Lots of equipment to take with you, LOTS!....hours are variable and no set schedule, I would find out on Friday the school I was to be at on Monday with no time to confirm and plan, sometimes you can be sent up to 6 hours away and even though they pay for hotel and drive time, that missed time with family in between that your just sitting in a hotel to make $50 the next day and drive double what you were photographing SUCKS, once I was gone away and required the help of husband and family members to make sure my kids could get to school and be picked up and while I was GONE ALL WEEK, I was only paid for 22.63 hours which was my actual time worked, so you feel like you work 80+ hours a week to find out when you put the info in for your payroll that you worked 20 on average, its all about your "PRODUCTIVITY", thats all it is and district offices throw ya under the bus to the schools if there is an issue, yet we have no "bonding" with them till a week at most when you make your confirmation call, so the customer service starts and ends in the office and the photographers get the shaft and blame. Oh and if you have a school that requires morning session and then afternoon, your stuck in a town UNPAID sitting in your car for up to 3 hours or more waiting to go back to photograph more kids, instead of making the school have to adjust and tell kids from afternoon to come early for pic day, they make you sit there unpaid and have to wait, so you really work 8-10 hours that day and get paid for like 5. HAHAHAHAHA....and the "contests" to earn bonuses, yeah if you photograph like a 7 year old, you win, know what your doing and your work gets nothing.