I often get asked why our boardgame photography is free, with some saying it is "peculiar" or "rather odd" (actual quotes!), and I know I have lost at least a few potential clients due to offering what can be a very lucrative service for no cost.
I suppose, with the internet being what it is, there is a level of trepidation in engaging with something that seems to good to be true.
And while we detail our photography workflow on our website, that covers the how - but not the why - so I thought I'd write a blog post talking about where we're coming from when doing this for free.
Photography Is Fun
I got (well, borrowed) my first (film) camera sometime around 2004 when I went travelling around China, and from there I got the bug. The act of taking images of people and everyday things, capturing life, was something I realised I really enjoyed and eventually managed to get (something like) a Nikon D40 when I started to really take is more seriously.
Photography is fun - I have leant into many different kinds of photography over the years, from street, to sport to even some weddings (though admittedly as a guest rather than anything more formal!).
I've enjoyed all the types of photography I've done, finding new ways to take pictures of things around me and working out how to get the best out of all the different situations a photographer can find themselves in.
Business Is Not Fun (to me, anyway!)

I'll be honest - when I first started Rising Dice, I did it with the idea that eventually it could become a side business to my day job.
I attended UK Games Expo 2024 with the purpose of offering a free shoot, as a way to start to build up my portfolio and to start building up relationships with people I hadn't yet met.
And I loved it.
Speaking to the various designers, developers and publishers, discovering some excellent games I had not seen before and working with them to create photos that made their game look as good as it possibly could was a great experience.
The people I worked with were happy, I was happy, the whole process was fun, enjoyable and really rewarding.
And then I started to dive into how to move to the next stage - creating a business out of what I was enjoying.
Figuring out pricing plans, building invoices, creating quotes, understanding business accounts and tax requirements, registering an actual business - I didn't shoot any boardgames for a couple of months as I attempted to pull all of this together.
And before I knew it, I didn't want to either.
I have a day job that takes up a lot of my time - a 90 minute commute each way when I'm in the office will do that to you - which doesn't leave much time for anything else during the week, which meant photography was getting pushed further and further into the background.
Not Everything Needs To Be Monetised
If you ever create a new YouTube channel, you'll be bombarded with recommendations of how to beat the algorithm, increase your viewer count in a single video and ultimately how to monetise the platform, all in aid of creating "passive income" or "multiple income streams".
And the aim is to monetise something that someone has a genuine love for, that they wanted to create videos for, that they wanted to share with others.
I came to the realisation that I didn't want to make a money-making business out of Rising Dice, I wanted to enjoy the experience of the parts of the process I liked while I had the opportunity to do so.
Maybe I'll change my mind in the future, but right now I get so much enjoyment out of working with designers and developers to find out what kind of images they want, spending the hours it can take to set up and shoot the games and then editing the images so they look exactly how I envisaged, and I don't want to lose that by distracting myself with the overhead of a building a money making business.
And given I always play the games to better understand how they work and look before shooting, I get to play a bunch of absolutely fantastic games that I otherwise wouldn't, both solo or with my daughter - and that is worth a lot more to me than anything else.
But What If You Want To Support Our Work?
I have had a few clients say they wanted to pay for the images I created - which is a genuinely reaffirming thing to hear and very generous given how our relationship started.
And I do understand where clients are coming from when they ask this. I'll often donate to artists who provide their content for free just to say thank you - even though, as with me, that's not why they're doing it.
So I've always said no, wanting to avoid complicating any relationship and keeping the focus on the images I created, but I have now set up a Ko-Fi account so should people really want to donate they can.
But hopefully in a way that's separate to the process of building up a relationship and creating images that really helps their boardgame stand out.
So, That's That
I never really know how to end blog posts like these, and risk just rambling...
But hopefully that gives a really clear idea of why I do this for free, and how I came to this point in my Rising Dice journey.
And as always, if you do have any questions, or want to discuss a free boardgame photoshoot, then drop a comment below, email us at hello@risingdice.com or send us a message via our website.

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