As We Head into Photography Season...
Heading into heavy photography season post-pandemic, I feel like this is a pretty necessary post.
With the advent of the digital camera and the ease with which a photo can be snapped and then reproduced (or discarded), photography changed drastically: no more film, no more darkroom, but none of that means talent and technique should be thrown out the door.
The digital camera opened the door for a lot of people to buy fancy cameras and then call themselves photographers who then make the rest of the populace angry with the artists who do photography.
Yes, your phone takes excellent photos, but when you are hiring a photographer, remember, you are not just hiring their camera, you are also hiring their skills. I highly recommend checking out their other work to see if you like it or if it's a style that fits you. Are they willing to listen to you and your ideas? Do they want to bring your vision to life? These are also very important things to take into consideration.
It is one thing to just do something for completion and a completely different thing to do that very same thing well.
Pricing photographers can be difficult. Many new photographers are eager just to gain new clients and put everything on a disc (that often ends up lost or in a drawer) and unfortunately devalue themselves and their work. I'm not going to lie, though, a full disc of your full-sized photos along with the (shorter) session fee totaling less than $100 is very likely NOT going to get you that gallery-quality artwork if that is what you seek. I'm not saying it's impossible, but you'd be VERY lucky to end up with anything remotely close to your Pinterest inspiration posts.
This is not to say that I don't sell digital files. I just don't give them away for free and discount and devalue my hard work. I know my experience is valuable.
With photographers, you typically do get what you pay for. I do say "typically" because I've seen some really good photographers way undercharge and barely scrape by, and I've also seen some pretty "okay" photographers price gouge THOUSANDS of dollars out of their clients with the promise of a disc with all their full-sized photos as their only wedding package options.
What is my personal problem with this? How on earth can you call that fair to all your clients?
How do you know how many photos will turn out? You're telling me one person pays $4,000 and ends up with a disc with 700 photos and another pays the very same amount and ends up with only 450 photos because their day went differently, and you're making them pay for every photo by including that disc in your charge...how is that fair to the person who only got 450 photos? I think it's important to at least provide clients with multiple options. There is always more than one way to accomplish goals.
That is their choice to price that way, but you should also know you DO have a choice yourself.
By the way, I do NOT charge that amount, it's just a number I've been hearing A LOT lately for wedding photographers, especially in larger cities. Don't forget to look outside your city for photographers. Many of us are happy and willing to travel.
I don't just click my camera button and BOOM, job done. There is human management that needs to occur to get you in the positions for those amazing shots. There is a ton of back-end editing to make the gallery-quality work. I have over a decade of professional experience. That is worth something. My personal philosophy on sales is to charge by time and products purchased so no one ever has to pay for anything they don't want. Then I'm earning based on products produced (fair) vs. forcing sales upon clients they don't necessarily all want (to me, not fair and not cool). You can make your photographic purchases as inexpensive or as grand as you'd like. The choice is up to you.
Stay fabulous, Friends!
I hope to hear, see, or read from you soon!
- Riley Cameron