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Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) for Canon

05/09/2007 04:59:59 PM · #1

So, I made a little money this weekend. YMCA Gymnastics teams! There were about 75 kids there, spread over half a dozen teams; from competitive to rolly-polly toddlers. Only one kid refused to smile :( I made up an order list for prints, memory mates, buttons, etc. I was looking to profit about $10/kid to pay for my strobes that I bought. The photos turned out sharp and almost how I envisioned them. The background was crappy, but what can you expect in a high school gym. I expected to pose the individuals on the ground, near/leaning on the balance beam with a cleaner background. Some moms/coaches/kids had other ideas, and before you know it I am shooting kids doing routine poses three feet off the ground! All-in-all it was a fun experience! Things smoothed out after the first couple of teams.

I was asked by a few parents to shoot family portraits this summer/fall and ended up shooting a wedding reception the next night with a few formal poses before hand. So, I made it out of town with a little money. I have all the Gymnastics pictures picked and ready to print with half the reception pictures to go through to add to the CD. I would like to see this progress to other sports and am already lined up for kids wrestling this fall! One of the most important things I learned from this was my package pricing...I donâ��t have enough margin built in to make a real living out of this...so tweaking is in order.

Got long winded, but thought I would share. My wife is tired of me bragging to her about this ;)
-drew

Sting11165

Canon EOS-20D

05/09/2007 05:11:30 PM · #2

If you want to talk more about making some actual money, I have a few questions:

What was your pricing scheme?

How'd you get connected to be at the gym for the shoot?

Thanks -- I'm just curious what it took to get people interested in making a purchase (and how much people are generally willing to spend).

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

05/09/2007 10:38:30 PM · #3

Originally posted by Sting11165:

What was your pricing scheme?

Sting,

I found all my products at Mpix, then marked the price up until I figured the profit I wanted off each individual item. Then I threw some together in 3 packages and discounted the package price over ordering each item individually. I was planning on most people buying a package, so I figured the prices to make ~$10 (profit) on the lowest package, $12 and $13 on the next two. I didn't figure this high enough and basically gave away too much stuff in each package. My prices (profit) will increase by $3 or so for the next shoot. I can email you a copy of my order form to reflect actual prices or a spreadsheet where I figured cost/profit margin/etc.

Edit to add: I was just looking to make enough to pay off my $800 bill for my strobes. We were estimating ~80-90 kids (that's where $10 profit/kid came into play).

Originally posted by Sting11165:

How'd you get connected to be at the gym for the shoot? Thanks -- I'm just curious what it took to get people interested in making a purchase (and how much people are generally willing to spend).

I have keys to the school! Ok, I don't...but it is my small hometown so I could shoot anywhere I wanted to. My cousins are coaching some of the teams and they were setting up the gym for their performance that Sunday. We shot Friday evening after they set up. After I shot each team, they would go to the rest of the gym to practice for their performance. It was like being there to shoot pictures just prior to a full dress rehearsal. It worked out really well! Although I wish it would have been towards the begining of the season instead of the end, but what can you do?

To get people interested I worked up some samples of the products with pictures I already had taken of other sporting events. Threw them down on my poker table and shot a picture to go on the front of my order form. I printed the order forms and had them handed out 2-3 weeks prior to the shoot. Then I took the samples to set up on a table at the shoot with more blank order forms. EVERY participant bought SOMETHING!

For next time I am building more profit margin into my lowest priced package. Most the parents just ordered the smallest package. That is where the meat of the profit will be next time. I also picked up an order form from the competition...I undercut him this time, but will be closer to his prices next time with way better quality and customer service!
Appearantly his turnaround time is F-O-R-E-V-E-R! (Sandlot style)!

-drew

Message edited by author 2007-05-10 00:25:06.

MattO

Nikon D4

05/09/2007 10:44:34 PM · #4

Congrats Drew, glad to see things are working out for you with the strobes. If you ever need a second shooter for action stuff I'd be glad to help you out if the schedule works out for us.

MattO

05/09/2007 10:50:07 PM · #5

Second shooter? You? You'd be primary, my man! And I'll take you up on that if/when I get some stuff rolling in the STL. I have been wondering how to approach local YMCA's or youth sports leagues. Hopefully with some more sports portraits in the portfolio I can make this happen here. I would like to not have to drive 3.5 hours everytime...I'll have to triple my prices just to cover gas.

-drew

sabphoto

Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+

05/09/2007 11:18:42 PM · #6

not sure if you'd have the means to try this or not...

Some years back, a friend of my went to an ice skating camp for his daughter and told me that at one of the events there was a guy that had quite the pro camera and a laptop (and most likly an assistant). He would charge people $50 to photograph their kids as they preformed, then instantly burn the images to the cd. The parents could walk out of there and get prints where ever they wanted. My friend told me there was a huge line waiting to place their orders. They guy was making money like crazy.

With the portable CD burners that read cards now a days I bet it wouldn't be that difficult to do. Get some CDs and put your info on them before hand and have someone copy the cards as you shoot the next ~~sucker~~ ;) person.

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

05/09/2007 11:39:58 PM · #7

Yeah, these were more team pictures and memory mate type stuff; although I did shoot some pics at the performance, but just shots of my friend's/family's kids.

The "insta-photo CD" sounds a little fly-by-night to me, but if people will pay for it, why not? I'd rather sell prints or hand out 4x5s with my contact info on a sticker on the back. My old high school might have their contract up with their current studio in the next year or so, if I have a big enough portfolio I would LOVE to pitch them.

Anyway, getting a little ahead of myself...back to quick edits on the gymnists!
-drew

griz210

Nikon D300s

05/09/2007 11:50:07 PM · #8

congrats Drew, sounds like you got a good think started