Urgent! "Salary requirements"

saltydog

Hello everyone,

I might have an opportunity to work for a company that shoots high school sports events/portraits, so basically I'd be a hired photog, 2nd shooter at first. I have zero experience in either sports or portraiture (they know that but liked my other work) and I see it as an opportunity to learn a LOT of useful stuff.

Now, I have to send them salary requirements and have absolutely no idea, but I have to get back to them soon. I don't want to oversell myself and not get the job, and I don't want to undersell myself and be taken advantage of either. If I google this kind of work, all I can find are company rates (not the pay to the photographers they hire), and prices for prints etc. I did retouching work for a company that did high school graduations and such a while back, and I know they paid their photographers $15 per hour, which seems ridiculously low (us pp people got paid more than that!).

Has anyone here done this sort of work? What did you get paid and, was there a mileage allowance?

Thanks for any answers,
Jana

Angelo

try this:

http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/home

catspaw

No idea on salary, but take into account what your contract says -- are all the photos 'theirs' or can you use them for your own portfolio? Is there a non-compete clause? (if you leave the company, can you not shoot any sports events for two years, etc?).

These things have 'value' to you, outside of the salary paid.

saltydog

Wow, you guys really are fast! Angelo, thanks for the link. What I found there truly works out to about $15 an hour if you have steady full time work. It's a little tricky if you take the seasonality of school sports, graduation etc. into consideration, but it's a starting point at least. These guys claim to have a lot of work...

Catspaw, excellent points I would not have thought of. Thanks, I'll pay attention to those issues!

darkdragon

Starting out with no experiance in what you'll be doing, $15/hr seems fair to me. It actually seems high to me, but I guess I come from a different school of thought.

poker

Just be honest and reasonable. If you already have communication with them, they will eventually tell you how much they really want to pay you.

Good luck!

mercphoto

Are you paid only for time at the game itself? Do you have any responsibilities after the game, and if so is that time paid for as well? When I (briefly) shot youth football I was required to sort all my pictures by game, crop every picture (was shot with a 300 prime lens, so could do no "cropping" with the zoom of the lens) for best composition, rename files, and upload to a web gallery. I easily spent as much time on the computer the next day as I did behind the camera the day before. In other words, if you don't take that into account you will end up halving your salary. :O Oh, and I was also responsible for the storage and archiving of my images as well.

I did that job solely on commission. I got a nice cut of the profit of each photo of mine that sold. Seeing as how I was very new to football photography that was a double-edged sword. I'm not sure I'd recommend that to you.

I would definitely want some kind of travel allowance, and to know how large the geographical area I'm expected to cover. I would want to know what my responsibilities are after the game is over and make sure that time is compensated for, in some manner.

catspaw

Also - whose equipment are you using? their's? your own? if your own, there's a cost and depreciation use involved too.

saltydog

darkdragon wrote:

Starting out with no experiance in what you'll be doing, $15/hr seems fair to me. It actually seems high to me, but I guess I come from a different school of thought.

Nah, it's not the school of thought, it's Long Island - everything is super expensive here, $15 = $10 everywhere else

mercphoto wrote:

Are you paid only for time at the game itself? Do you have any responsibilities after the game, and if so is that time paid for as well?

Yes, I've wondered about that myself, thanks for sharing your experience and I'll be sure to ask them those questions! Would be using my own equipment, by the way.

bob swanson

Are you able to have any dialogue with current shooters with the organization. That kind of shooting in our area is ideal for retirees that can't afford to make too much and beginners. The fact that you would be using your own equipment is suspicious too. Does that mean you have to fork up the dough for gear before you are hired? I do hire photographers of that sort on occasion who are very skilled and evidently can do what they want on their off time as long as it doesn't compete or compromise existing clients. bsvirginian

saltydog

bob swanson wrote:

Are you able to have any dialogue with current shooters with the organization. That kind of shooting in our area is ideal for retirees that can't afford to make too much and beginners. The fact that you would be using your own equipment is suspicious too. Does that mean you have to fork up the dough for gear before you are hired? I do hire photographers of that sort on occasion who are very skilled and evidently can do what they want on their off time as long as it doesn't compete or compromise existing clients. bsvirginian

I wouldn't know how to get in touch with current shooters, actually don't know if there are any. After checking the website, I do not think it's a scam, sounds more like a single person trying to get a business off the ground, and I have no problem with that. No need to purchase any equipment, I own a Nikon D300, a variety of lenses and a basic speed light. I won't depend on the money I make, so it seems like the perfect opportunity to get into the market on the ground floor - or am I being too blue-eyed abou this?

darkdragon

saltydog wrote:

I wouldn't know how to get in touch with current shooters, actually don't know if there are any. After checking the website, I do not think it's a scam, sounds more like a single person trying to get a business off the ground, and I have no problem with that. No need to purchase any equipment, I own a Nikon D300, a variety of lenses and a basic speed light. I won't depend on the money I make, so it seems like the perfect opportunity to get into the market on the ground floor - or am I being too blue-eyed abou this?

I agree with you, I think it sounds like a great prospect and a way to get in on the ground floor. You want to work up, they want to work up - seems perfect for your current situation. If you give them an hourly rate (let's say 15) it might take a bit to work out the details and the rough spots if they are also new to having employees, but probably worth it in the end.

rwells

$15.00 hr -- using your own equipment

Your renting your equipment (approx. $3k +/-) & your time for $15.00 hr. - or as it's been pointed out, if your processing the pics & uploading etc, now your working for at best $7.50 hr. -- Actually less after the tax man gets his share.



** Don't ask me how I know the following... **

Your gonna' start shooting "for money". (highly encouraged)

You will now justify in your head the need/want to spend a LOT MORE MONEY to make this $15.00/$7.50 hr. Your gonna' fall way, way behind in your wallet!!!

This sounds like a joke, but it's not.

IMHO, $15.00 hr to start is acceptable, IF your using their investment/equipment.

Hope that helps

Have fun, enjoy life...

mercphoto

rwells wrote:

$15.00 hr -- using your own equipment

Your renting your equipment (approx. $3k +/-) & your time for $15.00 hr. - or as it's been pointed out, if your processing the pics & uploading etc, now your working for at best $7.50 hr. -- Actually less after the tax man gets his share.



** Don't ask me how I know the following... **

Your gonna' start shooting "for money". (highly encouraged)

You will now justify in your head the need/want to spend a LOT MORE MONEY to make this $15.00/$7.50 hr. Your gonna' fall way, way behind in your wallet!!!

This sounds like a joke, but it's not.

IMHO, $15.00 hr to start is acceptable, IF your using their investment/equipment.

Hope that helps

Have fun, enjoy life...

I agree with all that. But, he says he has no experience in this branch of photography, and that will impact how much he can reasonably get.

saltydog

Hi,

It's been a while and I thought I should update this thread. I truly appreciate the input given here and after some consideration ended up not taking the job, but found another one instead, one that I was truly happy with. Since it is rare on this site to find actual numbers when it comes to salaries etc. I won't be shy and post what I got (keep in mind, this is Long Island/NYC Metro Area and rates most likely are higher here than elsewhere).

This job also did high school graduations and school sporting events and by nature is of course seasonal, not a full time gig. The pay was $115 - $150 for a 4-5 hour shoot, including set-up and break down time. One full day of unpaid but very useful training was provided on both procedure and equipment. We only worked with company equipment and were compensated for mileage between venue and company headquarters if using our own cars. We were reimbursed for roughly $.50 per mile plus tolls, as well as lunch when working back-to-back events or traveling somewhat far from home.

As a novice to this kind of photography, I was happy with the pay and happy with the job. I am glad I listened to input here and continued looking. It certainly was a great learning experience, gave me confidence, and paid for a very much needed new (used) car.