I'm the OP for this thread. After a few days of discussion, I decided to give it a try...here's what I learned.
Completed two pano's so far, one residential, one commercial. The commercial paid $25 in a couple of days, still waiting (...under a week) for the residential. The residential was a little more challenging...cause to get a good beauty shot, you pretty much need to get over the property. Even though I was high enough to avoid any invasion of privacy issues (...couldn't see in the windows) it still worried me. The neighborhood was 'close in', so I expected a few questions from a neighbor or two but no one bothered.
The commercial property was a snap. A lot of space abutted by a parking lot. A couple of people watched, but no one seemed interested outside of normal curiosity..took all of 10-minutes to shoot. Easy peasy!
Concluions...
My guess is the commercials are a lot easier for DB to sell. That and the relative 'no brainer' shoot feels like a real go to for me so I've scheduled a few more this week while keeping a couple of residentials on the radar while I do some more research on these.
The $25 payout for pano's is still suspect. DB says it's a 50-50 split, but who really knows. It'd be nice to see a 'client mission' soon to see if that payout amounts to more than a stipend...so far, none in my area or even in a 50-mile area.
BTW...has anyone done a client mission yet?
My concerns about violating privacy issues are a little lower than when I first began this thread, but it is a bit of a legal grey area right now. I'm a career TV journalist, so this is what I know. You can photograph anything or anyone from a public easement i.e., sidewalk, or street. When you're on private property (...this includes parking lots for commercial property) the owner/manager has the right to ask you to leave. Air rights do not belong to the owner of the property below, however if you're photographs include people behind a fence or are close enough to a window to record anything inside, you're in violation of privacy laws.
Someone earlier suggested to do a quick meet 'n greet with the owner if it appears someone is home...I would tend to agree, but that's beginning to feel like a lot of effort for a $25 return.
...thoughts?
Client Missions dont exist. Not 1 available across the US.
