For Photographers

There’s No Money in Cheap

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Some photographers still insist on pricing below cost or competing only on price. In the race to the bottom, these photographers will always win, or lose, depending on how you look at it.

If a photographer sells very cheaply or works for free, hoping that customers will one day agree to pay much more or that a huge volume of work will magically appear, then this photographer will be greatly mistaken.

On April 6th, CPI Corp., the company that owned and operated all of the Sears portrait studios and about 20% of the Walmart portrait studios, in the USA, shut down its US operations. Its Canadian in-store studios are, so far, unaffected.

CPI, (in)famous for its dirt cheap portraits and free prints, was ….. (wait for it) ….. losing too much money. It owes about US$174.8 million. Creditors gave the company until April 6th to repay US$98.5 million. So CPI is a winner in the race to the bottom!
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Pricing ups and downs

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Many (most?) photographers struggle with pricing their services. Price too high and customers will think the photographer is gouging them. Price too low and customers will think the photographer does inferior work. Either way, the photographer loses.

Some photographers think that if they lower their existing prices, their business will increase. Their plan is to charge less and make up for it with volume.

But this means the photographer is going to do the same work and provide the same level of service, all for less money. Then they’ll do it many times over again, always for less money, and somehow it’ll earn them more money. But these photographers fail to understand three things:
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Who Pays What

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Who Pays Photographers? is a fairly new blog with a spreadsheet listing rates received by photographers for, mostly, editorial assignments. It’s based on anonymous submissions but looking at a few entries, the numbers do seem accurate.

Keep in mind that better rates can sometimes be had. Don’t be afraid to ask for more. In many cases, I’ve been able to get 50% to 100% more than what was initially offered by a daily newspaper or magazine. In cases where I couldn’t, the solution was to say “no thanks.”

A similar site for writers: Who pays writers?

 

Better Search Results

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One of the interesting(?) features available to web site owners is the ability to see what search phrases are used to find their site. One such phrase used several times to find this site is: “photography companies hiring photographers”.

Very few “photography companies” have staff photographers:

• Newspapers. But the newspaper industry is collapsing and the hiring of photographers is rare. The number of staff news photographers in the USA is expected to drop by 30% over the next seven years. Canada should be similar.

• Government. A few government offices have staff photographers but this has been mostly replaced by freelancers and occasional contract work. It’s surprising and short-sighted that governments don’t have staff photographers and photo departments.

• The military. But I doubt it’s much of a photography company :-)

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Unpaid Photo Internships

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Some companies offer unpaid internships to photographers. Typically the company requires the photographer to supply camera equipment, computer, and car. In return, the photographer can work up to full-time hours and get nothing in return except a credit line.

These “internships” are illegal.

From the Ontario Ministry of Labour:

The fact that you are called “an intern” does not mean that you are not an employee for purposes of the [Employment Standards Act]. Generally speaking, if you perform work for another person or a company or other organization and you are not in business for yourself, you would be considered to be an employee, and therefore entitled to [Employment Standards Act] rights such as the minimum wage. There are some exceptions, but they are very limited, and the fact that you are called an intern is not relevant.

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Working for free

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Photographers, do yourself a favour and read this article by US brand strategist Patty Soffer:

Freebies are the scourge of freelance workers everywhere. Beginners notwithstanding (yes, we all pay our dues) many are tempted to work for free because they believe it will lead to paying work. News flash: it won’t. It leads exactly nowhere. When the un-payer decides to ante up, they hire someone else because they want to work with professionals who value themselves. Clearly you don’t if you were willing to give it away for nothing.

– Patty Soffer

 

When someone asks you to work for free, it means they think your photography is worthless. When you work for free, it means you agree.

The best situation is to charge what your photography is worth. But if you must offer a discount, rather than work for free, simply charge less than what your photography is worth but more than what it costs.

 

Grammatically Correct

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Today, March 4th, is National Grammar Day in the USA. But here in Canada, we don’t got no Grammar Day to write about.

A few days ago, I had reason to review and edit photo captions from a number of photographers. The spelling and grammar were atrocious. The photographers should have been extremely embarrassed that they weren’t smarter than a fifth grader.

All of these photographers work for daily newspapers and they apparently assume that someone else at their newspaper will correct their captions. But after checking some newspaper websites, this is not always the case. A photographer’s poorly written caption was often copied verbatim onto the website.

Every self-employed photographer knows, or should know, that good grammar and proper spelling are essential business tools. Grammar and spelling add to a photographer’s credibility and professionalism.

 

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