Fell into Paid Photography!

[princessjo1988]

Hi all,

I am still working out this forum (been doing a lot of lurking), but thought I would post and get some opinions.

Firstly, a little bit about my perspective - I do photography for the love, nothing else. I have considered going 'pro' - but my area is flooded with photographers - photographers with very firm ideas about things, and unless you do things a certain way, you are not 'in'. It isn't to my taste, and not what I am interested in - AT ALL.

That being said - in the last 6 months I have begun to be paid for my photography (I chose to ask for very small amounts - under $100 in most cases - but those amounts are slowly increasing), and had people approach me about doing children's shoots and weddings.

I am booked in to do my cousin's wedding for free (she is my friend, and it is my wedding present to them), meaning I haven't thought about what I would want to charge for wedding.

A lady (I did a photoshoot of her little girls) is interested in me doing her wedding, and she asked me what I would charge. She knows I am not 'pro', but has been very happy with my work. I am really not very sure what I would charge - but I have the figure of $300 in my head.

Now - am I under/over-changing if I do go ahead with that figure? It is really tricky for me - I have 'fell' into the paid world very unwillingly and nervously as it is. Don't get me wrong - I love what I do, and I am very happy with the finished product and my ability to get what subject/parent want - but getting paid for it is a different beast entirely.

Jo.

[candleman]

Getting paid for it will eventually take most of the pleasure out of it.
I usedto turn to photography for my R&R, now its work.
Sure it's still enjoyable work.. but it's not a fun hobby anymore when it becomes a business.

Upside to charging: you get money to buy stuff.
Downside to charging: you have the pressure to perform, legal issues, less spare time... blah blah blah



I'm not going to tell you if you are under or over charging. I don't think you have given enough info on your intentions, and may not have fully thought this through. There of plenty of threads about "i'm shooting a friends wedding, what should I charge" ...so search for those and see the responses.

Nutshell:
be afraid, be very afraid. It can bite you faster and harder then you may think. It may seem glamorous.. but what you see and what you get are very different things.

see more Very Demotivational

[Inkjet]

Originally Posted by princessjo1988

Hi all,

I am still working out this forum (been doing a lot of lurking), but thought I would post and get some opinions.

Firstly, a little bit about my perspective - I do photography for the love, nothing else. I have considered going 'pro' - but my area is flooded with photographers - photographers with very firm ideas about things, and unless you do things a certain way, you are not 'in'. It isn't to my taste, and not what I am interested in - AT ALL.

That being said - in the last 6 months I have begun to be paid for my photography (I chose to ask for very small amounts - under $100 in most cases - but those amounts are slowly increasing), and had people approach me about doing children's shoots and weddings.

I am booked in to do my cousin's wedding for free (she is my friend, and it is my wedding present to them), meaning I haven't thought about what I would want to charge for wedding.

A lady (I did a photoshoot of her little girls) is interested in me doing her wedding, and she asked me what I would charge. She knows I am not 'pro', but has been very happy with my work. I am really not very sure what I would charge - but I have the figure of $300 in my head.

Now - am I under/over-changing if I do go ahead with that figure? It is really tricky for me - I have 'fell' into the paid world very unwillingly and nervously as it is. Don't get me wrong - I love what I do, and I am very happy with the finished product and my ability to get what subject/parent want - but getting paid for it is a different beast entirely.

Jo.

Its good to know that you enjoy what you're doing very much and don't worry about charging others especially you have provided them great satisfaction. Just don't go overboard especially with close kins. However, if you want to make a profession out of it and you are confident with the quality of your work, you should get used to the idea of getting paid for a job well done.

[princessjo1988]

Thanks for the replies!

I guess that is my problem - that I am AFRAID. I am particularly nervous that any move in the 'paid' direction will lessen my enjoyment. I can already tell that when I am getting paid for it, the pressure increases tenfold!

I am not in it for the glamour. Trust me. For a very clean girl, I get the dirtiest when I taking photos. I am always on the ground, in a tree - anything to get the shot I want! rofl!

[jonesbob]

getting payed fir diung what you love to do. figure how much cost overhead you will jave, including wear and tear if eqyuonent and the how much your time is worth add it up,,and this is a fair "amature" fee. the cost of your time will esculate with experance and learing.
Nist weddungs cist a minimus if $500.00us. Keep taking pictures oeioke are rrecinnsizeing your takent.

Only you can say if you are charging enough. Is the money worth your time?

And yeah, getting paid starts to take the enjoyment out of it. I've actually decided to stop shooting weddings and portraits after this season because it isn't fun anymore.

However, I am having fun in my niche (high speed photography), and actually make more doing that than I was doing portraits and weddings. If you're one of the few people in the world that do something, you get a lot of requests (some are very strange) for your work or expertise.

[Jim Bryant]

The feeling of being afraid only the lack of experience. When you gain confidence, that will all change.

[gmikulin]

I am just starting in photography, no were near pro (not even close) but I know where your coming from. I do computer work as a side gig. I fix them for people, remove virus's, build them etc. I used to do it for free cause I enjoyed it, I liked being able to make people happy, and it was a great learning experience, as I learned from each job. I now do it for money (as my wife was upset that I would spend so much time on it and essentially time away from her). I am not a proffesional IT Guy.... I've never taken courses, so I don't feel right charging $50-$70 an hour like you would have to pay in a shop. I charge $20/hr. Now sometimes I end up working on a computer for 5 hours but only charge the person $60.00 cause I felt that's really how much I worked on it.... I often end up getting paid MORE than what I ask, and that leads to feeling of guilt for me. So I can agree with Candleman with his quote "Upside to charging: you get money to buy stuff.
Downside to charging: you have the pressure to perform, legal issues, less spare time... blah blah blah"

Bottom line is your going to have to come up with a price that you can live with, and that still keeps it "FUN" for you. Charge too much, the expectation is too high and it becomes like every other job. Charge to little, and people will expect you to do it for nothing, and your life is spent working for others with no gratification. Hope this makes as much sense as it did in my head.

[Jim Bryant]

However, fun, doesn't pay your bills, and it actually "hurts" the working professionals out there.

[RELum]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

However, fun, doesn't pay your bills, and it actually "hurts" the working professionals out there.

My wife is going through this issue with her jewelry business. Trying to sell online is near impossible as there are countless people out there selling stuff that they make as a "hobby" for barely over cost. Is it as high quality as hers, no; are their chains handmade like hers, no. It still hurts her business though because the market is flooded with lower cost items. So my feeling is that you should always charge a fair market value for products or services. Now if it was for a friend or family, doing it at a deep discount is a totally different matter.

Just my 2 cents though