Saw this on a forum a bit ago and thought it was worth re-posting. I did a screen grab because I suspect it will get flagged soon by CL.

Only thing I would add is that even if you’re a non-profit, that doesn’t mean people should work for you for free. The phone company, the electric company, the HVAC companies — they all bill non-profits the same as the rest of us. Why should you get free photography just because you’re a non-profit? By the way, I worked nine years at a non-profit. At the time of my departure, the CEO was making $300,000/year plus $30,000 in benefits. So don’t believe the myth of the non-profit. They have to pay the same as everybody else for services and just because they’re a non-profit doesn’t mean they don’t have money.

Okay, back to photography. Sometimes I just can’t resist a lil’ tangent.

Portland Photographer Pete Springer

October and just like clockwork the rainy season kicks in. Yeah, we’ll get a few more sunny days but not many. Rainy season in Portland runs into June.

Portland Black Lab Photographer Pete Springer

This is a great time of year to have a puppy. It’s so beautiful outside these days. Near 90 degrees and sunny! No mud and the garden is all lush and green. Hard to resist taking a break or two during the day to go hang out with the puppy. He has a lot of energy!

Portland Photographer Pete Springer

It’s tough to retrieve a stuffed duck when the duck is almost as big as you are! This puppy makes it work though. It’s awfully cute to see him in action. He’s so little and clumsy but so earnest and committed to getting the job done.

Portland Photographer Pete Springer

Bit of a personal post this time around. I embarked today on another journey of raising, training, and living with a black lab. So far we’re off to a pretty good start. And he’s tiny — only eight weeks old and about the size of a cat, but a whole lot more clumsy of course.

I’m excited. Every dog I’ve had has been better than the last. I’ve always learned from my mistakes and successes and get better at training each time.

Portland Photographer Pete Springer

Here’s a sample of photos I shot at a Ubisoft photo booth at PAX 2011. They’re green screened and the background is added in quickly via laptop computer. People (and characters) sit on a green screen bench and the key to the photo is the pose and quickly capturing it right since you get one chance. There was no time for re-shooting since it was a big convention (50,000 attendees is one figure I heard).

So it turns out that the photo above has 223 likes on FB and around 50 comments as of press time.

I haven’t looked at all the comments on FB (there are quite a few, by far the most of any photos I’ve ever shot.). Assassins Creed has close to 2.3 million fans on FB so it makes sense. The photo below got 350 likes and 67 comments at post time. Holy smokes! 350 likes for this photo? What am I doing shooting fashion, beauty, and swimwear? I never get that many comments or likes lol

Facebook comment on the girls fighting photo: “Congratulations, you’ve just made my wallpaper.”

Couple of people thought the girl above was the most natural looking flying photo.

The falling-out-of-the-wheelchair was one of my favorites. The woman crawled onto the green screen bench and then we dumped her wheelchair and shot the photo.

Facebook comment on the photo above: “He’s gonna land on the camera lol” and there were seven likes to that comment alone.

Portland Photographer Pete Springer

The colors red and black continue to draw my eye. This shot was a quick test shot at the very end of a commercial shoot. Once I nail a couple of shots that will work, I usually snap a couple of more creative shots with no promises to the client about how they’ll turn out. That way I can try out some ideas without pressure. Often they turn out nicely.

Red wrap Naturally Knotty, model Ashley, hair/makeup Jessica Belknap

Portland Fashion Photographer Pete Springer

Worked a wedding photo booth for Limelight Photobooth last night and had a blast! I’m as surprised as anyone by how much fun the photo booths are but they’re a HUGE hit. The wedding coordinator even shut us down during the first dances because it was such a big distraction.

The key to these photo booths are props. People love them. Probably 99-percent of the people going through photo booth use props. And you pretty much know you have a hit when the wedding photographers and videographers are all gathered around shooting guests at the photo booth because it’s so visual. Oh — and that last photo on this post is the wedding photographers (Autumn Rose Photography) getting in on the fun.

So just like a traditional photo booth, guests get print outs right away. For this event, we put one print in an album the guests can sign. That album goes to the bride and groom at the end of the reception. Then a couple of other prints are made and the guests get to take home those prints. The difference between this and a regular photo booth is that there’s an actual photographer shooting the photos. So instead of a timer, you can take your time coming up with poses and making sure that decisive moment is captured — something not possible with a regular photo booth.

Anyway, I know it probably seems strange that a commercial photographer who specializes in swimwear would be working a photo booth. But honestly, it’s so much fun! If you have an event — a wedding, a corporate party, a bar mitzvah, etc coming up, you really should check out Limelight Photobooth. Your guests will love it, I promise!

Portland Photographer Pete Springer

Here’s a touch of my personal side. I absolutely love black labs. Looked at some four week old lab puppies today and shot a few clips of video. My apologies to Bruno Mars for swiping your song but it’s all meant as a parody with no commercial intent.

Portland Photographer Pete Springer

It’s Britney bitch! Portland Oregon June 28, 2011. For those who don’t know, I’m a big fan of Britney. Her performance tonight didn’t have the pizazz of her Circus tour but I didn’t personally expect it to. Circus would be a tough tour and album to top. Anyway, tonight I was stoked to see her perform “3″ since that wasn’t part of the circus tour. And of course “Till The World Ends” was a fantastic finale. I’ve seen Britney perform better but she was still awesome to see.

Shot these with a G9. Also shot some HD video but it’s late and the clip I edited is having audio issues so you get stills for now.

Pete Springer Photography, Portland