I yanked this from this fantastic photographer's personal blog, just to share because it is so true, and so fantastic. She found it elsewhere, at a site I know nothing about.
"I had a similar conversation while at my hair salon recently. And it was MY STYLIST that set everybody straight. She said, holding up a pair of her professional scissors, "You can trim your own hair. Or you can have your mother trim your hair. Or you can come here and have me trim your hair, style it, make sure it gets washed and conditioned properly, have options such as highlights and updos, and when you leave you know without a doubt that you're going to LOVE your hair."
Then she added, "Do you see these scissors?"
Everybody nodded.
"Julie," she said, "how much does a pair of normal, everyday scissors cost you?"
"Uh, I don't know. Maybe $10 if they're pretty nice ones?"
"This pair of professional scissors I'm holding cost me $400. And I have to replace them about every 3 months. But Julie here doesn't want you (pointing to one of the customers) to be the one holding these scissors. She wants me because I know what I'm doing."
And she added, "Professional services by trained, experienced, talented people COSTS MONEY. For your money, you get more than just a body holding a pair of scissors, or just a body holding a camera."
Absolutely.
I am getting paid for the commercial photography shoots after all, and when I told my client how much it was going to cost them, I got an odd look of "wait, what? Well.. ok I guess."
6 total hours of shooting, editing, REshooting, more editing, and delivery is not cheap.
I was under the original impression that I was doing the work pro-bono. If you want to pay me, you're going to pay me my going rate, not just $50 because you think that's all it should cost.
And, to be fair, I still charged less than I would have if I was working with a human being; the fact that it was commercial photography made it a little easier (although I suppose that depends, I had to single-handedly do all of the work because my subject wouldn't move itself when I needed it to).
In other news, it's been a very slow interning week.
I am going to Caz tonight to celebrate Mama Casey's 21st and I couldn't be happier.
Thursday, July 23
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3 people like it sassy:
You tell 'em, Shanna! I know I'm going to be hitting the path soon with selling art. All the work that you photographers put in goes unnoticed because so much is behind the scenes.
effitletsgetataco....hilarious.
and hell yea!
jill you hadn't noticed that yet? haha it's been that name the whole time hehe -- and yes miss carolinealine, it's a bitchton of work all together, so ya know, I wanna be paid for my work the same way "important" clothing designers get to be paid just because they put such time and effort into exquisite articles of clothing.
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