ORGANIZATIONS SEEKING  OUR SERVICES

We provide services such as event photography, management of volunteer photography and videography at large events, publicity photos, head-shots, and photo essays.

We work throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, but not outside of it.

Our typical client is a nonprofit organization with a mission of community service, social justice, or environmental advocacy. We give preference to those that are not well enough funded to have a budget for photography.

There is no charge for our services.

Do you want to discuss whether your organization might receive our help?

PHOTOGRAPHERS AND VIDEOGRAPHERS WISHING TO VOLUNTEER THEIR TIME

Information relevant to prospective PBP affiliates:

PBP is a clearinghouse that connects volunteer photo/videographers with social-justice, environmental-justice, and community organizations that need help but don’t have a budget for photo/videography.

We work throughout the Bay Area, but not outside of it.

To see the kinds of work that we do, visit the galleries on our website, www.ProBonoPhoto.org.

We do not take purely partisan gigs, like rallies organized by political parties or even people running for nonpartisan offices.

There’s a formal membership status (we generally call that being a PBP affiliate), that puts volunteers on an email list to receive requests for gigs that an administrator passes on from organizations that have contacted us for help and have been vetted.

Commonly for protest coverage, one of the affiliates or an administrator  will initiate the coverage request, rather than the organizers. Interested affiliates respond to my email requests, andan administrator then connect them with the requesting organization.

Currently there are about 50 affiliates, about 30 of whom are active.

We post the photos/videos on our website and allow them to be used freely for non-commercial purposes, provided that the authors are credited when they’re published. That’s a Creative Commons NC BY license.

Authors retain copyright.

PBP affiliates include some professionals, but are mostly advanced amateurs.

There’s no explicit commitment to a certain level of participation, but it’s probably not worth everyone’s effort to have somebody join and then do a gig only once a year.

No money changes hands as part of a PBP activity, with the rare exception of a client reimbursing a photographer for parking costs.

We’re very serious about professional behavior, conscientious and respectful. If an affiliate agrees to do a gig, they don’t cancel except for serious reasons. And if they do find that they have to cancel, they immediately contact an administrator.

Personal safety (especially in covering protests in these politically charged times) is paramount.

If you are interested in joining us, please contact us to learn more.