And then, there are the photographers here that are REALLLLLLY good. Like, really good. Like, holy-crap-Devynn-feels-like-she-sucks good. And they are not charging enough. That's my biggest beef! I'm not against people starting out in the biz. I say go for it! People that want to spend $50 on a photo shoot are not my clients. But when you are REALLLY good and you are in fact awesome...why charge so little? That's my question.
So Southern Albertans are notoriously frugal, I get that. I grew up in that. I know that. BUT giving away everything isn't worth it. To try and make a little extra money on the side to help out your family is AWESOME -- hello, that's ME. But when you don't charge enough for your services and you are taking time away from your family, are you really doing anyone a service?
I just spent the last 20 minutes doing a break down of the cost of running a business and not charging enough but my brain was fried. I guess the real key here is, why aren't people charging enough. Marie brought a good point up in the comments of the last post. She said that these photographers not charging enough and giving the CD away are filling in a spot for families that can't afford great photography. There are ALWAYS going to be people ready to shoot for $50/session and give the CD away and they, in reality, should ALWAYS be newbies trying to build a portfolio.
Why aren't photographers here charging more and why, oh, why are they including the CD? Because their clients want it? That's fine...but they should have to pay for it. They aren't ripping anyone off if their photography is good. And I'm really only talking about the good photographers now. Have they ever run a Cost of Doing Business Calculator? This is my personal favorite. http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/cdb/cdbcalc.cfm
Back in the film days real pro photographers didn't give away the negatives! Why, Oh, why, does it have to be different? I know, I know, the ease of technology. I get that, but the ART of photography is the same. I want to make art for my clients to hang on their walls. Do I just need to accept that my job ends when I hand over a CD of the images and just pray and hope they don't go and print them at a crappy lab and display MY art printed terribly? Are products offered by professional photographers a thing of the past here? I've been mulling it over the last few days and I could probably comfortably do a session and hand over a CD for $500, not $750 and certainly not $1,150 that I was charging in Florida. Would people pay $500? I kind of highly doubt it.
Please, I'd love to hear feedback on what I'm supposed to do here. Lori suggested I focus on weddings here. I LOVE Weddings and all of the awards I've won this year are wedding related. I'd love to only shoot weddings...but another fact of Southern Alberta is people don't spend a lot on their wedding photographers. I didn't. I don't know how I would market weddings in Lethbridge. Must think. Weddings take so much work and effort I have to make good money or I will start hating them.
Still, very confused as to what to charge here. I'm about to launch a new family/kids site and a new wedding site.
I really wasn't trying to dis on the MWCs/Momtographers here. I am actually a fan of lots of their Facebook pages and love looking at their images. My overall question is just why aren't they charging more? Do they think Southern Albertans just won't pay it? I'm not totally convinced that they wouldn't. If you have a good client base, slowly raise your prices. But raise them. That's all I'm saying. Oh, and Calgary is a far different market than Lethbridge and area. There is more money or maybe people are just willing to spend more? But I really think this area is quite specific to how things go.
I knew this was going to be a struggle moving home from a place where people spent serious cash to here. I'm not saying $1,150 is reasonable for the CD in this market, not at all, but what is? Where is the happy medium?
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
4 comments:
Hey Devynn, just came across your blog, it seems by total chance, then realised it was you!
I like this post a lot. There is a MWC epidemic here in Southern AB. And extreme "frugality" seems to be pandemic to the area as well.
My question is, how to you differentiate between a MWC vs. a professional/quasi-profesional? Is it strictly experience? Equipment? Credentials? How much you pay?
My background is all Fine Arts so I've taken the classes, but I'd never in a million years call myself a professional. I love taking pictures of my kids and sisters kids, but calling myself a MWC would be equally appalling.
I'm always interested in how the true professionals weigh in on things.
And welcome back to CANADA!
Annie (Wright) Van Orman
Oh yea, and you are clearly an accredited photographer with the experience to back it up. You should be marketing yourself as such and charging a good price. Nearly half your life with a camera in your hand, that counts for something. $500-750 isn't unreasonable considering what they're getting from it.
Hi, Annie,
Thank you so much for your comments! Are you still in Southern Alberta?
It's hard to differentiate between a MWC and a quasi-professional, you're right. It isn't strictly experience, but that could have a lot to do with it as I'm mostly self taught but I do have several college courses in it as well. As well as lots of courses and seminars apart from college. I actually had one of my college teachers tell me to quit as I wasn't going to learn anything I didn't already know and I was as good, if not better, than some of the teachers I would have. So I did. I also, thank goodness, ignored my wedding photography teacher that told me photography would probably never be my 'thing' and that I should probably only do it as a hobby. Yeah...good thing I didn't listen to him.
Is it equipment? That would be a no for the most part. For a pro of my level I'm considered very low on the gear status. I don't have a ton of gear and I don't need it. I would LOVE more gear, but don't NEED it. I have back up gear for my back up gear too :) I work very well with what I have and I have the top-of-the-line in what I do have and I know how to use it all with my eyes closed. If someone is using a kit lens that came with their camera and the pop-up flash and charging people money? That's a problem. That stuff isn't made for more than snapshots, really. That flash isn't made for more than 15 feet-ish and you can not do much with the pathetic depth of field that lens can produce.
Is it credentials? I don't have any actual credentials behind my name YET. I was working on getting them in Florida and I'll have to start over here again. I plan to enter in January to get my first accreditation here. But, that costs money, so not everyone is going to do it.
How much you pay? Some people say that as soon as you are getting paid anything to photograph anyone you are now a professional. I thought that back in the day. I now cringe at the thought of my early weddings and photo shoots. *sorry to those out there* and I got paid. And for that I feel terrible LOL. Yes, I should have been paid, especially since back then I was film and had a more upfront cost associated with shooting. BUT I still cringe :)
I know for a fact that some of the really good photographers here know they aren't charging enough but the frugality factor that is Southern Alberta is playing in to that. How do you charge more if people won't pay? I'm not entirely convinced this is something completely in control of the photographer, but I wish it was.
There are some VERY good photographers in the area, VERY good. I wish we could all get together and collectively agree that undercharging and overworking isn't working and how can we fix that? Charge more but offer more of an incentive? I'm still working it all out in my head but have now decided to offer a CD with my sessions, and please know, that is killing me. I really saw no other choice. There go any chances of sales over $1,000 for me.
I have no earthly idea at these rates how I have a chance of saving up enough money to open a studio next year and just run a business. It's beyond me, but I'm going to try because I'm determined to open a studio next year.
I'm glad you appreciate it, Annie :)
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