Photography By The Minute

Someone emailed earlier this week to say they needed a photographer to cover a business workshop in Toronto. Seven guest speakers will each be giving a presentation and then there will be a panel discussion with all seven.

The event wanted pictures of just the panel discussion because it’ll be the only time that all seven speakers are onstage together. The panel discussion is expected to last an hour depending on how many questions are asked by the audience.

The event person said they needed “only a few” photos of each speaker, the overall stage and the audience. They asked for a quote for “just 15 minutes of your time.”

Where to begin?

Round-trip driving, 15 minutes shooting and minimal editing would be at least three hours. I also have the need to cover my overhead expenses. A profit would be nice, too.

Could I arrive at exactly the right moment, (will the event run on time?), immediately shoot for 15 minutes and then leave?

During those 15 minutes, will each speaker be facing my direction? What if one or two speakers talk for most of those 15 minutes and the others don’t? Will the best moments happen during those 15 minutes?

I sent a quote with my three-hour-minimum event fee of $600 (plus tax) along with an explanation of why it will require more than 15 minutes. They would get pictures of the entire panel discussion and lots of audience interaction photos. This wide variety of fully edited pictures would highlight the best moments of the panel discussion and would be perfect on their web site and social media and to promote next year’s event.

But, as expected, I never heard back. (Update: the conference was cancelled due to the pandemic threat.)

Professional photography always takes longer than most people expect. It’s not point-click-upload. It’s quality images your business can proudly use for its marketing.