Private Party Gig in 10 months

[NicoleScraps]

I had a lady contact me about photographing her parents 40th anniversary party in October.
She wants candids of the party itself as well as a bunch of individual family "posed" shots since most of their extended family will be in one spot at the same time.
The party is schedule to be 2.5 hours long and is 30 miles from my home.
She asked for a quote and I am not asking for specific numbers. I have my own idea in my head for what I want to make hourly here.
My questions are for events such as this, do you put travel, set-up (equipment, backdrops etc) and editing time straight into your hourly rate? As in, do I charge a lower hourly but add in more hours. Or do I just charge for the time that I am at the party, but at a higher rate? Do you find that people are more receptive to one way or another? Also should the family shots be a separate "cost" from the actual event. I plan to build enough into my hourly so that I can just hand over a disk of all of the party shots when I am done. But as far as these posed shots, not sure about that.
In the meantime, I need to drive up and check out the location ahead of time. It is a community center banquet room. I want to see what kind of lighting they have and see what all I will need for the event.
Any other tips or words of wisdom?

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by NicoleScraps

I had a lady contact me about photographing her parents 40th anniversary party in October.
She wants candids of the party itself as well as a bunch of individual family "posed" shots since most of their extended family will be in one spot at the same time.
The party is schedule to be 2.5 hours long and is 30 miles from my home.
She asked for a quote and I am not asking for specific numbers. I have my own idea in my head for what I want to make hourly here.
My questions are for events such as this, do you put travel, set-up (equipment, backdrops etc) and editing time straight into your hourly rate? As in, do I charge a lower hourly but add in more hours. Or do I just charge for the time that I am at the party, but at a higher rate? Do you find that people are more receptive to one way or another? Also should the family shots be a separate "cost" from the actual event. I plan to build enough into my hourly so that I can just hand over a disk of all of the party shots when I am done. But as far as these posed shots, not sure about that.
In the meantime, I need to drive up and check out the location ahead of time. It is a community center banquet room. I want to see what kind of lighting they have and see what all I will need for the event.
Any other tips or words of wisdom?

I don't charge for travel inside of 50 miles in any way the client sees. The short distance travel is built in to my cost already.

How many people will be there, and how many "family units?" With 2.5 hours, you may be bumping up against some serious time constraints for the portraits. I'd be inclined to charge based on the estimated number of people/families/portraits plus just a little for the candids, sell prints of the portraits and give the CD of candids only away with purchase of portraits.

I'd make digital files of the portraits available, but at a MUCH higher price.

[NicoleScraps]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

I don't charge for travel inside of 50 miles in any way the client sees. The short distance travel is built in to my cost already.

How many people will be there, and how many "family units?" With 2.5 hours, you may be bumping up against some serious time constraints for the portraits. I'd be inclined to charge based on the estimated number of people/families/portraits plus just a little for the candids, sell prints of the portraits and give the CD of candids only away with purchase of portraits.

I'd make digital files of the portraits available, but at a MUCH higher price.

Next Monday, I am meeting her at the location so that I can check it out. We are going to talk specifics then. She might be a little....umm...slow or something because I kept asking her how many people, do you want the posed shots taken before, after, or during the party, etc. All she kept saying was "before we eat so the kids are not messy." Maybe talking to her face to face instead of on the phone and by email will go better.

[autofocus]

Nicolle, the way we like to work these events is by charging a higher hourly rate for the first hour which includes travel and some setup..say $300, and each subsequent hour at $200. I'm not a big fan of giving away disks because in doing so, you will never see a follow on enlargement order. Maybe a charge of ~$150 for all low rez candid shots on disk, but only available with enlargement order of $xx.xx. Another option that has worked for us is all "proof level" 4x6's done at your local budget print house (like Costco) and provided in a simple leather album (also available at Costco)...for this option, maybe charge $150 - $250, or so. All enlargements can be priced right off your standard price sheet. You can easily shoot 300++ images at an event like this, and people need to understand that there is a lot of processing time after the fact...hours. And as far as pricing, it's always what your local market will bear, and how much you feel all your time is worth. Events like this are almost like shooting a "mini" wedding, and should be priced accordingly. And like a wedding where you only get one chance to get it right, you better make sure you have some redundancy in your equipment which is also a cost you'll need to consider when working up your quote.

[Jim Bryant]

Make sure you charge her 1/2 deposit.

[AnneWynne]

Recently watched a pro photographer at a high school club winter formal. No ideas about pricing, but some for set-up.

First, he had an assistant/second shooter
He had a small "studio" setup in a corner of the room for posed photos of the kids in their fancy duds. This consisted of a backdrop and a Christmas tree, studio lights/soft boxes, and camera on tripod. He seemed to be in that location from the beginning of the event through dinner and kids could go up and have their photos taken. After dinner, he shot the "walk out", a traditional presentation of the girls and their escorts. There was a dance afterwards...I don't know what he did during that as I left after the walk out. He could have either continued with "studio" photos, or he and his assistant could have wandered around taking candids.

Remember that you will want to get most of your images right in camera so you will spend less time processing, which equates to a higher hourly rate. Be sure to consider the lighting on site, make sure your WB can compensate for site lighting. If you are using a speedlight, you may want to invest in a diffuser to soften the light on your subject.

Good luck,
Anne