. Simply use the discount code LIVEBOOKS. You can learn more about our nonprofit business skills workshops here.

Emmy-award winning destination wedding photographers Chris+Lynn travel all over the world taking gorgeous, colorful, and highly expressive images. Their website is so unique and romantic that we absolutely had to feature it this week.

Check out their full site – www.chrispluslynn.com because we absolutely love it – and we’re sure you will too!

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

C+L: Emotive, bold, and handcrafted.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

C+L: Our clients are couples headed on the literal and emotional journey of having a destination wedding, so our photography is about capturing that – the true adventure of love! We choose images that reflect the authenticity of travel, adventure, and love.

Q: How often do you update your website?

C+L: We try to update galleries with fresh images every two months.

Q: What is your favorite feature that liveBooks offers?

C+L: The ease of updating in the editSuite is great and we love the incredible customer service.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone who is designing their website?

C+L: For us, designing a website is a constant work in progress! Understanding this and having a platform where you can continually and easily update and tweak the site is important. Another tip we found valuable was to aim for maximum impact when choosing your images – and design your site to heighten that impact.

Keep up with their destination weddings and adventures on Instagram @chrispluslynn & Twitter @chrispluslynn.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Emails us at social@livebooks.com!

Photographer Dorit Thies specializes in beauty, fashion, and lifestyle photography. She creates powerful imagery ranging from international magazine covers to compelling photos captured in exotic destinations all around the world. Her website reflects glamour and elicits intrigue from the moment you land on the homepage – we just had to feature her this week!

Read on to see what she has to say about her site, and check out the full thing at www.doritthies.com.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

DT: Clean, Intriguing, and quick easy overview at first glance.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

DT: Each portfolio has its own category. In my case I shoot beauty, fashion, celebrity, and lifestyle. I choose my best and most recent shot to be the first image in the individual portfolio. For example, I have multiple beauty portfolios, based on recent publications, so I place the most recent and most iconic image at the beginning of each portfolio. I play around with the order of the appearance in the editSuite as well to make sure it looks strong on the homepage. I always make sure my latest work shows up on the top rows.

Q: How often do you update your website?

DT: Whenever I get new work in, or I try twice a week.

Q: What is your favorite feature that liveBooks offers?

DT: To have multiple portfolios (21) in my case, visible on my homepage, presenting my body of work immediately and still loading within five seconds.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone who is designing their website?

DT: To create a number of portfolios that present your body of work, naming them clearly so they explain the category of your photography, include the name of the story or name of the publication. Make it short and to the point. Promote it as much as you can once you have it published, and make sure you have your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in place.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Let us know! social@livebooks.com

We feel extremely lucky here at liveBooks to have so many talented photographers and creative professionals from all over the world using our platform. Lukasz Warzecha, a Polish born British photographer, does incredible photo and video work on mountaineering in some amazing locations. This week we are featuring his website (we love his integration of both photo and video!) Check out what he had to say about it below!

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

LW: Uncluttered, Modern, Fresh

Q: How do you choose the photos that display on your homepage?

LW: This has been a long process. I’ve been shooting professionally for over five years now and over this period of time I had opportunities to shoot on four continents and for a variety of clients. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Peter Dennen, Former Director of Photography at Aurora Photos and now running his own consultancy business (Pedro+Jackie). Peter has poured over 1000+ images and organized my work into galleries, the whole process took us a few months also because I’m normally super busy traveling and shooting.

Q: How often do you update your website?

LW: I try to update my page every 12-18 months, in between I’m usually adding some fresh images every now and again.

Q: What is your favorite feature that liveBooks offers?

LW: I’ve been a liveBooks customer for a long time now (four years, I think?!) and I just like the whole system. The look and feel of the galleries and the integrated video capability and the back end, plus email and FTP support.

See Lukasz’s full site here: www.lwimages.co.uk

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com!