Tonight I get asked "can we hire you?"

pahl · February 7, 2007

Yeah, someone want to hire me, lol..

As you can see from looking at my smugmug I have been shooting my sons basketball games.

I gave out some photos (1200+) on a DVD to the other parent that have kids on the team.

They thought that was great. One guy went on and on about how great they were at the next game. A couple games later the guy is telling me he printed a bunch out of his son and there awesome!

I printed some out and was not really happy with them myself, but if he is happy what the heck.

So I tell him thanks, glad you found some you liked and I hope they get much better over time.

Then he ask if they could hire me.

They want me to take some photos of there daughter this spring. They would like some band photos of her in the music room at the high school.

Wow, I could not believe what I was hearing.

I tell him sure. I would be happy to as I could use the practice. He never asked how much and I never said anything about price. I am going to do them for nothing and if he is happy with how they turn out then I will leave it up to him to decide what there worth.

I am just really floored that anyone would even ask me to do such a thing.

Kind of cool..

nightshadow · February 7, 2007

pahl wrote:

Yeah, someone want to hire me, lol..

I am just really floored that anyone would even ask me to do such a thing.

Kind of cool..

Very cool, way to go!

johng · February 8, 2007

Pahl,

First off - congratulations. It's always good to hear others value our work.

Now, having said that, you are on very thin ice here. I'm going to suggest you reconsider your approach to not charge anything and let him decide what your work is worth. Also, discuss what the level of expectation is - how many photos etc. There are 3 possible outcomes to your current arrangement:

1. You put in a ton of work and he pays you $20 because in his mind that's what he thinks he should pay - after all he got a bunch of photos already for free.

2. You put in a good amount of work and he looks at the photos and starts suggesting improvements - can you lighten this, can you remove that pimple. Think I'm joking? The key to this sccenario is your CUSTOMER has changed his level of expectation. He is now paying for a product and he wants his money's worth. And his definition of 'his money's worth' might be vastly different than YOUR definition.

3. He likes the final product and pays you what you feel is reasonable.

Of the 3 scenarios I would rate the last as the least likely. Have a discussion with him before hand on what you will deliver (if it's exactly what you delivered this time around just make sure you both agree the expectation is the same - don't make assumptions). Get an idea for what your time is worth to you and talk price. If you're not confident about this sort of thing ask him what ballpark he was thinking of paying - then, given the amount of time you plan on putting in to the photos figure out what hourly wage that equates to. If it's $2 an hour are you OK with that?

I'm not trying to tell you that you should charge $200 to do this, especially if you're still relatively inexperienced. Remember you're also setting precedent here - if you charge $20 now, he and anyone else he tells will expect the same service for $20 the next time.

Remember, whether you realized it or not you crossed a line from doing a friend a favor to being a hired photographer. So, if you don't treat the arrangement like a professional engagement you might be buying yourself more headaches in the long run.

I make a very clear distinction with friends / coworkers when I am shooting as a favor or as a hired photog. There may not be any contracts signed but it's still clear up front what I'm going to deliver and what my services/products will cost if I'm charging moneyy. Nothing more than a 15 minute conversation but at least both sides aren't under any incorrect assumptions.

Just something to consider.

urbanaries · February 8, 2007

good advice from john....he knows his stuff!

pahl · February 8, 2007

Yes that does sound like something I should think about more.

I must say that I dont' feel I am relatively inexperienced. I would say more like very inexperienced to no experience.

I just got my DSLR about 3-4 months ago and have mostly been shooting basketball games.

Oh yeah, forgot about the one family christmas photo I did for some friends, lol..

It's in my smugmug site. I did that just to get some experience.

I only spent a hour or so shooting and then some cropping. Was not even doing any RAW back then.

They asked what they owed me after the shot and I said we better see if any turn out first.

I made a 8x10 and 5x7 print and gave them a cd with the jpg files along with the recipt for the price of the prints. Was maybe $8 or something. They gave me a check for $40. I was more then happy at the time. I was so glad that they just liked them as I really had no experience at all then.
They were really happy with them. I was not really that happy with them, but they really seemed to like them. I told them there are things I would do different next time and next years photo will look better. I think they will want me to do it again next year for them. I already know it's going to cost them more then $40 next year.

So now I have a little experience, but nothing like you guy's.

I was kind of thinking this with the guy's daughter and band photos.

Take a number of photos in RAW. PP them and make a couple prints.
Give them the prints and a lightscribe DVD with the jpg files.

If I spend a couple hours at the school setting up and shooting and say another half a day (4 hours) PP them, along with burning a lightscribe DVD what do you think something like that would be worth?

I was thinking if him and his daughter like what I do then word will get around to the other parents that may want some work done too. Then I could think about setting prices.

I really would be happy to do it for very little at this point just to get some experience and more phots on my smugmug site.

How about having the kids or parent sign a model release or something so I can use them on my site without any trouble down the road.

Thank you so much for the input.

urbanaries · February 8, 2007

pahl wrote:

How about having the kids or parent sign a model release or something so I can use them on my site without any trouble down the road.
\quote]

When I first made the jump to dSLR, I scheduled all sorts of gigs for myself. Called up relatives I knew had a first communion coming up, would they want me to do portraits for their daughter in exchange for their time and a model release? etc. etc.

Just make sure you communicate, when/iif you are ready to charge, to draw that line. In my case, I sent an email to all my "test" clients, thanked them for helping me get from point A to B, and offered their next session at 50% off my regular rates. Almost every one has hired me since then, and all within a year of their free shoot. These folks have also sent me the majority of my word of mouth clients, as my work in their home is always on duty.

I'm by no means a full time, veteran professional, but I have been where you are not too long ago, and am starting to find I don't have time to go to my full time job...that's for another thread!

HTH!

Lynne

rosselliot · February 9, 2007

I didn't read all of john's comment, I'm on a time crunch right now, but I have to tell ya, you have to charge something.

this what I do. if I charge a "friend" for pictures I usually include a disk of the photos or lower the price of my smugmug prints.

if I don't charge for the sitting fee, I put them in an album, right click protect them, and make sure they can't view the original, and that FORCES them to buy them from smugmug. it's like airports, you have a captive audience, if they want something, they'll have to pay the price! I have my prices set at about $4 per 4 X 6, which isn't that much in my opinion, especialy if I didn't charge anything for the sitting fee. but that's only for "friends" I know can't afford my actual prices. for "clients" I would charge normally and that's still the price per photo. that's a great way for both of you to feel good. you get money for the pictures, because of the profit, and they don't mind buying the photos because they're like "hey, he didn't charge us for taking the pictures, he's only charging us to print them." but really, it's all going in the same pot.

DVDs and CDs of pictures are a big no no. actually, I can't even believe he printed some off of that original DVD without asking you...they're YOUR photos! you need to have pride in your photos and charge what you think they're worth! if you don't think they're worth anything, you should quite now -or change your frame of mind. I know your photos are worth something - get it!

well, best of luck to you, I gotta run. congratulations, in case I forgot to say that already...

- RE

Tonight I get asked "can we hire you?"

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