Unemployment Making Me Utterly MISERABLE!

andygb

toasterman wrote: »

The person with the illegal cable had a little dig about the cost with fixing some other stuff too. I think I charged her a total of £20 for two visits of several hours each, and god knows how long in phone calls before and after.
In your predicament, personally I'd probably do it for nothing, because I'm interested in photography but I'M not good enough to charge for it. Maybe it might lead to paid work in the future.
If you're a good photographer, I don't see anything wrong with asking for payment - they're presumably paying for clothes, catering, flowers.
Presumably they'll want multiple copies of photos for family members - area for some markup there?
Also, as catnamedog suggests, different formats of photo usage.

Good luck.

Hi Toasterman, I should have explained a bit more fully.
Two years ago, when I was working, and had an income, one of my mates asked me to shoot his wedding, because he knew that I had done a few before. I wasn't that happy, because it is a big responsibility, and my camera (Minolta Dynax) was getting a bit past it, and the meter was giving unpredictable exposures. The other reason, is that he didn't want to pay anyone, and had already assumed that I would do it for free.
So, I did the shoot, used 4 rolls of film (£20, plus £28 for processing, DVD and contact print), plus batteries for the flash and camera. The whole lot came to around £55. At the reception he handed me a camcorder, and asked if I could video it as well :rolleyes: A nice surprise, which I wasn't expecting.
He seemed OK, if a little unimpressed about the photos, and to this day has not paid me anything, and seems to regard it as a reward for being invited to his wedding :mad:
Anyway, it was this "mate" who recommended me to this couple, who I do not know. He knows that I am unemployed at the moment, but has already mentioned to them, that I may do the job for free, and will only charge them for any reprints which get done.
That is why I am feeling a bit down about it all.

toasterman

andygb wrote: »

I did the shoot, used 4 rolls of film (£20, plus £28 for processing, DVD and contact print), plus batteries for the flash and camera. The whole lot came to around £55. At the reception he handed me a camcorder, and asked if I could video it as well :rolleyes: A nice surprise, which I wasn't expecting.
He seemed OK, if a little unimpressed about the photos, and to this day has not paid me anything, and seems to regard it as a reward for being invited to his wedding :mad:
Anyway, it was this "mate" who recommended me to this couple, who I do not know.

AMAZING!
He seemed too unimpressed to pay for your work, then recommends you to someone else!? Sounds like he's got a case of short arms and long pockets, (as someone I met years ago once described my boss of the time).
You need to at least make sure you're not out of pocket... I must admit I hadn't even thought of film costs.. instantly thought you'd be digital, which of course would have little additional cost involved til it came to printing physical photos.

Could maybe do it for free and double the cost of all the prints? It is the biggest day of their lives and all that... one to be remembered forever...and all that jazz.
Good luck to you, and at very least you should have your own costs covered.

andygb

toasterman wrote: »

AMAZING!
He seemed too unimpressed to pay for your work, then recommends you to someone else!? Sounds like he's got a case of short arms and long pockets, (as someone I met years ago once described my boss of the time).
You need to at least make sure you're not out of pocket... I must admit I hadn't even thought of film costs.. instantly thought you'd be digital, which of course would have little additional cost involved til it came to printing physical photos.

Could maybe do it for free and double the cost of all the prints? It is the biggest day of their lives and all that... one to be remembered forever...and all that jazz.
Good luck to you, and at very least you should have your own costs covered.

I have a much better 35mm camera now (Canon EOS 30V), but the cost of film and developing costs a lot, so you cannot practice much. I would love a digital job (EOS 40D would be nice), because the running costs are lower, and the limitless practising can only help you improve.
There are a few ways to make money out of this, but I will have to spell them out clearly early on.
I hate cheapskates.

sackcloth

Not the Wham song, but Andygb - I'd say go for it. As this is a couple you've been recommended to and you don't know them, you don't have to be so nice about charging. Sounds like you have the opportunity to do the gig and then charge for prints etc. afterwards but this shouldn't leave you out of pocket as you wouldn't have got dinner this time!! You sound very professional and honest so BIG yourself up... you're able to point a camera and come up with stuff and that's more than a lot of us... your matey who wasn't "impressed" didn't mind when it didn't cost him anything did he? And he's got no right to offer your services FOC to anyone else without asking but it could be that he's trying to be supportive of your new situation.

Everyone else, hello and welcome to Friday. I am now stressed out about paying the bills and meeting the food costs. My poor OH has been out for over 2 hours trying to get the shopping for 4 of us in at under £60 and has just managed but is very demoralised. It's not like we want to shop at Harrods or Fortnums after all. I am thinking about going to the CAB for more advice about our benefits as the benefits office don't seem to give a monkeys and they expect me to know my way round the system and ask. Any advice on this as it really is new to me.

Rosered, I feel like a duchess when I go to the job centre suited and booted just to sign on. But it does work and at least I get the opportunity to get dressed up. :rolleyes:

Just a thought here... any advice about keeping focussed? I am really going off the idea of getting back into an office. Having been let down by my last company, I really would prefer to work for myself and it's making me a bit down on the vacancies I'm hearing about. Not that I'm getting any job offers and you know that I'll take the first one I get, but the fact that I'm being asked for long hours and low pay is quite demoralising and I can't bear the thought of being stuck in an office day in and day out just to make ends meet. Bah humbug... :mad:

Deep breath... thanks for the rant... next week I'll be writing from Rio having won the lottery...!!! :beer::j

Cheers to all,
Sackcloth.

MickW_3

Staying focussed when you're unemployed is one of the hardest things to do. When I was out of work earlier this year I felt like my whole life was shrinking around me and I began turning inwards, not going out, watching daytime TV etc. Until you're out of a job you don't realise how much structure a job gives to your daily life. Practically everything we normally do revolves around our jobs, holidays, picking the kids up, shopping etc. Once this has gone you're just stuck with this *void*.

I'm due to finish a 3 month contract in the next fortnight and I'm wondering "what next". Like many others I'm thinking of starting up a small part-time business to make some money at what I'm good at (IT support, video editing, home cinema systems etc) as there are so few jobs around locally.

The only really sad fact is that this government will look at all of us who are "going it alone" and say that this is a demonstration that their policies are having an effect rather than ask the question "so where are all these so-called jobs then..?"

I think that the MSE forum is and can be a great mutual support network for all of us who are experiencing unemployment in these challenging times regardless of who we are, or where we are. The point is that we need to keep each other strong and perhaps one day we'll all get out of this with our sanity intact.

scrooge2008

Hi Sackcloth,

When I started going to the job centre, I was suited and booted, sticking out like a sore thumb. By six months of it, I was indistinguishable in my baggy track suit bottoms and trainers, no make up on. By that time I was bringing my son along, who used to jump up and down doing his Tigger impressions and reverse his noisy cars over their paperwork. I seemed to get seen much quicker and no questions were asked when he was with me! I also was not beyond giving the staff a piece of my mind too, where to begin with I was smiley and polite. Why on earth are there no toilets in these places, was one of my most frequent complaints. So inconsiderate!

As for keeping focussed, that is something I found really hard to do. It is so easy to become extremely lethargic, to have so much time that you get nothing done at all. I think necessity forced me out of lethargy, and focussed me. JSA and redundancy pay ran out after 6 months and everything still needed paying. I hated the first early morning cleaning job I got in desperation, so much that it spurred me on to try other things. It is frustrating to start right back on the first rung of the ladder, but once my confidence and energy returned I started to spot opportunities.

Wish now i'd used the six months more productively, I think I was shell-shocked for most of the time though.

rosered1963

HI everyone - just dropping in to say hi

Sackcloth - blimey - apart from the fact I don't have kids and am newly married - I feel exactly like you! After ten years in an office, I feel i will die if I have to go back to that - especially if I have to start at the bottom all over again - to be honest, I think i would prefer manual labour if it avoided some of the ghastly office politics and all that stuff. I know what you mean about bills and food - I can't believe a Labour government would leave people in this position (but I won't discuss Politics - promise )

Andy - I got married last year in the USA - the photographer took the photos and gave us the films there and then for us to develop as we pleased. He then asked us to feedback to him what we thought and send him copies of our favourites. This is quite normal there (California). We paid £400 for 2 hours of the photographer's time. It was worth every penny. He was fantastic and the photographs were excellent. If I can give you my opinion, I don't think it's reasonable for even a best friend to expect you to do this for nothing - for one thing, taking wedding photographs is a massive responsibility and you should be paid properly, even if you knock a little off for a friend who promises to recommend you and give you a testimonial for your website/publicity.

Scrooge - you're so right - I am still at the shell-shocked stage and the JSA is about to end (all it pays is less than half our rent).

I think this thread will be great as no-one is judgemental and I will pop in after planting my vegetables to check you all later. (Out with the Armani suit - in with the growing my own veg). Further to toasterman's and Andy's comments, I am becoming convinced that small scale self-employment is the only way to go to earn some money and have some control over your own destiny. Bye for now - catch you all later, I hope RR X

ms_london

Hello all!

I hope you don't mind another one joining this thread.

I have been unemployed for 3 months now, remained positive for most of it, but must be having one of my bad days.

Has anyone had any luck claiming housing benefit? I am getting deeper into debt trying to find money for rent, and the Council are just useless, I am still waiting for an answer!

I know I am worth it, it's just demoralising when you apply for so many jobs, and maybe hear back from 5% of them.

ARRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

xx

rosered1963

Hi MsLondon. I haven't claimed HB because I don't want our landllord (farmer next door) to know we are in trouble. Also, I gather they look around your place. I guess I might have to try when I run out of the option of paying my rent with a credit card (arghhh!) but I have seen some horror stories on MSE forum about people being overpaid and having to pay it back. I guess the answer is that if you are entitled, you should go for it, but I am hoping and praying to get some work so I don't have to

moneymouth77

In more positive news, more people may be joining you, especially more of the white-collar variety... http://money.sky.com/mp/features/news/2009/06/12/White-collar-job-losses-increasing.html It may sound a little harsh, but the more people dealing with unemployment, the more socially acceptable it will be.