Hello All,
I volunteer to do a lot of photography at my daughters elementary school working with school staff and our PTO. I was recently asked by school staff to setup and photograph each student(430) with a flag background. They wanted a stock photo in order to highlight students over the course of this year. Anyhow, I would like to break into this market having done quite a bit of event photography, which isn't steady. Elementary school portraits have much more potential.
1) How should I approach the principal about this? I mean what is the going rate for such, how do you charge (per student or flat fee) and is it common to give a percentage of sales to an elementary school?
2) Do you have to provide each student with a proof or can they be displayed on a website for parents to view/purchase? I utilize a fulfillment company, btw.
3) Is a standard background, such as gray muslin or flag, acceptable or is it required to set up and offer "digital" backgrounds for parents to choose from?
Let me edit the original post a bit to help you answer your own question.
ralph III wrote:
I volunteer to do a lot of photography at my daughters elementary school
I was recently asked by school staff to setup and photograph each student(430)
That's it. You volunteer, they asked. At no point did you state that they don't already have posed school portraits already done. Assuming they do, they want this job gratis. You can't pay them a commission because you're not selling anything. You could try to charge them, but you're already a volunteer, and all school I know of appreciate volunteers for as long as they do things for free, then chuck them out the window as soon as something costs.
Sorry, you won't get a dime for your efforts and there are very good odds that you will not be legally able to even offer the students photos for purchase as the school is already contractually obligated to not allow other photo sales (I assume that the school portrait company has at least a somewhat-decent contract with exclusivity required for kickback, er, commission).
John if you don't have any good advice to give then why chime in?
1) I wasn't refering to this specific school shoot. I was however offered reimbursement up front for my time in this instance by the school and/or PTO.
2) Yes, I volunteer quite a bit at my daughters elementary school and will continue to do so! Not only with candid photography but other areas as well. They however employ someone to take school portraits(official), which is what I would like to break into. That was the advice I was seeking!
3) I highly doubt they are contracted, in fact can say with certainty they are not, with a company in giving all photo rights to them. Yes you see that a lot with High Schools as I've learned (due to sports activities, etc) but our PTO is responsible for putting together the year book. The school simply hires someone for the portraits. Again, as I'd like to inquire about doing. I just wanted to approach the principal with a legitimate and professional offer.
ralph III wrote:
1) How should I approach the principal about this? I mean what is the going rate for such, how do you charge (per student or flat fee) and is it common to give a percentage of sales to an elementary school?
2) Do you have to provide each student with a proof or can they be displayed on a website for parents to view/purchase? I utilize a fulfillment company, btw.
3) Is a standard background, such as gray muslin or flag, acceptable or is it required to set up and offer "digital" backgrounds for parents to choose from?
Lifetouch, which does a huge volume of this business usually gets paid upfront at the time the kids are photographed. Teachers or PTA moms distribute photo-day info with your price sheet and and envelope several days or a week in advance and the kids bring in their envelopes on picture day. The alternate is to sell the school a package where each kid gets, for instance, 2-4x5 and 8-wallets, for a flat fee per kid. IMO you'll make more money doing it the first way.
Schools have become accustomed to getting back a piece of the action from the photog as a fund-raiser. That's why the PTA is as cooperative as they are (or should be). If so, the per centage kickback should be on package sales and your price list should be structured to make the non-package extras most attractive. For example, 2-4x5 and 8-wallets could be one package but die-cut wallets or adding more wallets or adding 5x7 or 8x10 are non-package upsells. You don't kick back on the non-package upsells, just on the packages.
Whether you're better off with a printed proof vs a web page probably depends on the demographics of the school and how simple it will b for you to create the web folder.
If you're going to offer background options, that info should go home to mom-n-dad before picture day, with sample illustrations and you should insist the image choice is made by the time the kid reaches the camera, Otherwise, chaos ensues. You can make alternate backgrounds an extra $$ upsell.
