Volunteer opportunity for Photographer?

Requests & Offers
1

Hello Lazy Bears

on top of my 8 hours of labor task for volunteering- I’m curious about donating my services as a photographer and capturing some of the fun and hot adventures to be had.

Is there anyone who handles the receiving of galleries by individuals (think like a work for hire where i just give you whatever shots i have and you can use them at your free will?) or do people just post their own photos and admins collect it from published copy? what’s the etiquette for this here?

really looking forward to my first lazy bear

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2

Hello! We always love receiving photos from attendees. Send an email to info@lazybearweek.org and we’ll get back to you with specifics.

3

Though I haven’t updated my site with Lazy Bear Weekend pics for many years, you may wish to browse my collection of high-quality photographs.

The galleries are shareable.

I stopped photographing lazy bear events when Lazy Bear Week stopped offering me tags. Take a look at my photographs and let me know what you think.

I am presently a master photographer and the competition manager with the Santa Rosa Photographic Society (a chapter of the Photographic Societies of America).

Thanks,

-Steve

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Steve Muench Photopia

smp_info@mailforce.net

4

Hi Steve,

My name is John, and I oversee branding and social media for the Lazy Bear Fund.

I took some time to look through your galleries, and I was impressed. Your photographs capture the spirit of Lazy Bear Week with a great mix of candid moments, portraits, and community. We especially appreciate the diversity of the people and experiences you’ve documented over the years.

I’d like to learn more about your interest in photographing Lazy Bear Week this year and potentially in future years. You mentioned that you previously received a complimentary Bear Tag. Who was your contact with the organization at the time?

I also wanted to clarify expectations around photography. We welcome volunteer photographers and are always looking to expand our team. In exchange for a complimentary Bear Tag, we ask that photographs taken on behalf of the Lazy Bear Fund be provided to the organization for our unrestricted promotional and archival use. Those images become part of the Fund’s media library and are not intended to be sold commercially or licensed individually to attendees.

If your interest is in volunteering as part of our official photography team, I’d be happy to continue the conversation and see if it’s a good fit.

Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.

John Ledwith
Creative Director & Brand Manager
Lazy Bear Fund

5

John,

Thanks for the enthusiastic response. This is the first time I’ve ever received a response from Lazy Bear even though I’ve given out business cards and sample photos over the years. However, I rarely use social media and I’m not aggressive about self promotion.

I’ve lived in Guerneville since 2001 and filmed a few Lazy Bear events in the early 2000s and began photographing Lazy Bear Week events in 2009. As you can see from my website, I photograph many events around Guerneville, Santa Rosa and Sonoma. I am a member of San Francisco’s Rainbow MC and photograph many motorcycle events including the annual run to Badger Flat by the Satyrs MC (LA - the oldest continuously operating LGBTQIA organization in the country). I was also an official Sonoma Pride photographer for many years.

My professional photography is most noted for landscapes.

For any photographs of nonprofit organizations that are published on my website, all merchandise is at cost with zero profit for me. By donating my time and professional photographic skills, nonprofit organizations receive quality photography that they could not otherwise afford.

To ensure clarity and protect both parties, I propose a licensing structure that grants Lazy Bear Week the extensive rights you need while allowing me to retain the underlying copyright. This is standard industry practice and ensures you have full security in using the images without the complexities of a full copyright transfer.

Proposed Terms:

  1. Copyright Ownership: I will retain the exclusive copyright to all images. This means I remain the legal author and owner of the work.
  2. Exclusive, Perpetual License: I will grant Lazy Bear Week an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide license to use, reproduce, distribute, and display the images for any purpose related to your mission, including fundraising, marketing, and merchandise. “Exclusive” in this context means I will not license these specific images to any other third party.
  3. Photographer’s Portfolio Use: Notwithstanding the exclusivity granted above, I retain the non-exclusive right to display these images on my professional website, social media channels, and in my portfolio. However, I will not display any of these photographs for approximately two years after a given Lazy Bear event.

Thoughts?

-Steve

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Steve Muench Photopia

smp_info@mailforce.net

6

Hi Steve,

Thank you for taking the time to put this together. I appreciate the thought you’ve given to the licensing structure, and I think it’s a very reasonable approach. Retaining your copyright while granting the Lazy Bear Fund an exclusive, perpetual license for our organizational use is something I think we can work with.

We would just want to make sure the license clearly covers all of our needs, including print and digital publications, social media, fundraising, merchandise, historical archives, press, advertising, and promotional materials. We would also want the ability to crop, resize, and otherwise adapt images as needed for design and production purposes. I also think it would be helpful to make the portfolio timing more specific, such as twenty-four months after the event, rather than “approximately two years,” just so expectations are clear for everyone.

As we continue the conversation, I’d also like to share some creative direction. One of our goals is for the photography to reflect the full diversity of the Lazy Bear community. We’d love to see attendees of all races, ages, body types, and backgrounds represented throughout the gallery. We are looking to document the community as a whole, not just the most conventionally photogenic attendees.

We’d also ask that the images focus on the spirit of Lazy Bear Week: friendship, entertainment, fundraising, volunteers, Guerneville, and the many moments that bring our community together. While Lazy Bear Week is an adults-only event, we’d like our public-facing photography to avoid explicit sexual activity or imagery. Our galleries should be welcoming to first-time attendees, sponsors, community partners, and the broader public while still capturing the fun, authenticity, and personality of the week.

I’m really glad we connected, and I appreciate your long history with Guerneville and the LGBTQ+ community.

Out of curiosity, when are you planning to arrive at this year’s Lazy Bear Week? And how many days do you expect you’ll be around?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

John

7

John,

John,

As I mentioned above, I’ve lived in Guerneville since 2001, so I’m already here.

More soon,

-Steve

8

Hi Steve,

Thanks. It’s great that you’re already in Guerneville.

To make this arrangement work, we’ll need to know which days and events you plan to photograph. With dozens of events taking place throughout the week, we’re coordinating coverage so we can make sure key activities are documented.

The full schedule is available at lazybearweek.org, with events beginning Monday, July 27 at 11:00 AM.

As you can imagine, it’s an incredibly busy week for our volunteers and organizers, so having a sense of your planned coverage will help us coordinate effectively.Thanks, and I look forward to hearing your plans.

John

9

John,

As this is my busiest time of year and this was not anticipated, I’m still trying to resolve some scheduling conflicts, hopefully by later today.

-Steve

10

John,

I sent a reply to the Reply To: email address. Did you get it?

-Steve

11

Hi Steve,

Thank you for taking the time to outline your approach and proposed workflow.

After reviewing everything, I don’t think we’re the right fit for one another this year. Our needs are centered around coordinated event coverage and timely access to photography during Lazy Bear Week for communications, social media, and sponsor recognition. It sounds like your preferred workflow and timeline are understandably geared toward a different type of project.

I appreciate your interest in documenting the community and wish you the very best with your photography. If you’re attending the event as a guest, I hope you have a wonderful week.

Thanks again, and all the best.

John

12

John,

Thanks for your compliments about my photography and I hope you will consider me in the future where rapid turnaround is not required.

For charity events at a winery, here is a gallery of my work:

After this week is done and things calm down, I spotted the word archive on your site and I have some interesting media that you may wish to include.

In the early 2000s, I filmed various Lazy Bear Weekend events including a surprise birthday party for Harry Lit on the Wednesday evening before the LBW start on Thursday. All of the entertainment for the weekend performed and customized their acts and satire and aimed it directly at Harry. I also filmed bingo with the Bears and the Russian River Sisters.

If interested, I will gladly donate this media for your archive.

Thanks again,

-Steve

13

So much info!

apart to be so late to reply to all of the thoughtful responses.

Regrettably, It turns out I won’t be making it to this years Lazy Bear. Had some expensive complications with my vehicle and it wasn’t an appropriate time to take off from work.

I appreciate all the information - and i understand it would be a work for hire type arrangement. and only wholesome, non sexual, community engagement photos would be welcomed.

I would love to be in touch to possibly plan for next year or any other kind of opportunities that may happen

You can reach me at r.peter.inc@icloud.com and a link to my slowly developing website is https://richardpeter.bloom.io