Hello, 

My name is Joe Almano.

I am the founder and lead director and photographer behind "Almano Photography".

www.almano.io

We are a very small team like a media agency, focused on providing professional photography and videography services to SMEs and brands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

We are always building a network of visual creators across the city who are interested and equipped to join us on commercial and paid photography and video projects. 

If you have any skills and experience in Photography and/or Videography - I invite you to continue registering on this form.

Whether you're a licensed or unlicensed freelancer, hobbyist, professionally employed full-timer seeking extra cash income, or a fresh graduate from school - we are excited to invite you and to learn about you and potentially invite you to future paid projects!

The benefits of joining our network are endless. We provide you with;

- Paid commercial project opportunities (to apply for)
- Networking with industry leaders
- Exclusive free-to-chat WhatsApp group
- 1:1 mentoring for select individuals (upon request)
- Job shadowing opportunities for entry-level users
- Monthly live Q&A (AMA) sessions for those interested
- Access to our database of Makeup artists, Models & Actors (upon request and T&Cs apply)
- And much more planned for the future...

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WHEN YOU REGISTER WITH US, YOU "WILL" RECEIVE VALUE IN RETURN. WE DO NOT LIKE TO WASTE ANYONE'S TIME.

Use this form to register your professional profile, submit your details and share your portfolio photos and videos with us.

Your details will be added to our database, where we will consider and review you for ongoing monthly projects revolving around Commercial photography or videography. 

Keep reading to learn more and submit your details in the coming pages.

Thank you for your time. We appreciate your patience in applying, and be assured EVERYONE's profiles are carefully and periodically reviewed.

⚠ Kindly note that registration will take approximately 10 minutes due to all the questions to fill up. Ensure you allocate enough time to complete this form in one go, as you won't be able to start and continue later without resetting the form. Alternatively, save this link and return once you're ready to register.

Sincerely,

Joe Almano
www.almano.io

Note: You may return back later to this same registration link to read more information anytime.

♠ Speed. If you're lazy or choose to be slow in this business, do not continue with our registration.

♠ Time. The greatest currency of the universe, and the reason you are applying with us - BECAUSE you want to exchange your TIME and skills for MONEY. Thus, we appreciate those who respect a person's time.

♠ Quality. We believe in always providing the best possible quality service and products. If a client is not paying for a top-quality "product", then you compensate by giving TOP QUALITY service. Either way, QUALITY is always given and should become the standard way of operation.

♠ We value skilled, capable, and proven artists over the willing and enthusiastic. This means those with solid experience are ranked higher than freshers just entering the industry. There is a time and a place for everyone, and we typically require skilled artists who can execute quality deliverables.

♠ We don't believe in "X" amount of years of experience. We believe in getting things done. So show us - what have you done, accomplished, created, and how many times? Those who have undergone intense, frequent repetition are the most skilled regardless of years of activity.

♠ We value artists who are strong business communicators and who have mastered (or starting to master) the art of speaking between logic and passion. Being able to describe artistic goals is essential but not as much as communicating with clients, partners, and stakeholders in a simple and pragmatic business manner.

♠ We value artists who have a sense of teamwork and/or leadership. Those who seek "babysitting" will find it challenging to excel and acquire paid projects.

♠ Artists who honor their "WORD" will be highly respected in our community. If you "SAY" you're going to "DO SOMETHING", then you better DO IT.

In our business, there is only YES or NO, to every question. There is no "yes ok, but then maybe I'll do it if I feel like it".

When you communicate your choice, your word MUST be golden. This will be the foundation for trust and how to earn your ranks within our community. The more skilled and/or trustworthy you are, the more you'll be rewarded with new projects and opportunities.

Everyone starts equal from zero, but it's up to you how you perform and communicate your professionalism.

♠ This community network IS NOT a backup option - You either take a project or reject it. Nobody will be allowed to hold a project beyond the response time.


If you understand, agree, or resonate with these values - you may proceed with your registration to join the greatest network for photographers and videographers within the city of Dubai. 

You are signing up to access all types of projects.

While our community begins, we'll be focused on commercial Lifestyle photos & videos of all types.

In the coming months, we will also offer additional project categories such as Weddings, Cars, Yachts, and everything else...

You will be notified via WhatsApp and email once ANY new projects become available once you are registered in our network and have completed this registration.

1️⃣ Hotel Lifestyle Photoshooting & Filming:

- These projects are about capturing the hotel facilities and models/actors who are role-playing as a specific type of guest enjoying themselves or bringing attention to a certain feature or area in the Hotel. Some brands require that the role "hipster and modern" with a focus on doing crazy stuff like jumping on the bed with your friends and drinking champagne in the pool like a bo$$ or other brands require a traditional role as a business professional who is traveling and enjoying their stay while they catch up on work from a laptop.

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2️⃣ Restaurant Lifestyle Photoshooting & Filming:

- These are short-run and gun-style projects primarily produced for social media where models and actors role-play as restaurant guests dining and enjoying themselves. When we work on Restaurant projects like this, you'll easily be on site for 3, 4 or 5 hours while we capture what the brand requires.

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3️⃣ More coming soon...

Receiving Projects & Briefs

Every time we have a project, we will review the members registered in our network to see what gear you own, your rates, your skill level, and more. If you are a match for a project we have - we will message you via email and send you a "Project Brief", which is a full project briefing for your review and approval. If you confirm - you will be locked and booked for a project. If you decline, the project gets offered to someone else.


Receiving your payment

Payments will be via bank deposit to your account NET 30-45 days after a project or, in some cases, cash in person on the day of the photoshoot.

Confirming a Project Brief

When you receive a project brief, you will be given a deadline to review and confirm the details before a certain amount of time. If you do not agree with something in the project brief, you must reply with a counter-proposal or a solution. For example, if a project is offering 5000AED NET 30 days after the shoot but you want a rate of 8000AED NET 30 days, then reply back saying so instead of starting a long interrogation discussion. If you genuinely have any grave concerns and feel compelled to negotiate, you may message us on Whatsapp.

Your Equipment & Gear

We only work and partner with those who own their own gear. Your responsibility is to source your tools if you do not own them or have easy access. However, we have connections with rental houses that may provide discounted rates for you if needed (message us in our WhatsApp group). 

Copyright Ownership

If you conduct a project on our behalf alone using your own sourced equipment, the copyrights belong to you, and it is your responsibility to prepare the required paperwork which explicitly grants us "Joe Almano" commercial distribution and licensing rights on your behalf for an indefinite amount of time. 

If you cannot prepare the paperwork, we will give you the associated paperwork and NDA (per project), which you must sign before initiating any project on our behalf. 

If you conduct a project while joining us as a partner on-site, we own all copyrights to all footage captured or filmed from all devices used on the production site, including mobile footage. You must sign a release of rights and NDA before starting the project.

As an on-site partner, you will be granted a limited license to distribute any "final product" as part of your personal portfolio unless requested otherwise by the client (IE: they want exclusivity).

It is also your responsibility to offload and share all raw content captured within a maximum of 12 hours after the end of the production.

Job Shadowing

Message us in WhatsApp if you're interested in this. You will not own any copyrights to the images or film you capture, and a release of rights + NDA will be signed. However, you have full access to everything on set and may ask us any questions throughout the day, including networking with fellow models, actors and other crew members in a respectful and professional manner.

Sense of Community

This group is meant to be a community of high-performance achievers who are dedicated artists of their craft with masterful skills in their respective niche areas. The mission of this community is to bring us together for everyone's benefit. Talk with each other. Add value to each other. Share resources. Share paid work opportunities with each other. If there is anything you seek - Tell us and we will create the value to share with everyone. The ultimate goal is to see everyone engaged, growing, and prospering. That can only be achieved through a unity of like-minded professional people with a mindset for passion, success, and growth. 

Always Speak

If you have a problem related to your photography or videography business that you cannot find a solution to, message the group and ask someone for help.

If your business problem turns into a health or mental problem - write down the question to which you desire a solution as simple but detailed as possible and share it with the admin (Joe almano), and I will try to help, otherwise I'll refer you to someone specialized. 

Through unity, we will all succeed.

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More Q&As and notes will be added here when required. If you have a suggestion, email me.

Are you applying as a personal assistant?

Only check the below if you're applying as a coordinator or personal on-site assistant who ALSO HAS production, photography or videography experience.

This position is ideally suited for interns, fresh graduates or entry-level individuals. Please note that you cannot simultaneously apply as an "assistant" and a "photographer" / "videographer" - therefore, choose wisely.

Professional Experience:
This is the amount of experience you have from doing photos or videos full time. 

For example, if you are a part-time freelancer who does 3 projects a year and has been doing this for the last 5 years - your experience is NOT 5 years but really more like "no experience" or "1-year experience" at most. 

If you have done full-time and part-time over many years, add it up and be honest. Don't oversell yourself.

What is your creative focus & project preferences?

What do you specialize in OR prefer to focus on more when joining us?

Choose TOP 5 projects you can execute successfully.

The projects you select will determine what jobs we consider you for.

Compensation Preferences:

Due to the nature of our business and various clients - we offer many different types of projects per month such as Paid, Barter, and TFP Projects.

To help us understand who best fits a project, we would like to ask if you are generally "open" to the possibility of participating in Non-paid (TFP) or (Barter) photoshoots.

We already know EVERYONE wants to be paid; therefore, anyone may apply for paid projects. However, please help us determine if you are suitable for Barter Photoshoots or High-Quality Professional TFP Projects in your free time. You can always just say no if you are busy in the future.

Barter Photoshoot = You will be compensated with something in exchange for your time. Such as a Voucher, meals, staycation, or something else. No cash or expense reimbursements are provided.


TFP (Time for Prints) = Also known as "Free Collaboration". You will be compensated with the final Edited images from our photo session. No cash or expense reimbursements.

What you choose below will determine how often you are contacted based on our project volume. 

If you prefer to remain neutral and judge all projects as they appear, select BARTER / TFP / PAID (first option) and decide on a per-project basis.

⚠ If you need to upload ".MOV" video files - please convert them to mp4 first. We don't accept mov. Thank you.

Please note that as per security requirements along with accounting requirements. If you are selected and confirmed to join us on a project, a digital copy of your Emirates ID and/or Passport will be required and requested of you in advance.

Failure to provide your ID within any informed timeframe will surrender your participation in any projects previously invited/shortlisted or confirmed for and you will no longer be eligible to join us until further notice.


Primary reasons we need your ID include;

1. Required for client/venue security to know who is on the property (crew) in advance.
2. Required by Finance teams to prepare any fees payable to you.
3. Required by our team to keep track of all those we've worked with.
4. General safe practice and liability assurance
5. It may sometimes be required for Equipment Insurance purposes

Please note that Artists unable or unwilling to share a copy of their Emirates ID or Passport will be unable to join us on projects. Failure to share an ID upon request will forfeit any projects rewarded to you.

Founder, Director of Photography & Head Creative

Joe Almano
Email: joe@almano.io
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/almano.dxb/
Website: www.almano.io