snozzberrypatch

1. Buy camera.
2. Go to conflict.
3. Profit.

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.