Here's a conversation I recently had with a consulting assistant to one of
the contractors working with the construction team that's building our new
parking facilities and student service building at work:
(I'm on my way to the construction site, rigged-out with photo gear, the
consulting assistant sees me)
consulting assistant (the short guy): Hey, are you the one that took that
great photo of my boss's back-hoe? The one hanging in the trailer?
Me: Yes, that's a print I gave as a gift to the foreman.
consulting assistant: Send me a jpeg, will you. Here's my email. I know
my boss would love it. It's a photo we could use.
Me: What would you be using the photograph for? Would you be using it in
brochures, trade advertising, PR materials?
consulting assistant: probably.
Me: Then we would need to talk terms, right?
consulting assistant: (He begrudgingly hands me his business card and
doesn't look too happy.)
Everybody wants something for nothing.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Savage" <[email protected]>
To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 5:37 PM
Subject: Re: Wedding photography, starting price?
Every time a hear a discussion about giving away photographs (and
pricing in such a way as it's almost the same thing) this interview
with Harlan Ellison comes to mind:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE>
Cheers,
Dave
2009/3/19 William Robb <[email protected]>:
Repost from April 1, 2001.
Perhaps it bears repeating.
Don't be a cheap whore, you won't get respected for it, and when
you want to graduate to being a high class whore, no one will be
willing to pay you for it. I have seen it happen before in my
under populated part of the world.
People will only value your work as much as you do.
The guy I mentored with had a thriving weekend wedding business
going. In 1972, I started going out on paying jobs with him,
learning how to photograph weddings. By 1975, he had over a
dozen photographers working for him, shooting weddings. Over
time, these people started going out on their own, becoming
competition for the trade. Eventually, the market for wedding
photographers saturated to the point where my mentor decided to
become more competitive. He started dropping his prices. He is
now on welfare, and pretty god damned bitter about it.
Being a cheap whore is always a mistake.
People will pay quality money for what they percieve as a
quality job. By charging cheap, you are sending a message that
you don't think your work is worth their money. This is not a
strategy for long term business success.
You want to know
what happens in markets where someone comes in and low balls the
available work? Everyone suffers for it. The photographers
suffer because some idiot is saying that photo portraiture isn't
worth paying for, and everyone has to drop their prices to
compete. The clients suffer because with the new, lower pricing,
quality suffers, because it isn't worthwhile to do a good job
anymore.
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