Am I Too Young to Charge?

[anthonybeard]

Short answer: no.

You do great work already, so start charging, getting yourself out there, and making a name. You will do great things...

[RexK_Cozumel]

I also just wanted to say that running a successful photography business has little to do with being a good photographer.

[t blanchard]

I think your work is awesome and will be a great way to create some income while you're in college! There is a ton of great advice here on starting a business. Good luck!

[FrankLamont]

Firstly, you have some excellent portraits there.


Good use of urban as backdrop. While they may not be perfect, neither are most of us. In fact, I daresay we all have flaws in our photography.

Start charging simply. That's all it takes. Just a few bucks for your first paid shoot. Get some prints, large sized ones. Better still, get permission from the students you took (they'll probably let you, since you took the pictures for free) and make a photo book as your portfolio. Make sure they know, by the way, that they're on your website...

All it takes is one paid customer and you can say that others have paid and are satisfied. Well, if they are, that is. I'm sure they will be.

Then, expand, charge a little more.

Warn, however, that it's not a real business (yet), so cash only and such, no contracts, no receipts, no money back, etc.

But there's a future in the world of photography for you two.

[mikedugganphotography]

I’ve come in a little late on this one but I still would like to give you some feedback. Age should not be a factor in whether you get paid or not. Quality is the key consideration and from viewing your portfolio you have good quality portraits. I would say that getting paid should not be the question but how much you charge for your quality shots.

[vernons]

the key point is quality here, if you can look into it, i dont think you sould worry about it

[vernons]

so..age hardly matters if you have good idea and confidence

[JerBear]

The fact is that your age does matter, lucky you are less than a year away for the business side. In the US, the legal age for adult is 18. Adults (parents) cannot make binding contracts with minors and may be down side if you don't address the issue with tact. The parents (Mom) usually are very excited about their kids senior photos and will probably scrutinize you more because of your age.

Now that being said, Go for it!! The two of you are in a unique position to be able to capture a good deal of business. You have the kinship of those you are shooting, you speak their language and they have got to feel more at ease with you, then someone who could be their parent. In fact, you might "teach" a few of us pros out there a thing or two on "what is wanted" from their side of the lens.

If I were you, on the website About page, I would have a paragraph on the "New Young Talent" from the Kansas City area with maybe some quotes from happy clients. I would not state your actual age though. You then could put a little blurb for each of you as you do now, but maybe something like this:

"Brooke has grown up in the Kansas City area and plans to attend Missouri State University were she will continue her pursuit of Photography and Graphic Design. One of the reasons she is able to take beautiful photographs of young adults is because she can relate to them on their level. She is able to bring out the real person in the photo shoot. Not some contrived stock images that were decided for seniors."

When I read what you have now, it harp on your age and how young you are. Use the space for positive response, not excuses, if you know what I mean.

You have a secret weapon as well to use.....the seniors that want you to shoot their photos. Talk to them, let them know that "Hey, is your Mom going to be ok with me shooting your photos?" If they want you, then you know you are going to have a someone in your corner harping on the parents.

To the parents, I would present yourself with professional demeanor and assure them that you take this opportunity very seriously. Create a online portfolio/slide show of a typical shoot that the each of you has done showing start to finish with one senior. Just go through your files, pick a good representation of the flow (throw out the junk) and at the end show with the finished shots selected, compared to the raw images. You could make it so it is not visible on the actual website but available for those that you want to see it. Say you have "Donna" who is dying for you to do her photos, but Mom (it's always mom) is not sure, and wants to see more..... You have a quick reply, "Of course, I have a link I can send you that has an example of a complete shoot I just did recently from start to finish. Where do I send it?"

Photodex.com has some inexpensive software to do the slide show as well as a sharing site that allows you to post private as well as public shoots, if you need that.

Lastly, be careful....you have your whole life ahead of you and today, you need to be safe! Verify who you are shooting, don't go off by yourself, have an "assistant" that tags along (maybe a 500 pound Gorilla) on assignments. All kidding aside, use your head and trust your instincts out there. Almost all who have had problems, felt something was not right before anything happened.

Oh, and one more point, have your parents work with you on the business side of having a business. I can not emphasize this enough....there are a lot of great photographers out there that can't make a dime because they don't know how to run a business and they are miserable. Also, when you make money you will enjoy your work that much more.

Good Luck and good shoting

JM

[WickPhotography]

Thanks JerBear for the great advice. I'll definitely look into all of those things. If you don't mind, I might use that blurb about me for a while until I have the time to write something else!

Really, thanks everyone for being such a huge help.

[JerBear]

Glad to give you some idea's.

Use what you want and good luck in your endeavor.

JerBear