[pure-silver] Re: Fees
- From: "Stein" <rstein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 07:10:25 +0800
Dear Justin,
Dana Myers was right on the money with that email. And I suspect you
are very close to the bullseye too - particularly when you realised that the
photography that you do is not your food job. It feeds your soul, however,
so you might as well go for the good things on the smorgasbord rather than
the bad ones.
I charge $ 50 an hour for my time outside the studio. That's travelling
to the wedding, doing the job, getting back home. I split this with my
servant*, Igor, when he comes along to load magazines and haul equipment.
Then I also add per roll of film used - $ 25 per 120 roll or $ 30 per
35mm roll. This entitles the client to a proof sheet they can keep with all
the images clearly identified with big black and white numbers, rather like
the ones they put on racing cars.
Prints can be quite inexpensive if I send them through a local pro-lab
( that's the 35mm ones done out on a machine to 6 x 4 ) or moderately priced
if I do them myself from the 120 negs in my darkroom.
My construct on a wedding is the B&G get me, Igor, the proof sheets, and
the negatives for their money. By the time the sheets are ready for delivery
after the honeymoon, I have made a reasonable profit. Then later there is
generally a second or third chunk of money - sometimes considerable - as the
print order comes in. The B&G are agents for their own relatives and do all
the ordering and fighting for payment - I print when the money is in my
hand.
What do I shoot? What I reckon is good looking. The B&G can give me a
playlist at the prelim meeting and I can okay any thoughts they have or
refuse any really stupid ideas. I can steer them away from a schedule that
won't work. But I shoot the wedding my way - clear images evenly lit and no
tilted horizoms. And no double images in brandy glasses.
Work schedule? About 8 - 10 weddings a year - but jobs where I have fun
as well as picking up a little spare cash for new lenses. No bridezillas for
me, thank you. I've only had one refusal in 30 years of setting out my terms
in this way and on reflection I think doing that wedding would have been
like catching artillery shells.
Tip: Do weddings with a theme - medieval, boot scooters, new age. They
are fun and you get to dress up.
Uncle Dick
* Servant, not assistant. Assistants cannot be beaten but servants can. It
is a great comfort.
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