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 Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:24 pm
Here's a question for ya'll Does anyone here get payed on a semi-regular basis for their work? I've been brokee lately. A lot of people tell me I should charge for my work. I've shot a lot of bands in the past, both in concert and for promo. I've done a wedding (I wasn't the primary photography, nor was I technically hired, but I took quite a bit of pictures and spent a large chunk of my time editing them). I've done a girl's senior portraits. I have two bands now, asking me to take pictures of them. One model about an hour north of here I'm currently scheduling something with. And yet I have not charged for any. The bands pay me in free admission and merch and sometimes free food, and in general they're all friends of mine. The wedding was a family member's. The model work is TFP/TFCD. Either way I feel bad. If I charge, then I feel like I'm gutting money out of people, many times my friends. The bands are, well, bands. Some of them have day jobs, but nothing glamorous. It's not like they can shell out an arm and a leg, and etc. But at the same time, I feel like I might be devaluing my art. Add to the fact that I really need money... Wrar. So there's my rant. Any suggestions?
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 6:26 pm
Not only does it devalue your work but it also undercuts the photographers in the area that may be trying to market their work to the same people. The problem is, are you really undercutting when the person would just rather do without than pay anyone? Does it do you any good when you're trying to build a portfolio and get experience if you price yourself out of getting any work?
I'm sort of in a transition from free work to paid work right now. I charge people, give quotes, and sell prints, but I still take people up on jobs for cost or for free when it isn't putting me out too much and I think the experience is valuable to me.
I don't have a really good answer to your question, but I would suggest that you look at what's fair market value and get used to considering your time and tallent to be worth at least that. Know when you do something for free, cost, or barter that what you're doing is really worth cold hard cash - and a good deal of it. The technical skill, equipment, and creativity involved in photography has a very real and somewhat high market value, and you'll never make it (unless you're obscenely lucky) if you don't understand that value and get used to telling people what the work is going to cost if you're going to do it.
All that said, from what I can tell, the best path to getting paid and being stable is the same as with most professions. You have to put in your dues. The easiest way to put in those dues, it seems, is to get a job related to what you want to do on your own. Find a small newspaper or a photo studio that can support you while you make your transition in your own personal work from free, cost, and barter to real fair market cost.
That's how I feel on the subject, at least. Even though I tend to avoid getting a job whenever I can manage to be broke but still take pictures.
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:09 pm
I feel your pain.
I have some models who admit to feeling afraid to contact me for shoots, because they were worried I would charge too much money... and I don't charge ANYTHING. They just assumed because so many local photographers don't do TFP/TFCD work anymore that I must charge, too. (Which is sort of a nice compliment, because that means they're lumping me in with the local professionals.)
All I've charged in the past has been reimbursement for film and processing. I've shot one charity event and the only thing I asked for was film/processing costs and some free food. (C'mon.. it was for charity! I felt guilty when I was offered money for it.)
I guess where I'm headed now is starting to charge for models who approach me looking for portfolio work, but still offering my services for free to those who are willing to work on MY projects. Photography, for me, is a creative outlet and I just want to create art. The whole reason I work an office job from 9-5 is so I can support my artistic habit.
Money would just help me through the boring headshot sessions, I guess. lol
But as for pricing...? I'm floundering. Most of the local photographers I've found charge anywhere from $150 to $300 for a 3 hour session. And the model is only guaranteed something like 3 prints and 10 digital watermarked images. But these are also usually photographers with studios and professional lighting equipment....
I'm thinking of setting a price of $50 to $75 for a 2 or 3 hour session, which would include a minimum of 10 watermarked digital images and a 5x7 print they could use in a book. (My printer died two years ago and getting an 8x10 printed at CVS costs almost $10.. plus I don't trust the quality of color in the skin tones. I have a very nice HP Photo printer that produces exquisite 5x7 or 4x6 prints.)
As for working professionally in the photography field.. be careful.
I worked for Lifetouch for one fall season, taking yearbook photos. It was more about mass production than about real quality photography. I mean.. of course they want the photos to look good and they want you to connect with your subject, but some days you have to get through 12 classes in less than 6 hours. Which means an hour of setting up, rushing through hundreds of kids, then an hour of breaking everything down. On top of driving time, which for me sometimes went up to 5 hours total in the car. It was exhausting... and almost killed my love of photography.
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Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:55 pm
I don't get paid for my work, either.
I feel as if I'm not good enough yet to get paid for my work, and I feel like I'd be "ripping" people off if I did.. because I'm ameture.
However, I have had people pay me small amounts, like 20 dollars for a shoot. Right now I think I'm just doing things for free until I can go to college to become a "professional."
There are pleanty of ways to make money from photography without making people pay you.
There's stocks, selling your work online through deviantART or other photo websites... and that's enough for me for the moment. ^_^
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:19 pm
arphillios Here's a question for ya'll Does anyone here get payed on a semi-regular basis for their work? I've been brokee lately. A lot of people tell me I should charge for my work. I've shot a lot of bands in the past, both in concert and for promo. I've done a wedding (I wasn't the primary photography, nor was I technically hired, but I took quite a bit of pictures and spent a large chunk of my time editing them). I've done a girl's senior portraits. I have two bands now, asking me to take pictures of them. One model about an hour north of here I'm currently scheduling something with. And yet I have not charged for any. The bands pay me in free admission and merch and sometimes free food, and in general they're all friends of mine. The wedding was a family member's. The model work is TFP/TFCD. Either way I feel bad. If I charge, then I feel like I'm gutting money out of people, many times my friends. The bands are, well, bands. Some of them have day jobs, but nothing glamorous. It's not like they can shell out an arm and a leg, and etc. But at the same time, I feel like I might be devaluing my art. Add to the fact that I really need money... Wrar. So there's my rant. Any suggestions? If your family and friends value the quality of the work you do, and the effort they already know you put in for them, they should not have any problem whatsoever paying for your services. If you asked them a lot of them would probably be happy to be encouraging your photography in that way. Also based on your portfolio of work in general, you should DEFINITELY be charging people. What you do is worth any amount of money you'd be willing to charge, your work is beautiful and obviously took a lot of time, work and thought to be what it is. By not charging anybody you're devaluing your own talent. You could do what I do, which is offer a discount on services to your family and friends, but make sure you take into account how many total hours you're going to put into the project [shooting and editing] and how much you feel your time & effort is worth before decided how much to discount them.
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:01 pm
basically, i think that if what you are shooting does not benefit you or your portefolio much, then i think you should get paid, or simply not do it.
when random wannabe-models (like, the ones you know will never get signed/published/or even serious about what they do, and that doesn't have a very interesting look, and all that (and yes i know that sounds a bit arrogant, it's really not meant that way..)) approach me asking for me to shoot them, i tell them to either pay me or i won't do it. when i do TF* i want to work with people who give me something useful back. so when i don't find the model interesting for my projects and portefolio, what else do they have that i need? the answer is of course money. xD also i have done those kinds of shoots many times so i don't feel so inexperienced anymore, and thus i don't need them as test bunnies.
a friend of a friend of mine asked me earlier this summer if i wanted to shoot her and the child she will soon give birth to, and i said yes. and i will not ask her to pay me. because i have never done a shoot like that before, and i do not want to ask her to pay me for something i cannot guarantee will be good. but maybe next time someone asks me i'll ask to get payed. or maybe the time after that. whenever i feel that i know enough about what i am doing.
but yeah. i think it's fairly simple. if i don't have any interest in shooting whoever asks, that person will have to pay me to do it. :0
that said, i don't charge much, just enough to make me feel that i still gained something from the shoot, and enough to weed out the "my friends tell me i'm so pretty and that i should be a model" girls.. xD
..and my prices will get higher as i feel that the quality of my work gets higher.
if you value your work to be worth nothing, then don't charge anything. if you think you can produce something of good quality, ask for payment. you should also take a look at all the photographers making enough money to have it either as their part time or full time job. some of those aren't good. like. seriously. they aren't good at all. but they think that their work is worth something, and so other people start thinking the same thing.
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