barter for access?

[BrianShaw]

It could also be the one off of Howard Hughes Parkway, going to the LAX from West LA. It's right on the the outside bend on the 405 and the garage is overlooking the freeway going in both directions.

Right, that's the other possibliity. If so, there are several other nearby parking structures to check out - UNIVISION...

[Matt Logue]

Wow, didn't think this would spark such a discussion. I'll answer a couple of the posts/advice:

- Rather than spend time negotiating about what photos I would provide the mall with, I did offer a large (20"x24" or larger) archival print of the work I would be doing from the parking garage (and yes, it is the one by the Univision building), and haven't heard back after a couple of emails, so we'll see about that.

- The two reasons for not going the helicopter route are a) I don't have the funds for that right now, and more importantly b) I need potentially hundreds of photos from each location to be precisely registered with each other down to the pixel, which wouldn't be practical from a helicopter.

I'm in the process right now of contacting any businesses with a tall structure by a freeway in LA, begging for access. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks again for the comments. This forum rocks!

Matt

[Dirk Rösler]

I would offer prints at cost. Your time to get the stuff done for them will be what they will get for free.

[GPS]

Hi everyone.
.... I suppose it comes down to how badly I want my photos from the garage, but I also don't want to be taken advantage of. ...

...
- Rather than spend time negotiating about what photos I would provide the mall with, I did offer a large (20"x24" or larger) archival print of the work I would be doing from the parking garage ...

I'm in the process right now of contacting any businesses with a tall structure by a freeway in LA, begging for access. We'll see how it goes.

...
Matt

I really don't know how you see yourself in this matter. A simple demand of a few pictures of his mall you see as potential "advantage taken of you"... You don't want to "spend time negotiating about what photos you would provide" (what negotiating? He just wanted a few "general photos") but you are in "the process of contacting any businesses ... by a freeway in LA begging for access". Does this take less time than asking for pictures of his mall he would like to have?? He already told you - general photos! What do you expect from other businesses? An even more straight forward answer? Instead of giving him a few general photos which he wants you want to force on him your aerial picture he doesn't want... I think your approach to the thing is strange, to say the least.

[GPS]

...I don't really need 3 months' access and I'm holding down a day job, with little enough time to devote to my own projects. ..

-b) I need potentially hundreds of photos from each location to be precisely registered with each other down to the pixel, ...
Matt

If you take "hundreds of photos" from each location, let's calculate it. If you need just 5 minutes for each shot, 200 of them will take 16 hrs. (then you want to "precisely register them down to the pixel"...) As you probably need them with the same light it can take days to get them just from one location... Not bad for someone with little time to devote to his own projects. How do you want to explain to the guy that you don't have time to take a few general photos of his mall as barter for the access? Something sucks in the whole story.

[John Kasaian]

After spending a year in the gunner's seat or leaning out of an open door of a BlackHawk, I'll never again fly in a helicopter. Too loud; too much vibration, too much vomit. As you say... just too much. PERIOD!

Helicopters don't "fly" ---they beat the air into submission!

[RDKirk]

I don't know what kind of photography you want to do, or rather, what kind you don't want to do that you're afraid the manager might want of you.

But having your work hung in corporate offices doesn't immediately strike me as a "cost." It looks to me more like an opportunity for self-promotion, especially if you wouldn't mind being paid good money for portraits of the corporate officers who now see you as the official corporate photographer.

I'd find out how onerous the task really is before turning it down.

[Matt Logue]

It was a while back, but - the reason I felt a bit hinky about it in the first place was: I had (and have - hence the sale of my 4x5 stuff) a very limited amount of time to devote to the project I'm working on that I would have needed access to the garage for. Also, the tone of his reply got me a bit. What I wanted to be a simple one hour in-and-out one weekend morning, when the garage would be open but deserted, had suddenly turned into going to a meeting to discuss what he wanted, setting up a time to shoot what he wanted, etc. I fully realize I'm asking him for a favor, and I did offer to make him some large high quality prints of the work I was doing (he never replied), but I have no time to work on anything else other than my own stuff (having a 10 hr/day job and 2 small children). Maybe my focus will change in the future. If I decide I really need that vantage point, then obviously I'll reconsider and probably re-contact him. I agree with you that having my photos hung in their corporate offices would be awsome, and it probably wouldn't be that big a deal to shoot some stuff for them...

Thanks for all the replies.

[justin mueller]

walk over the street to the hotel on the other side and bribe the doorman...

[Robert Hughes]

... or the painted girl in short skirt and high heels. Besides photos, you might get to take home something else to remember her by :-)