? on charging for time

allanrubé

The only way I have made money through photography is by selling prints and an occasional use in a brochure. This morning I received an email and I have no idea how to answer it - how much should I charge. If you have time could you read the email I received and giv me your thoughts:

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Hi Allan,

I saw your work on the Photographers Forum of Nashua
website. Beautiful!

We're in the process of starting up a new NH magazine.
Are you available to work on assignment? We'd need
someone to send out to shoot beautiful old homes,
places of historical interest, landscapes, etc. Do you
do this? Can you give me an idea of how much it might
cost? Do you charge per day, per number of photos?

Please let me know if you're interested and if we can
afford you.

Thanks for your help.

claudermilk

This site should help you get a starting point: https://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/cdb/

It sounds like they want editiorial shots for their mag, so since you're on an assignment from them, both time (creative fee) AND photo licensing fee.

I'd also suggest getting a copy of "Pricing Photography" ( http://www.amazon.com/Pricing-Photography-Complete-Assignment-Prices/dp/1581152078 )

DavidTO

Check out this thread in MYOB, the forum to which I've moved this post.

allanrubé

Thanks for the information. I am interested, but I don't want it to be a burden. If they are not interested in whatever I end up charging, I don't need business. I am in this for fun.

claudermilk

The nice thing is, once you've gone through this exercise you have a handle on what a reasonable fee to charge is, so you don't feel quite so uncomfortable with the quoting process.

I've gone through this exercise myself. It takes a little time and some thought, but it's worth it. After you have done it and have hard numbers in front of you, now you can draw a line in the sand and say "this is my fee, I cannot go lower and make any money"--and have figures to back it up (not that the client will see them). If the client walks, you can at least tell yourself that they were unwilling to pay a reasonable amount for professional photography.

I know this helped me immensely in preparing a quote last week, and I feel a lot more confident that I will be able to more quickly provide pricing and feel comfortable with it next time.