pricing

Increasing Your Photography Prices

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A fun photo by Canadian-born photographer Joseph Ernest Pasonault in his studio in Cando, North Dakota, 1902. (US Library of Congress)

Joseph Pasonault’s family moved from Newfoundland to the US, circa 1882, when he was six years old. In 1896, a twenty-year-old Pasonault opened his first photo studio in Cando. He later moved his studio to a larger town in North Dakota.

Canada’s pandemic case numbers today (April 2022) are the highest than at any time in the first year-and-a-half of the pandemic when everyone was panicking and hoarding toilet paper. But no one is panicking today and, figuratively speaking, the news media is no longer reporting in all caps. What’s changed?

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Photography By The Minute

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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?
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By The Hour

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Another basketball photo because I seem to shoot a lot of basketball. This fisheye photo was shot mostly to amuse myself while waiting for the game to start.

Imagine if a restaurant charged for its meals based only on the time it takes to prepare the food. What if clothes were priced based only on the time it took to sew that piece of clothing? How about a grocery store that priced by the hour? For example, you get all the groceries you can grab for a rate of, say, $200/hour.
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Are your customers wide and flat or narrow and deep?

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If you chase every type of customer, you can end up not knowing which way to turn. Wedding customers, family portrait customers, high-school seniors, social event organizers, business headshots, real estate customers, retail web sites, consumer publications, corporate customers, commercial customers, academic institutions, etc. Who gets your attention? Everyone?

Of course you want as many customers as possible but do you want your customers to be wide and flat or narrow and deep?

Having a wide and flat customer base means that you do many different types of photography to appeal to anyone and everyone. This type of customer tends to make only occasional or relatively small purchases.

A narrow and deep customer base means that you do certain types of photography that appeal to a specific type of customer. Customers in this category tend to make more frequent or higher-priced purchases.
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Value is a two-way street

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Over the past month, I lost photo jobs to:

1) A photographer who quoted $1,200 for a two-day shoot, in two cities 100km apart, consisting of 22 business portraits, 11 environmental portraits and up to 66 finished images delivered.

2) Someone who quoted $1,500 to photograph a four-day business conference.

3) The “best professional headshot photographer in Toronto” who, according to the customer, quoted $3,000 for 120 business headshots. That’s $25 per headshot.

(When you have a quote turned down, try to ask the customer what the other photographer quoted. Sometimes the customer will refuse to divulge what they’re paying but tell them that you’d like to know where your price stands.)

Was I disappointed not to get these jobs? Yes.

Am I upset? No.

I am wondering how these photographers make any money.
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Give Yourself a Hand

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On January 1, 2019, Ontario’s minimum wage will rise 31.6% from today’s $11.40/hour. How much of a raise are you going to give yourself on January 1?

The average full-time, hourly-paid, Canadian employee makes $58,136/year, assuming a 40-hour week.

If you consider yourself average, then you should be earning the same $58,000 PLUS enough to cover all your overhead expenses. For example, if your annual overhead is $25,000, then you need to earn about $83,000 per year. Job expenses are not included in that sum.

Using the same example as above, if you do 100 jobs per year, then your average invoice should be at least $830 plus expenses. If you do 50 jobs per year, then your average invoice should be at least $1,660 plus job expenses. I said “at least” because (a) your fee should be based on the value of your work and not on time or a flat rate, and (b) employees get paid benefits and you don’t.
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