Total newbie question ..... someone likes my stuff ... now what

markjtrickey

A little background on where I am in my hobby/career. I started taking pictures at our local dog parks when we adopted our two dogs and rather quickly obtained enough interest that I thought I would put the pictures up on a website (AKA Smugmug) and sell the prints for a small amount. All this was on spec (and more so because I enjoyed it) so I was not expecting a lot of sales. Things have been sailing along with me selling a few prints, doing some custom prints and generally trying to keep up with life while toying with the idea of growing this into a small side business.

I recently was out at our local dog friendly bar when I was approached positively by the owner (she also owns other dog/pet related businesses in the area) asking why I was pointing a camera at everyone's dog and what I did with the pictures. I gave her my card, talked shop a little bit, but kept any business talk vague to say the least. I recently received an email from her after she had a chance to look at the pictures online.

Mark-
Hello! You pictures are awesome! What are your thoughts on how we can work together?

Thanks!
J.P.

The pictures are here if interested.


I know this is a naive/loaded question, but now what. I will admit I have been somewhat dreading this time when I would be forced to take this to the next level. I'm not looking for any miracle answers, but I am curious about how others dealt with this time in their career (assuming I'm not alone), any advice on how to reply appropriately that I'm interested, but this is a hobby/side venture and my day job comes first. And, of course, the question we all ask, where do I begin pricing something like this.

I believe what she is looking for is for me to be there as a added draw for her clientele as well as looking for some pieces for display in the bar or other businesses.

Any feedback (assuming it could be considered constructive in some country or culture) is welcome.

Thanks,

Cygnus Studios

markjtrickey wrote:

I know this is a naive/loaded question, but now what. I will admit I have been somewhat dreading this time when I would be forced to take this to the next level. I'm not looking for any miracle answers, but I am curious about how others dealt with this time in their career (assuming I'm not alone), any advice on how to reply appropriately that I'm interested, but this is a hobby/side venture and my day job comes first. And, of course, the question we all ask, where do I begin pricing something like this.

First, congrats. It is a nice feeling when someone likes your craft.
With that said, once business is talked about, it becomes business. That does not mean that you have to give up your day job, buy all the gear you can carry, or devote your life to your craft.
It does mean that you have an obligation to deliver your best. You have to be professional during the business transaction.
What you wish to charge or not charge is up to you. What is your time worth?
You could easily not charge and hope it leads to future work, or charge a minimal fee to cover your gas, and buy you lunch, or you could charge the average for your area.
You should first find out exactly what the client wants. Determine how long it will take you from getting there to delivering the final images.
You and the client should figure out each and every detail for the shoot.

How many images,
The types of images,
The type of post processing,
How the images will be used,
How the images will be delivered,
How long will the shoot take,
How long until the images are ready for proof,
How long until delivered,
How long before payment,
How long the images may be used.

You also need to consider
What happens if your equipment breaks,
Your car breaks down on the way,
Your memory card crashes,
Your computer crashes,
You get sick,
You die,
Your dog gets sick,
The weather,

and all those things should also be considered for the client.

There are literally hundreds of things that go into a shoot long before pressing the shutter, and an equally long list that happens afterwards.

catspaw

I agree entirely with the above, with the amendment that the minute you first took money for a photo you became a business. Whether you intended it or not, you did. Now the choice is if you really want to go forward with this and do things 'right' or not.

There's also some business books reviewed in the 'Books' link at the top of dgrin too

Angelo

markjtrickey wrote:

The pictures are here if interested.

problem #1: the photos in the gallery linked above are not set for sale

problem #2: other galleries in which you have images for sale you've not set prices so sales will take place at SM cost of printing.

markjtrickey wrote:

Mark-
Hello! You pictures are awesome! What are your thoughts on how we can work together?

Thanks!
J.P.

"Hey JP thanks for the compliment, I'm glad you like the pictures. A bar owner and dog photographer working together? I'm intrigued by the idea, why don't you tell me what you're thinking"

markjtrickey wrote:

I believe what she is looking for is...

You believe but you don't know. Don't put the cart before the horse. Talk to her, feel her out and whatever she says tell her you're interested but would like to think it through - maybe come up with other ideas to support her thoughts - then you can seek specific advice if needed.






.

FedererPhoto

Obviously you can write back and see what you've really got here -- no need counting chickens before they hatch or over complicating matters.

But, really, you need to decide what you want to do with your photography business. (it's a business already because you sell photographs).

Do you want to get fully involved, get contracts, book clients, get insurance, have overhead, etc, etc, etc. Or are you happy where it's at right now? There is a huge spectrum between 'dabbling selling 10 dollar prints on smugmug' and 'full time pro'. (and even a huge spectrum of those end points... ).

If you don't have your end goal in mind, how can you know the path?

Your real question should be "What do I want my photography business to be?" ... once you answer that question, all the other ones will fall into stark clarity.

markjtrickey

Thanks for the feedback
Hi,

I want to thank you all for your feedback. I have responded back to her email asking for some more details while also providing some ideas of my own. So we shall see where it goes from here. I'm sure this question has been asked and addressed numerous times already, but I would be interested in feedback about pricing the types of photos shown in the gallery from the original link. Right now I believe it would be all spec work. I do offer photos from our local dog parks for a very low price ($.50 for a 4x6), but feel from other conversations and feedback on the board that this is very low.

-mark

markjtrickey

Pricing feedback
Hi All,

I'm looking for feedback on pricing prints. I'll be shooting on spec at a dog related event and at a dog friendly bar later that evening. Examples of previous shots I have done at the bar are here. Other examples of more general action shots of dogs can be found throughout the site. I was thinking along the lines of $5 for 4x6, $8 for 5x7, $15 for 8x10, etc.

Thanks,
-mark

dyranged

Pricing

markjtrickey wrote:

Hi All,

I'm looking for feedback on pricing prints. I'll be shooting on spec at a dog related event and at a dog friendly bar later that evening. Examples of previous shots I have done at the bar are here. Other examples of more general action shots of dogs can be found throughout the site. I was thinking along the lines of $5 for 4x6, $8 for 5x7, $15 for 8x10, etc.

Thanks,
-mark

Looks like you are right in line with my pricing and others I have seen. I do mostly action sports.

dyranged.com

Cygnus Studios

markjtrickey wrote:

I do offer photos from our local dog parks for a very low price ($.50 for a 4x6), but feel from other conversations and feedback on the board that this is very low.

If you are charging for your time and service, 50 cents for a 4x6 is fine. If you are not charging for your time and service, you really need to sit down and figure out why.
Normally I charge a fee for my time and offer a number of images/prints as part of that fee. I then offer additional prints through SmugMug at a discounted rate.

FedererPhoto

50 cents seems remarkably low.

That's all.

markjtrickey

Cygnus Studios wrote:

If you are charging for your time and service, 50 cents for a 4x6 is fine. If you are not charging for your time and service, you really need to sit down and figure out why.
Normally I charge a fee for my time and offer a number of images/prints as part of that fee. I then offer additional prints through SmugMug at a discounted rate.

I don't charge a fee for the photos at the dog park. I'm there anyway and I enjoy taking the photos. That being said I started off at a price point that was too high for the people there and made the mistake in swinging to a very low price point. I'm not so much concerned about pricing those photos low, but if I take start taking photos at a different venue I would like to start with a more realistic price. In another thread I had thrown out my initial thoughts of $5 for a 4x6 and going up from there. At least for the time being any photos I take at this dog bar would be spec only.

-mark

Angelo

Hey Mark

I'm merging your threads. No need for two threads on the same subject