Free Work Is Never Free
Throughout this article, I will reference stills work taken for Stillpoint Lodge as an example of “free work”. Looking at this recent photo essay I shared will behoove your understanding of the scope of work done and its results: https://dalton-johnson.com/adventure/stillpoint-lodge-review-photo-essay
Quick note: There was also a video element of this project that won’t be shared at this time, but in the near future.
Now, let’s dive into “free work”…
Take A Risk On Yourself
From 2016 to 2022, my focus was strictly on adventure content. I chased swells towering 50 feet above my head as I snapped images from the water, dangled from ropes 3,000 feet above Yosemite Valley’s floor, and all the things in between that stroke an adventurer’s ego.
While the adventure is rad, it isn’t financially sustainable. The line of work requires days of time for a single image that, if sold, yields $50-300. At first, that’s not bad when you know nothing about a camera, but there are no pay increases in the industry. In fact, the wages have only decreased since I started shooting.
So, when I was in Alaska as Field Director and D.P. for a documentary about Epic Bill Bradley climbing Mount Denali —this short doc premiers on PBS next month— I took a risk on myself to expand into an adjacent industry; adventure travel.
Connecting with Stillpoint Lodge, the only two-key Michelin adventure lodge in Alaska, we planned a collaboration for a work exchange.
Free Work Will Cost You, But You Should Still Do It
Let’s get real, free work is never free for anyone involved.
The client, spends their time, resources, and product on the creative to create the “free work”.
The creative, spends their time and often much of their own money to create the “free work”.
In the best collaborations, it’s an exchange. And, I would say, my exchange with Stillpoint Lodge was a great way to for both brands to expand and benefit together through a mutual investment.
Why and how did it work out so well?
I saw the writing on the wall: I needed to expand my market. Otherwise, I would be fighting an uphill battle and the only way up was to increase my volume of work. With only so much time in a day, there is an upper limit to the volume I can handle. So, pairing with Stillpoint Lodge was a chance to start shooting in an industry with bigger budgets. That was my incentive.
For Stillpoint, when you went on their website in 2022, it was obvious they needed an update to their content. Their homepage was old and stale. Their socials were pixilized iPhone snaps.
For a place that charged roughly $1500 per person, per night (now starting at $3,272 per person per night with a 3-night minimum) those images hurt them in booking customers. So, when I reached out to Stillpoint, I was arrogant and called them out. But, I also offered a solution.
“If they would host my girlfriend and me for a handful of nights, I would shoot a brand refresh and a new promo video for you.” At first, they were skeptical. Rightfully so, I had zero, yes, zero images in my portfolio featuring hospitality, and my video work wasn’t shown on my site. But, they needed content, badly.
So, we came up with an agreement and made it happen.
How Much Does “Free Work” Really Cost?
Figuring out the real cost of “free work” can be a challenge because fees are waived and estimations are often assumed. However, hard costs can be used as well as averages. So, below I tossed together my best guesses of the opportunity costs and hard costs for both of us in 2022.
For myself:
5 shoot days, roughly $7,500
10 editing days, roughly $5,000
$500 in transportation to get there and back, Stillpoint is in the middle of nowhere
$1,500 for the video editor
Total opportunity cost: $14,500
Actual cost: $2,000
For Stillpoint:
3 nights in a cabin for two people, roughly $9,000
1 night in VIP cabin for two people, roughly $10,000
Single-day fishing license, roughly $100
Total opportunity cost: $19,100
Actual cost: $100
You might look at that and say somebody got the short end of the stick. If you do, I’m curious who you think it is; me or Stillpoint? I’m truly curious on this front, so shoot me an email and let me know!
My take, neither one of us. But, feel free to disagree with me.
If you say Stillpoint, the rooms were unbooked and would not have been filled, as this isn’t the kind of place you book last minute. You could make the argument Stillpoint’s actual costa were higher because they provided food and had to pay their workers to work. So, let’s say Stillpoint spent $500, or even $1k, that seems pretty damn good for a promo video and photo library! Especially, considering they have leaned on this photo library for the last three years across their website and social.
If you say me, because I dropped $2k of my own money to make this happen, I would ask you to find me a better location to shoot for less? I’m not sure that exists. If this was a test shoot where I had to pay talent fees, location fees, etc. I would estimate the costs in the $10-20k range. Considering, I didn’t have any hospitality work I could share in my portfolio, I poured my heart and soul into this shoot to make it something. My results? I have been able to lean on the images from this shoot to land other paying jobs.
Can “Free Work” Pay Off?
If I speak for Stillpoint Lodge, I would just be making an assumption. However, since they have recommended me to a handful of other adventure lodges, my guess is yes. The investment was most likely worth it for them. For myself, this investment, in myself, has aided in landing clients like:
The Four Seasons
Men’s Journal
Turneffe Island Resort
L’Auberge de Sedona
Castle Hot Springs
Robb Report
Rancho Santana Nicaragua
In total, I can track roughly $60k back to this work with Stillpoint Lodge. For all you number nerds out there—I can say that because I have a B.S. in Mathematics from Santa Clara University—that is an ROI of 2,900% over four years. I want to see you beat that in the stock market, LOL! And, if I were to guess, I would say there is more as well, but that $60k is trackable.
I’d say this “free work” has paid off.
But, “free work” only pays off IF you can market the work. More on that in the coming weeks.
Did You Find This Helpful?
If you found this to be helpful, I would appreciate you sharing it. Maybe to your friend starting in their photography career, a co-worker, an influencer, or a fellow hotel owner looking to level up their content.
Another way to support my work and this newsletter is to follow, like subscribe, etc. to my social channels. Say “What’s up” and I’ll surely respond. I am most active on LinkedIn but am starting out on X and Instagram, right now. All of those are great places to get bite-sized pieces about what it is like as a writer and photographer in the adventure travel space.
Lastly, if you are looking for some new artwork for your home, or office, I sell prints from my travels. You can check out my landscape and wildlife print options here: https://dalton-johnson.com/prints
If you don’t see an image you would like, feel free to send me a message with a screenshot of the image you like and I can get it printed for you.
