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05/27/2006 10:12:41 PM · #1 |
I, jpochard, do hereby solemnly swear to never, ever again allow myself to be so vastly underpaid as a photographer!
Tonight I took pictures at a "small" wedding reception. It was a very last minute event (4 days notice.) The bride and groom (military) were married elsewhere and came home for a few days. The brides mother decided to throw them a small reception here at a local restaurant. When I spoke to her on the phone, I was under the impression that I would be there no more than an hour, hour&1/2 tops and that it was going to be a casual affair.
Wrong! It was a full-fledged reception with dj/music, full buffet, wedding cake and all. The bride wore her gown, and the groom his tux. Both sets of parents were divorced and remarried as well, which of course led to multiple group shots. I was there for over 3 hours. The hardest part was getting the bride's mom (my employer) to get started on the photos and round people up. I had asked her to write down for me names and groups of people she wanted photographed - and she decided she didn't "need" to do that.
I am happy with the photos, I'm glad I got the referral and they had a great time - but I learned a very valuable lesson! I know that my time and talent is worth WAY more than I will earn from this event. I'm not even going to tell you what I charged because it's truly embarrassing. I just hope they order a lot of prints.
Live and learn :) |
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05/27/2006 10:20:28 PM · #2 |
| Did you give a firm quote or an estimate based on what was said .. under NZ law these things mean totally different application to the final price. I hope they order heaps .. and I think that they should realise that they underestimated the work, and should negotiate cost. |
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05/27/2006 10:21:41 PM · #3 |
Did you at least scarf down some of their food? ;-)
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05/27/2006 10:23:50 PM · #4 |
This is why you contract for a specific time frame (2 hours) and at 1:50 you tell them "My time is up in 10 minutes. Is there anything else? " - you of course told them up front that 'overtime' is $x an hour. If they want you to stay, they pay.
Live and learn.
I too am upping my rates for next year. This wedding stuff is hard work.
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05/27/2006 10:25:24 PM · #5 |
I did give a firm price and feel obligated to honor that quote. I feel it was my responsibility to take care of my business and make certain I would be properly compensated, and I failed at that. That is really my problem, not theirs.
Nope...no dinner either :( |
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05/27/2006 10:27:15 PM · #6 |
Next time scoff the kai (food) .. at least then you leave with you puku (stomach) full if not your wallet ...
Kari (speaking slightly in maori .. decided to exact culture on this thread)
:) |
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05/27/2006 10:27:17 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Live and learn.
I too am upping my rates for next year. This wedding stuff is hard work. |
Doing wedding photography well is IMO the hardest photography there is. I try to dodge weddings myself... LOL
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05/27/2006 11:13:07 PM · #8 |
Lessons I've recently learned (about why photographers charge so much money):
1) I had my 20D die on me at at an engagement shoot a few weeks ago. Fixed for free, but now I have a backup camera. (actually, now I have a 5D and the 20D plays backup)
2) I dropped my 580EX at the last wedding. Still waiting to replace that one (no free fix this time around!).
3) Becky (rjktesch) helped me shoot this last one. Between the two of us, we shot over 2000 pictures. Over the past week, I've spent probably 20+ hours just picking the pictures to be shown, converting from raw, and categorizing then posting them to my web site. (and I'm not counting the upload time because the computer does that part - but, in fact, I probably still have about 12 hours worth of uploads to go) The point is... the work on wedding didn't "end" when the B&G left for their honeymoon. I'm still working on it.
Next time I'll charge more and I'll feel good about it.
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05/27/2006 11:21:24 PM · #9 |
You live and learn. This will happen regardless of the profession you're in. It always starts out with "hey buddy I just need this simple thing done. I'll even pay you for it". Gee thanks! What I've learned is to not do projects for "friends". Makes life a lot easier.
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05/27/2006 11:22:49 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by yanko:
You live and learn. This will happen regardless of the profession you're in. It always starts out with "hey buddy I just need this simple thing done. I'll even pay you for it". Gee thanks! What I've learned is to not do projects for "friends". Makes life a lot easier. |
Amen brother!
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05/27/2006 11:43:52 PM · #11 |
I don't think I've worked quite as hard, and for as long as I did a few weeks ago on the wedding I did for my sister in law.
They paid us by barter, they bought the D50 kit plus a lens, we did their wedding. We also did their rehearsal dinner the night before. Lord knows how much time driving, post processing, setting up web galleries, and whatever else I've done beyond just the wedding.
Anyone who says that $1500 is too much to pay for a wedding photographer just doesn't know how much work goes into it.
On top of all that, my wife did the flowers for FREE (they paid for the flowers, but not the work). I swear, I'm going to force her to charge for that from now on, no matter who it is. Call it a $1000 wedding gift I guess, because that's at least how much it would have been for the same quality work Erin does. That's twice as much work as I did for the photography, easy. Not to mentioned she was the de-facto coordinator.. ugh.
Message edited by author 2006-05-27 23:44:00.
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05/28/2006 12:14:19 AM · #12 |
Well, I have to say that I still enjoy doing some great shots for family and friends just for the satisfaction of the joy they can bring to them. I would hate to come across sounding like I want to charge for everything...that's not it.
However, for events such as this reception I plan to unapologetically have in place a much more reasonable payment system...and stick to it. I do enjoy photography and even after feeling wrung out after this job (did I mention it was HOT in the room?) I'm still having trouble pulling myself away from the editing because I love working on them! It's an addiction, I suppose. It's an addiction I plan to make a bit more money on from this point! Sheesh. |
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05/28/2006 12:21:57 AM · #13 |
Judy I feel your pain live and learn I guess.
But from the other posters I will digress my opinion on your postings.
Message edited by author 2006-05-28 00:22:21.
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05/28/2006 02:39:12 AM · #14 |
Originally posted by fotomann_forever:
Did you at least scarf down some of their food? ;-) |
I don't think they had cheese there. lol |
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