 dave |
Cheap Weddings Good or Bad? I have recently seen a pattern with booking cheaper weddings. I fall for the "we don't have much money, but love your photos". The brides sweetness knaws at me until I finally decide, oh what the heck. But after the wedding that sweetness is gone and they hound me for anything you can think of. Constant phone calls and emails. I drop hints of how many hours I will spend at the computer and hopefully they can figure out how much an hour that comes out to. I feel bad when I have to say I can't shoot and pan them off to a cheaper photographer, who I know will do a so-so job. What to do, what to do?
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Todd Bennett |
Dave, I've got a little observation from outside the photography world. I do photography as a hobby. My livelyhood doesn't depend on it. I work for a builder who builds 200+ houses a year. I have seen exactly what you are talking about increase at a steady rate over the last five years or so. We have built in a clause in our contracts that all extras (any thing that costs more money than standardly installed items)must be paid for up front and done on a written change order. These buyers will sign a contract with this clause in there and they will be all smiles. They then sit down with our decorator and make their selections for floor coverings, etc. Any extras are sent to me to price out and a change order is generated and sent to them. Then the flood of email and phone call complaints start i.e. Why does this cost so much? I went to Home Depot and they said it would cost this much! etc. etc. We too have to explain to them the overhead factor. We have employees that like their Christmas bonus, their medical coverage, all the things it takes to run a business and retain good, loyal employees. I went through all that to get to my point. Everybody wants something for nothing. I think that an awful lot of people out there think that if they beat on you hard enough, you will give in. Your post and my post are just two examples of how our society has grown impatient, mean, and brutal in an effort to get what they want as cheaply as possible. They don't think we have to buy food, make car payments, make house payments, etc. It is almost as though, in the case of photography, they equate what you do in a professional manner, with what they do when they are on vacation and take shots of the family at the beach. They then take the card/film to Wally World or CVS or some other crappy 1 hour photo place and get their prints made. They don't know, and, quite honestly, don't care how much work it is to produce portrait quallity prints. As long as they get what they want at the price they want. I know there are many times there have been home buyers we wished we could have said "No, I am not going to sell you this house." I think you have to stick to your standards. Don't sell yourself short. I wouldn't cut my price on a photo for anyone except maybe a close friend. I also think you have to say to them, "These are my prices. I think you will find they are competitive with other photographers in the area. If you find one that is a lot cheaper I highly recommend you check their quallity against other photographers. You will probably see why they are cheaper." Well, I've ranted enough. You're not in the boat alone bud.
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John P. Sandstedt |
You make your own bed; you must lie in it. You didn't indicate what your price was. And, you didn't describe how many images you shot that must be poured over and "weeded down." No matter. In many BP threads, professional wedding photographers, would-be pros and amateur go crazy - reporting that they've shot as many as 5,000 images at one wedding. Yes, it can be done with digital; one wouldn't think of taking that many pictures with film. As I've said before, a friend [wedding photographer professional] told me to charge $1,500 and take four 36-exposure rolls [144 pictures.] He recommended using one hour, 3R prints [3.5X5] or even providing contact sheets as proofs. Then, after selctions are made, to charge appropriately for enlargements and albums. Obviously, one could provide one hour 4X6s, but that's a sure way to invite scanning. When you agree to shoot a wedding, the bride and groom should agree to a fair price, that you offered in anticipation of a reasonable amount of time at the computer. If you took many, many images and, now, you're bemoaning the amount of time you'll spend [without covering income,] shame on you. But, learn - for the next time. But, if you're really feeling the heat from unreasonable requests from the bride and groom, tell them exactly what the added costs will be. After all, until you give them proofs and/or prints, you're not really out too much - except for the day you spent shooting the wedding. You are "in the driver's seat."
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Mark Feldstein |
I think Todd's comments are extremely well-put and well-taken. What you've noted is not just limited to the wedding biz or even the photography biz in general, but applies across the board to EVERY biz although I have to tell ya, you've hit a couple of major reasons why I would never, EVER do a wedding for anyone. What to do? Wellllllllllll, first, join a chapter or two of one or two local professional associations, attend meetings, get involved and talk to neighborhood pros about fees for services. Second, don't compromise the potential quality of your prints or your work, or your fees for the sake of getting a gig because now you clearly understand what, if anything, those practices will get you. Your written contract ought to provide for billing for things like phone calls after x-many calls. I refer to it as exercising client control. OR build the additional fees into your contract. And...don't sell yourself short. Remember you're selling both a product AND a service...charge accordingly. Lastly, IMHO, when someone at the outset starts trying to undermine my pricing structure I tell them quality costs money and suggest that they sought me out for a reason. I don't take hooks on things like "...more work in the future" or "...a bigger press run down the road..." "...a big project with another client...". That's all nonsense. I deal in the moment based on what they're asking me to do on a particular job at a particular time. Mike is right too in that you ARe in the drivers seat. Stay there. Don't cave in to the cheap talk or empty promises. It's your business...it's your own talent, your own photographic vision that they're paying for, among other things, so charge accordingly. Have a written price sheet available and don't deviate from it unless something really unusual comes up. Okie dokie?
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BetterPhoto Member |
gallery doesn't match your info
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