Agreed. Sounds like the greediness of the organiser or venue are to blame. All creative people can be undervalued or seen as an afterthought. Photographers as well. It’s a suits way of flexing at creatives. “Come along and do it for free cause it’ll be real fun and we’d love to have you on board.” Or “We can’t afford to pay you this time, but hopefully the next one, and we’d love to keep you in mind.” - oh yeah?! No.