REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Home tour is requesting proposals/bids for digital photography for its Home Tour Guide publication and website. It involves scheduling and photographing up to 60 families in their homes. It requires a combination of skills with people and architectural photography, often in tight spaces.

You can download the full request for proposals at MSPHometour on the "contact"page and view it below.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR HOME TOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

Deadline: Wednesday, January 5, 2011 – early submissions encouraged

Pro Media, Inc., the contractor for coordinating the Minneapolis & Saint Paul Home Tour seeks photography services for the Home Tour Guide and related uses. The Minneapolis & Saint Paul Home Tour is sponsored by the Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program and the City of St. Paul.

The Contractor agrees to perform the following services for Pro Media:

1. Provide photography for the 2011 Minneapolis and Saint Paul Home Tour (Home Tour) under the direction of Pro Media’s Home Tour Coordinator. This shall include:

a.) Taking photographs of up to 60 Minneapolis and Saint Paul homes/homeowners that will be included on the 2011 Home Tour through a process agreed upon by the Home Tour Coordinator and Contractor. Making prior arrangements with homeowners to take such photographs.

b.) Submitting to Pro Media for its use, four to six images from each home, at least two of which include the homeowner(s) and others which show features of the home relevant to the remodeling, or if not remodeled, significant to the character of the home.

c.) Providing Pro Media with high-resolution (300 dpi) color digital files of each home on the 2011 Home Tour. Contractor grants Pro Media Inc. and the Home Tour unlimited usage rights for taken photographs with no time restrictions. Contractor may use these same images for their promotional use.

d.) Providing photographs for “neighborhood tours” or other subjects as determined by the Home Tour Coordinator.

e.) Adhering to a production schedule provided by Pro Media and agreed to by the Contractor. This will generally be the six weeks between February 1 and March 15, 2011. Much of the photographing will be done on the weekends and evenings. Photos are to be provided as soon as possible after they are taken, to facilitate various stages of production and tour promotion.

Background Information: To become familiar with the Minneapolis & Saint Paul Home tour, please visit http://www.msphometour.com/. Tour coordinators are open to (but do not require) having different photographers/teams for Minneapolis and for St. Paul. This contract is non-exclusive, i.e. some photographs in the Guide may be provided by others.

Your bid/application should include, in two pages or less (plus samples):

1.) Narrative: Introduce yourself and/or team, discuss how you would approach this contract and manage it with your other time commitments. Many of the photo subjects involved in the home tour are busy families and will need weekend or evening appointments, and sometimes need to reschedule – how flexible can you be? Comment on the amount of time you would allot for each appointment, and any other variables you think would be of interest or concern.

2.) Work Samples: Provide access to between 6 and 12 images (samples of your recent work) that include people and architecture together, preferably in kitchens, bathrooms, or dining rooms. Show how you deal with confined areas, using appropriate lenses to include as much as possible. These may be emailed in jpeg format (keep file sizes to under 1 mb) or you may refer to website galleries.

3.) Pricing Requested: This can be a price per home/location photographed, or an overall flat fee for a predictable range of locations covered. If a flat fee is proposed, provide the amount for 45, 50, 55 and 60 homes, and if desired, a separate rate for non-home locations (item “d” in the description)

4.) Minority/Women-Owned Status: If you meet City of Saint Paul criteria for being a woman-owned or minority-owned business, please provide access to that documentation.

5.) Address & Contact Info: Address of Company and city of residence for the individual(s) working on the project. List all individuals who would work on the project (photographers, and any assistants who might be involved in scheduling). Include all other available contact information for the project lead.

6.) References: Email and phone numbers for up to three recent references.

Questions: Margo Ashmore, link@nrp.org

Submit your application materials by email by January 5, 2011 to link@nrp.org, attention Margo Ashmore.