this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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Photography

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So, I'm not a professional photographer, I'm probably barely considered a hobbyist. I got a camera a few weeks ago and I've been taking a lot of photos. Really enjoying the hobby, got myself a subscription to lightroom, took photos at a concert, on a hike, on the street at gameday, buncha stuff, but its been a challenge finding the right thing to be taking pictures of (i hear that matters). So i had this idea, tattoos! I like tattoos, you know who has tattoos? tattoo artists! So i messaged a local shop and said HEY! I wanna take pictures of tattoo artists and their tattoos, can i come in and take some pictures? and one of them said yes! but now I'm all in my head about it, i don't want them to be expecting a professional photographer and then i show up with my 300$ camera, no plan for what to do with the photos, no affiliations with a newspaper, no real good excuse for doing what I'm doing at all....

I guess my question is this; Is it appropriate to message a company and ask to take photos, without a high probability of it benefiting them? I didn't say that anything would come out of it, and i offered to share the RAW data with them if they wanted it, and to tag them on social media with any edited photos i made, i did call myself a photographer. I guess I'm just worried that im going to show up, and not have any idea what to do, and they are going to ask a question like "so who are you and why are you here?" and im just going to die of embarrassment before i can give a sensible answer.... or is it all gonna be chill?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

You should communicate this to the tattoo shop just in case (if you didn't already). Just say something like "by the way, I did just want to let you know, I'm just starting out. If you're still ok with me coming by, but I will understand if you'd prefer I not." Or something like that.

"so who are you and why are you here?" and im just going to die of embarrassment

Why would you die of embarrassment? You're the photographer there to take a few pictures. You're gonna have to get comfortable being around strangers and making them feel like they're your best friend if you want to do portraits