Hello! I’m Allen
& I want to help
Hello I’m Allen Carbon. I work professionally as a photographer, videographer and digital marketer and I'd like to dedicate some of my spare time to supporting local Nelson / Tasman businesses.
I’m offering any Nelson / Tasman business (that could use someone like me) a free afternoon. 2–6 hours for free!
I’m not doing this because I need experience, nor do I need to prop up my portfolio. This isn’t a sneaky way for me to get new clients. I just want to help the community I am a part of.
The short version of this is: I know how much Nelson / Tasman businesses are struggling right now. Budgets are low for someone like me, but I also know that sometimes being able to do a little bit of advertising work could be extremely beneficial and useful.
What we can do in an afternoon
Fashion & Editorial Photos
My bread and butter. Guaranteed to give you amazing photos that are potentially marginally better than A.I.
We can work out a way that makes it easy for us to accomplish a shoot within an afternoon, while also making sure there’s no risk on your end.
So either you provide the models, we shoot on location at your spot and I provide minimal backdrops, or I can help you find suitable models (though there might be a small cost involved in paying for the models’ time).
Video
This one might be the trickiest but still definitely possible if we plan it well. In one afternoon we can do a quick 15 second ad work for you to use as advertising on Meta or on Google.
I’ll use copyright free music (though you could get Artlist.io to be safe) and you can use it for your own advertising.
Alternatively you could use it to create reels or anything you might wish.
I’ll repurpose whatever asset I give you to whatever medium would be most helpful for you.
A bonus is I’ll give you all the footage that I get so you can reuse it in your own time.
Product & Food
Are you a cafe or a restaurant and you could really just use some product photos for your menu or website? I got you covered. Depending on what it is you want done we can figure out a way to get it captured. In the style that you want.
No catch!
What’s the catch?
F.A.Qs
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You will get high-res photos (usually 2880×1920) or high res video (3840×2160) depending on what you want.
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I’m not getting you to sign up to anything that would require you to sign up.
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I’m not going to put any watermark or even my logo on anything. It seriously is just in a format that would be helpful for you and your business.
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Although it is appreciated. I won’t need you to credit me anytime you use my photos. (Although you might need to credit others that were involved). I don’t even want you to proclaim this!
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No time limit on when you can use my photos. (Although it does depend on the model or other people used but usually you can work that out with the models yourselves :) + sometimes some products won’t be relevant in the future anyway.
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You don’t like my edits? You have the means to edit to repurpose? You can have the raws. For free. You can cut it and change it and do what you will.
My only limitations
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All shooting, editing will be done in an afternoon. (or thereabouts).
Unfortunately I can’t spend too much time reediting it to your hearts content. The good news is I can give you all the raws if you don’t like what I did for you.
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I don’t want to take away work from people who needs the work that you might have. The good thing is that if you did have the budget for hiring someone you can still do it for your next project!
The nature of the beast of commercial work is that there is always something else you might need.
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If you did use me for a photoshoot, I’m the only person that it is free for. You will need to organise the conditions for all other people involved.
I won’t be offended at all if you pay other people and not me! I’m so so happy if you would.
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If I could, I would love to be able to use it on my socials and website.
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Right now and until summer I have some weekends and Tuesday afternoons free. So time is limited!
Why are you doing this?
No, I’m not a secret millionaire. I have a mortgage and a family to provide for just like everyone else!
When I was younger, still learning and getting better at art I did loads to help out smaller businesses to get my portfolio up. It helped me be where I am today. So I hope that when I was older and a “professional”, I would still be able to help people out when they needed it. That my hands would never be too exclusive to those who can afford me. As I got older and I came closer and closer to being that person I always wished to be, I realised that there’s not really a perfect time to help people.
I saw a post from a friend of mine who was doing her best to try and help the struggling Nelson economy. (Shout out Beth from Victus!) I thought I’d try to do the same. I don’t have extra money to help, but I do have spare amounts of time I can volunteer and a skillset that is valuable to the right people.
I also help look after a youth group at Hope, so as much as I can, I want to help inspire them by showing them the joy of volunteering and helping people out, even if you don’t get anything out of it.
Also, on a more personal level, I always want to do things like this. I want my work to mean something rather than just being a source of income.
Granted, I am grateful that I work full-time and am in a position where I can give without stress.
If you need, we can have a coffee so you can suss me out and make sure I’m not scamming you.
This is me and my beautiful wife in our home in Brightwater