From time to time, young guys I know in the car scene will ask me how much they should charge for photography — whether for cars or otherwise.
As with all things, the answer can depend on the client and the genre, and what you need or want to take away from the project.
I might as well add here that what I say below is valuable insight for clients, too. It’s not always easy to know why a supplier’s services cost what they do.
Today, a very talented and now reasonably experienced young photographer in the car scene skidded into my DMs: “If I’m doing photography for an event, how much should I charge? It’s from 7:00 p.m. till 11:00 p.m.”
Now, I have no idea what event photographers charge, but certainly it would vary by their experience, as well as type of event and the industry (birthdays, weddings, corporate events and so on).
But, as some general advice drawn from my own experience and conversations, with the context of his life stage in my head, I sent back:
Honestly, that’s really hard to answer. If you had a mortgage and kids as I do, you’d have to consider how your photography work can cover living costs, equipment replacement costs and insurance and rental as needed, work travel costs and car ownership costs (or rentals I guess), health insurance for you and your kids, holidays, sick leave, superannuation, general savings, etc.
With all that in mind, why would you invoice anything less than 1500 (Australian dollars, $980 USD) for five hours on location and five hours of selects/editing afterwards, and whatever your travel time is?
You don’t have kids or a mortgage, or a car, I know. But you have the rest (kinda), and you need to save money for all sorts of reasons including the commitments you don’t have yet, so… I dunno, be cheaper if you want to, especially if you think you’ll never get any work at all if you charge what I suggest, but in the long run it won’t have been worth it to undercut your true worth.
It’s hard these days. There are veteran creatives urging newcomers to not charge so little for their work. It’s bad for the industry and your peers and your own future, they’ll tell you — and they’re right.
That doesn’t make it any easier when you’re just starting out, and maybe some older photographers have forgotten that. Maybe they’ve never known what it’s like to be young and competing with thousands of other young shooters in the instagram era. Maybe they always had a safety net for the droughts of no clients because they only ever charged a professional rate. We don’t all have that.
If you’re young, and maybe not overflowing with confidence (I’m describing me 20 years ago), it can feel impossible to tell a potential client that 10 hours of your time is worth $1500 (often more), regardless of whether or not you can comprehensively explain your costs. Not to mention the fact that nobody goes into business simply to cover costs; we all want our families to live comfortably.
So if you’re a young talent who can’t confidently demand such rates — and, by the way, many photographers are justifiably much more expensive than that — then at least lay out a plan for how and when you’ll increase your rate as you grow and evolve.
Maybe — if you’re living with financially secure and supportive parents or you have a regular shitkicking job to cover most of your living costs — maybe charge something like $70 per hour with a minimum of two hours shooting and three hours editing. Maybe gift them a couple of extra hours so you can be sure you’ll be proud of the work and that it looks good in your folio. Maybe don’t charge for travel if it’s under an hour from home. Maybe let them have a handful of RAWs for no extra cost.
But I beg you, make sure they know what a killer deal they’re getting! Don’t under any circumstances let them think this is what professional photography normally costs.
And then, whether it’s annually or simply between clients, bump up your rates. And bump up the type of clients you’re trying to work with.
Big companies know business is expensive and they know why, so most aren’t going to baulk at the original rates I suggested. Yes, they often have tight budgets for specific projects, but they definitely know what the work is worth. Hell, they might even wonder why you’re only $1500…
And most of all, when you can afford to (and that might not be often), try to stick to your guns on those rates.