Have you ever had a close friend or family member ask you to photograph an event for them? Although you do not want to disappoint this person, your gut told you that shooting this gig was probably not the best idea. Perhaps the event they want you to photograph was not a genre of photography that you work in - perhaps the payment was not sufficient - or perhaps you had other things going on at the time. Regardless of why your gut told you to say "no" to this inquiry, it is important to know that there are ways to say "no" politely.
It can be difficult to decline an offer, although it will get easier with practice. If you are corresponding via e-mail or another form of written communication, it also helps to have a good "script" planned out. Regardless of how you are expressing your answer of "no", you want to make sure that you do the following:
a) Reply quickly; avoid letting this person wait for a long response. b) Depending on your relationship with this person, you may want to offer a brief explanation as to why you cannot take on their photo shoot. If this person is a close family member or friend, offering an explanation can be helpful for them to understand why you have declined their photo shoot. However, be sure to keep it simple and to the point. c) You may want to propose a different way to help them out. "Don’t over-clutter your calendar with commitments that derail your
focus, pulling you away from the work that you truly want to do. It’s not good for your career. It’s not good for your soul. And if someone gets furious because of your sane, reasonable,
elegantly articulated “no?” Well, he or she was probably never your true
friend to begin with. Good thing you know. So that now, you can say “yes!” to a friendship with somebody else" (Mashable, web).
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01. Alexandra, Franzen. "How to Graciously Say No to Anyone." Mashable. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
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01. Alexandra, Franzen. "How to Graciously Say No to Anyone." Mashable. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.