Howdy folks, so here’s my situation:
I need to start off and say that I have been told many times by multiple people that I often sell myself short. Not to hype myself up, just that I’ve come to not really trust my intuition regarding charging for my work.
I shoot comedy shows. Twice a month, I get $60 CAD to head across town to shoot a 1-1.5 hour long comedy show. 8 comedians, I deliver 10-15 edited photos of each to the host before 4PM the next day.
I need to stress these aren’t large venues, the shows are a couple steps up from open mics.
Now, since I’ve started with this promoter about a year and a half ago, I’ve greatly upgraded my setup (APS-C to full frame, new laptop and editing software) and I am very proud at the progress I’ve made quality-wise!
On top of that, the promoter I’m working with just let me know he may be securing a contract in the new year to host shows at a larger venue and wants to bring me along, so if I were to ask now would be the time.
Here’s what I’d want to propose to him:
- At the lower-level shows:
- $70
- Larger shows
- $100 for the shows at the new venue
- The individual comedians would need to pay $10-15 for their photos on delivery and their approval (as of now the promoter shares the photos to the comedians to use and post, didn’t know he was going to do that when I first started)
I’m a little bit iffy on the last part, I have no clue if this is a standard; I am basing it off of a friend who did videography for another promoter where he would chop up the shows and sell the individual sets to the comedians on top of the base price from the promoter (with the blessing of the promoter).
I really don’t want to come across as greedy, but I want to start taking my photography more seriously and treating like a profession I actually want to pursue
Any thoughts folks?
It's hard to raise prices on clients that you've had since day one. So the rest of this comment might be pointless.
Your client is running a business and should be aware that a bigger event will come with rising costs, his expenses won't stay the same so he should be expecting an increase from you.
The easiest way to justify a price increase in your situation is to tell him that you're taking your photography business more serious, you've added up your investments and operating costs and have determined that you were operating at a loss (at $60/shoot) and that you actually need to charge $X to make any profit.
To determine your new $X, most photographers will charge their time AND their equipment. We do this because wear and tear on a camera needs to be factored in, because one day it will need replacing, upgrading, repairs and that expense will feel like it came out of your pocket if you didn't build a reserve fund. You can choose to itemize your time+equipment it as one item on your invoices if you want to keep it simple but its nice to break it down to determine your actual take home pay.
In your scenario I'm guessing you're still paying off your full frame camera and probably have a monthly Lightroom subscription, right? So to calculate what you should be charging, take the purchase price of your gear and operating costs -add computer, camera, lenses, tripods, flashes, adobe, insurance, etc..., divide it by 40 and that = your operating cost per shoot. Then add your labour; photography is a trade, so definitely don't price your time with a number that works out lower than $30/hr (for someone starting out) and definitely don't use a number that's lower than your day job, if you have one. If it costs you something to get to the shoot, add a transportation fee, or charge the km on your car ($0.68/km is the suggested Canadian Government rate for 2023), + parking etc... -then finally, add your time for editing and delivering the photos the following day and that's your new $X rate with your client.
However, having said that, to be realistic you're shooting no-name stand ups? In small venues? That promoter isn't making much profit and the ideal rates people are suggesting to you in the comments or using the formula I've just described above will likely never fly for a gig like that. I had friends in the Montreal comic scene and unless you're Sugar Sammy, most of them don't make much money, they do it because they love it.
I would suggest you look for new clients and use a higher rate or try my formula above, and slowly phase out this stand up gig when you don't need it anymore. If the client wants to keep you around in the future, tell him how much you charge new clients and see if he can match it. If not, you can do like the stand ups, do it because you love it. Not for the money.
FYI, in Canada, most full time (event) photographers I've met are charging anywhere from $550-1,200 for their labour, plus extra for their gear. If they're charging less than that, I know they're super green or not doing it full time. That observation obviously doesn't include wedding photographers, most of whom have starting prices upwards of $2,500 per gig these days, and easily more if they're good photographers.