-$250 an Hour

That’s how much I lost by waiting 3 hours to respond to an inquiry for a job. The kicker --- I didn’t want to sound desperate or overly eager so I sat on the email.

Fee negotiation remains one of the most important and challenging aspects of the business of photography. Buy camera, get good, get paid right? Not quite. Some hard rules to consider before you price any job are.

1) What’s your cost of doing business?
2) What’s the market I’m in?
3) What rights agreement and fee is right for my client?
4) What's my clients budget?

That’s a lot to consider and certainly it might seem daunting and there are many potential pitfalls along the way, like waiting 3 hours to not seem desperate.

Don't settle for what doesn't seem fair or reasonable. Be willing to negotiate and perhaps even accept less, but don't accept less than your worth.

The photo above was a composite image of three shots. The $100 dollar bill bent on it's side to simulate swimming (later rotated in PS). The hook, poking through a hole in a piece of paper (no 100 dollar bills were actually poked in the making of this photo). Lastly, the line and hook were shot separately.

Lighting was one light camera bottom and beneath for 100 dollar bill to create camera-right light when rotated. Line and hook were both shot with one light as well.

Show me the Money

I have a few readers, maybe enough to count on one hand. Then I have the accidental, stumble in from the cold (there’s no cover charge is there?) kind of reader that stops by after looking at my main site.

I marvel at the world as it exists today. That I can even have a stumble in from the cold reader blows my mind. I remember back when I was using a dial up modem (no not DSL) to connect to bulletin board systems and I thought I was hot shit. Well I wasn’t then and I’m certainly not now.

So, where I’m I going with this? I have always wanted this blog to be about what it’s like to be a photographer; about thoughts, fears, breakthroughs and self-discoveries as a photographer. At times I think it’s worked profoundly well and others times it hasn’t.

Going forward, I’ve made a couple steadfast rules. 1. Always post a photo. No EXCEPTION. 2. Stay on topic. This blog exists to inform people of what goes on inside my head while I’m taking photos or talking about photos.

So I present you with this photo.



It’s my boy’s room. And that sock monkey was given to me by a friend. Now here comes the discussion. I hated taking that photo.

What?

It’s got the nice side-light, nice composition (sort-of) and it’s a touching image of a major event that happened in my life, but here’s why I hated it. I felt obligated to take the photo.

No one asked me to do it. I did it on my own and no one would even know about this now if it wasn’t for this blog entry. Here it is, the crux. I felt an overwhelming urge to shoot this image and send it to my friend to validate my appreciation for the gift, which I really do appreciate. The trouble is, I live and breathe images all the time. I am a photographer and the last thing I want to do is more work. Maybe this sounds trite, but I’m amazed at how often people ask “Wow you’re a photographer, what’s it like doing something you love and getting paid for it?”

Well it’s a little like this. Imagine you love ice cream. Now imagine I’m going to pay you to eat ice cream all day long. Sound good so far? Well unfortunately this ice cream tastes like a sweaty CEO at some company and he needs a good portrait, so get right on that.

That’s the trouble.

You have to reconcile your love for the craft with the subject matter and while the sock monkey is cute and very unlike a sweaty CEO, at the end of the day I won’t even be getting paid for it.