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?
Many people are hesitant to raise their rates because they're worried that clients will drop them. In your case, what's the worst case scenario if you raise your rates and the comedy club drops you? You're out $120/month, or $1440/year. That's hardly worth crying about. You could make that up by driving for Uber for 8 hours a month.
Figure out what you'd really need to make this gig worthwhile for you. You're probably driving for an hour total, the show is 1.5 hours long, and then you're editing for a few hours. It's probably 5-6 hours work for you each time. Also factor in the cost of your camera, lenses, laptop, software, wear and tear on your car, gas, etc. What should your hourly rate be to feel good that you're being fairly compensated for this work? Forget about what you're charging them now, that's irrelevant. If you were doing this work full-time, what would you need your annual income to be? Then parse that out to an hourly rate.
For instance, if you'd want to be making $80k annually if you were doing this full time, then 80000 / 52 weeks / 40 hours = $38.46/hour. If you're putting 6 hours of work into each gig, that's $230. Add a bit for wear and tear on your gear and car, and you could easily charge $250-$300. Or if you wanted to split it up, you could try to charge $200 for the gig, and then charge the comedians $20 per photo and hope that you'll get a couple sales each time. If the upcoming larger shows at the new venue demand more hours of your time (both at the venue shooting and back home editing), then increase the fee according to the hourly rate you're trying to hit.
Yes, if you approach them and say, "hey, I know I've been doing this for $60, but as of XYZ date I'm gonna have to charge $200 each time", there's going to be sticker shock. They're going to complain that you're tripling their rate. Just politely explain that you're getting busier and need to start charging a realistic rate for your time. Tell them to try to find another professional photographer for that rate. They might try. And they might find a starving student or someone that's willing to work for peanuts the way you did. And that's fine. If that's the price they need to pay and that's the quality of work they're looking for, then maybe they're not the right client for you anymore.