Dear New Photographer,
How’s your day going? I hope it’s going well. Take any cool photos lately? Good to hear it!
Anyway, the reason I’m writing you is because I want to say I’m sorry. Sorry for how you’re so often treated by “the industry”. Other photographers. The “pros”.
I know you love photography, and are excited to start making your photo dreams come true. You may have worked up the courage to email your favourite shooters asking for advice. Or maybe you posted your questions online. And you might have been met with a cold shoulder. Possibly even dismissed and mocked. Or criticized. Called a “newbie”. Blamed for “ruining the industry” and making it hard for others to make a living.
And that sucks. It really does. No one deserves to have their dreams dashed. No one.
I hope you know that it’s not personal. I mean, they don’t even know you. They don’t know how long you’ve planned this, how much you care about this, how hard you plan to work, or how happy it makes you. They don’t remember how scary it was to jump in. To make that decision to go for it. If they did, maybe they wouldn’t be so quick with the mockery. Maybe they’d actually see themselves in you.
But it’s all too easy to forget that stuff.
For one thing, these photographers are busy. Really, really busy. To run a successful business takes a LOT of work, and they’ve sacrificed countless evenings with friends, weekends off, and general relaxing-fun-time in order to make their dreams happen. Going for years without summer weekends is enough to make anyone a bit cranky. Trust me.
And if they’ve been in business for a while, they’ve probably started getting emails on a weekly (or daily!) basis from new photographers, asking for answers to questions, or to shadow them while they shoot.
Maybe at first they were flattered. Someone thought they were good enough to want their opinion! But trust me, that wears off quickly when you find yourself spending hours answering the same questions over and over while your client work keeps piling up.
So don’t feel bad if they can’t answer your questions, or let you tag along. Like I said, it has nothing to do with you. They’re just crazy busy, and their clients have to come first. (That’s a key to a successful business, by the way. Write that one down.)
Oh, and if they do answer some questions for you, please make sure you thank them profusely. Send them a gift card for a cup of coffee or something. Show them how much you value their time. Because soon, when you’re neck deep in client work, you’ll realize just how important time is.
Now, regarding the name calling, and the finger pointing for “ruining the industry”. Y’know, I think on some level the pros are quite jealous of you. No seriously. Let me explain.
Photography has changed dramatically in recent years. Photographers used to have to invest thousands and thousands of dollars to get the basic equipment. I mean, memory cards alone used to be a couple hundred dollars a pop! Now you can stroll into BestBuy and for under $1K you can walk out with a decent setup. Add in a free WordPress theme, and you’re ready to roll. It’s a LOT easier (and cheaper) to start up a photography business these days, and they are a bit miffed by that. They struggled a lot more to get running, and now you have all these luxuries they wish they had when they got going.
Of course that’s no excuse for being rude. But realize that you have a lot of advantages these days that didn’t used to exist.
Which brings me to something important that I think the pros wish you knew. And that’s that a nice camera, a spiffy logo and a website do not make a business.
See, they know this deep in their bones. They’ve been through the trenches. They’ve come to realize that it takes a megaton of hard work, a lot of business savvy, and countless hours spent doing boring tasks like bookkeeping to make a photography business run. They see you all caught up in the honeymoon phase of freshly printed business cards, and they wish you knew that it takes so much more to make it really happen in the long run. It takes so much to support your family with photography.
I guess that’s why they get cranky. They’re trying to feed their kids with their art. That’s crazy hard to do. And that brings me to the biggest point of contention. Pricing. I swear I’ve literally seen steam come out of their ears when they see new shooters charging next to nothing. They foam at the mouth. They grab the pitchforks. Things get ugly.
Now, I’d wager that many of them started off charging way too little. It’s an easy mistake to make. But over the years they’ve come to realize that you can’t succeed by undercharging. It leads straight to failure in the long run. They figured that out the hard way — by spending way too many late nights trying to get caught up, and realizing they didn’t charge near enough for how much work it really takes. So they figured out how to charge appropriately, and upped their prices, and worked hard to show clients the real value in what they do.
Then they see you charging so little, and they get mad. They know it’s a bad path to go down. And they wish they could make you understand how critically important it is to price your work well. For the industry. And for yourself.
Look, I want you to know that you do have a real shot at this. So often the pros make it seem impossible, but it’s not. Of course it’s not. But it is hard. You need to WORK. You need to LEARN. About pricing. And marketing. And taxes. And insurance. And contracts. And social media. And client relations. And just straight up photography! In fact, you need to accept that you can never stop working and you can never stop learning if you want to make it. Things are changing fast, my friend. Every week there’s a new camera, a new product, a new app that makes the whole industry shift. And if you pause for a moment, you might get left behind.
The pros feel that pressure. They are at their desks every day working to keep up. To stay on top of things. It’s draining.
And when they see you, all fresh and full of energy, with your shiny new camera that they can’t afford because it’s not in their yearly gear budget, and your website that looks a million times better than their first website did, they lash out at you. It’s not fair. But they’re tired. And scared. And working like mad to keep their dreams alive while putting food on the table and a roof over their heads.
So don’t let it get you down when you see pros bad-mouthing beginners. Just get to work. And understand how much heart and courage and sheer will it takes to make things happen. Soon enough they’ll see it. They’ll see that you’re just as passionate as they are, and they’ll welcome you with open arms.
Because in the end, we all just love photography and want to spend our days shooting. And it makes us so happy to see others get to live that dream alongside us.
Lots of love,
Lauren :)
Debi says
Thank you! Awesome article – full of a lot of great points!
Jasmine Almeter says
This post makes me so mad! Haha I think any one posting in response to this should be sharing a picture from their first year and a current picture… here is a blog posted where I shared work from my first year and from more current work I have done…
( http://jasminerosephotography.com/judgments/)
Some of you photographers I really shake my head at. I’m most certain you started out some where and that your work was more worse then what it is now. Get off your snobby high horses. For any one to grow they have to start out some where they have to do crappy work and want to make it better. No doubt if they don’t people will not continue to pay them to do work for them. If people are then it is not as bad as you think it is. Some of you sound like such mean people!!!
Michelle says
Jasmine, I don’t believe the post was meant to bash newer photographers’ talent. In fact there are many many talented photographers out there. I’ve seen many brand new photographers who are more talented than some seasoned pros in many cases. The frustration in the post and which many of us who do this full time to make a living share is that a lot of newer photographers are not charging what their time, talent, equipment, skills, etc. is worth and therefore slowly changing what clients expect to pay. If a client sees two different photographers and thinks they’re both talented and likes both of their work equally, but one is charging next to nothing and the other is charging more (aka a reasonable market value) most of the time they’re going to go with the cheaper photographer.
All photographers are constantly learning and trying to improve their skills and I bet no one would debate you that when they started their work was probably worse than it is now. But that’s not the issue here. It’s not about talent or jealousy. I am secure in my work and my talent and I am happy to have all the talented competition around me…as long as it’s fair competition. For the newer photographers who are not doing it full time maybe it’s harder to understand or maybe they don’t value their time and work enough yet and are scared to raise their prices. I was there once and remember that. But I respected the more seasoned photographers around me who helped me realize I needed to get over that quick if I wanted my business to survive long term, not burn myself out, and have the respect of my peers.
Setting your prices isn’t an arbitrary thing. There are worksheets and formulas you can use to calculate your Cost of doing Business (ie equipment costs/repair, software, workshops, insurances, rent, utilities, travel, etc) and then the cost of your actual time for each client from the first initial email to delivering their final product (ie 15 hours for each) and then adding in your cost of the actual prints, gallery wraps, packaging, shipping, etc. When you add that all together – it adds up to a lot. So it’s very frustrating when those of us who have been doing it for awhile and are trying to make a living, see a huge number (that’s increasing every day) of new talented photographers who, for whatever reason, only charge a 1/4 of what they should be.
When I first started out I assisted and interned with several seasoned professionals for a couple years so I could get better, learn the business and develop my portfolio. And I’ve since done the same to help other new photographers whenever I have time. And I’ve grown in my work since I started out and I did that with friends, family and acquaintances and did charge less, yes. But once I actually started my business officially and got into the industry and joined professional organizations and listened to other seasoned pros talk I made sure I was figuring out my formulas and pricing my packages correctly.
And that’s all we’re asking. We’re not used car salesmen who deliberately try to undercut the prices of their competition. We’re professional, talented artists trying to make a living by doing what they love. I’m in a social group with a few other professional photographers in my same market. We have a great time together, we are friends and we are all each other’s competition. But we all value each other’s work and respect/support each other. And we’re fine with that because we know that we’re all talented, capable and have pricing structures which are fair and may even be competitive, but still based on Cost of doing Business, what our time/talent is worth, and general industry standards.
Theressa Putland says
Might I remind you all that the great Gary Fong began his wedding business charging $150.00 per wedding, no time limit. This article and all the responses continues to really rub me the wrong way. It is no-one else’s business how much I charge my clients. If my clients like my work and are willing to pay what I ask then that is no-one else’s business. If a client truly adores your work and feels as though they must have you as their photographer then they will pay the price you ask. I have done my calculations, I know why I am charging what I am charging and I do not and should not have to justify myself to anyone else. I am not going to plan my rates around what Joe Black down the street is doing because I am not Joe Black, different photographers, different circumstances. You all sound like paranoid, nasty people who have nothing better to do than worry about what other people are doing. And if all the wonderful pro’s out there don’t want anyone else to pick up a camera and become professional then stop overloading the internet with tutorials on how to do it. Everyone wants to be able to charge to teach others how to be good and then when they do become good you all complain about the rates they charge. Suck it up people, seriously – you all sound really childish. No-one who is business minded and wants to get ahead is going to say “oh dear – poor old Nancy down the street has way more overhead than me and has to pay rent, I better charge an extra $100.00 to my clients so poor old Nancy can remain competitive”.
jasmine almeter says
Michelle strictly talking about talented beginners… what makes you think those talented beginners charging “1/4 of what they should be charging” haven’t figured out their expenses just like you and because they have !!! or they would not remain in business. Maybe they are doing something right that your arnt. And when figuring out your budget think of all the business your loosing because people don’t want to invest in your art. Some one with reduced pricing is getting more business then you are they are working alittle harder for a reduced cost but getting more jobs thus affording their business… just saying, your doing it wrong.
Michelle says
Most of the people I’ve seen posting here, myself included, have been positive and are just calmly trying to explain how they feel. You talk about all the “mean” photographers out there, yet there are a couple people, yourself included, who have been lashing out, defensive, angry and name calling.
I have plenty of work and clients investing in my art and I probably don’t have to work as hard as you because I charge appropriately for my time. It’s not just about expenses – it’s about time and “industry standards”. And in the end yes, Theressa you can charge whatever you want and not listen to advice, but it is our business, because you’re not doing photography on an island somewhere you are doing it in an industry in a specific market. You are part of that community/industry whether you think you are or not and what you do affects everyone else. And it’s clear that you don’t really care about that. In a few years when you’re burnt out and have no time for a life because you have tons of clients and are still only charging a 1/4 of what your work and time are worth you might change your mind. If not good for you.
Theressa Putland says
See, this is exactly what I am talking about. It’s okay to imply that photographers who charge less and give a disc are hacks, not professional, ruining the profession etc etc (and please don’t try and say that this isn’t what is being said across the profession – we all know it is) but when those on the receiving end of these comments get defensive about it (as I am sure you all would if it was you on this end) we are again ostracized.
I have had so many clients use my service solely for the reason that I give them a disc – they don’t get all the images, they get the images I choose and it’s capped at 20-30 images per session. I am happy to do this because it’s what the client wants and they are paying my wage. Some families simply cannot afford the asking price of some photographers and we simply can’t get blood out of a stone, and if we all charged really high rates then we would all lose those clients because if they don’t have the money, they don’t have it – period. Send all those clients to me, seriously, send them all. I’ll have every single one of them and be very happy to have them in my photography family. Art is a luxury – I know of so many photographers whose work is outstanding, smashingly beautiful talented artists but I know I could never ever afford them, so I look but never book. I am happy to be the photographer that gets those bookings. One day I will increase my prices to be more in line with what I want to earn but I will always cater to the families whose budgeting is a priority – they matter too. It’s not fair to be judged, no-one likes it and that is why we get defensive.
Lauren Lim says
Hi everyone!
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts on this article. There are clearly a lot of very passionate photographers here, and that’s wonderful!
I wrote this article with sincere love for all photographers, but I can see that I didn’t communicate that well enough, and have upset folks. For that I’m very sorry. I’ll work harder in the future to share our position more clearly.
For now, we’re getting back to writing articles and creating tutorials that will help photographers, no matter what level they’re at, or what their goals are.
I’m going to be turning off comments now. Thanks again for taking the time to comment. See you around the site!
:)