A platform that will help photographers find a second shooter has just launched in the US and Canada. ShootWith.Me has been likened to Airbnb, but instead of finding accommodation you can find photography assistants.
ShootWith.Me is a service that is aimed at those looking to hire additional shooters or photo assistants. Professionals are able to browse other photographers’ portfolios, see what their hourly rate is, find out what equipment they use, how much experience they have and how well rated they are.
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It’s especially useful for studios looking to book a second photographer, as you can set filters for the date, location and time of the shoot, so that only those who fit the criteria are shown in the results. Rather than advertising jobs on the site, photographers are able to offer work directly to other photographers after reviewing their profiles.
It’s free to sign up to ShootWith.Me as a photographer looking to hire, but for a photographer looking to list their services there is a monthly fee dependent on the kind of work you want. For anyone looking to assist, the assistant tier costs just $8 (approximately £6 / AU$11) but the work won’t be as well paid. The second shooter tier is $17 (approximately £12 / AU$24) rising to $30 (approximately £22 / AU$42) a month for the “associate” tier, which is aimed at professionals.
Testimonials from photographers who have already used the site describe it as “an absolute game-changer for my second shooting business” and “revolutionizing the way photographers hire contractors and how contractors pick up shooting and assisting jobs”. It’s also been known for photographers to earn their investment back in just a couple of days which goes to show how efficient the site can be in finding people's work.
As a photographer who has experienced the belittling world of competing for work, I can see the big advantages of a site like this. The competition to send the fastest message or have the best website is completely taken out of your hands and put into those of the hiring party. It will be interesting to see how successful the site is and whether it expands even further than the US and Canada.
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