Do you still remember that feeling when you

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Archive 2008 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

Beni
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p.2 #1 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

First £2000 ($4000 at the time) wedding, sheer nervousness! My usual is £1275-£1500, put the 2 grand package up more for fun than anything else, didn't think my clientele would ever go for it, couldn't believe it when they did!

Dec 18, 2008 at 07:22 PM

RedWhiteandRed
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p.2 #2 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

Yes, first time a major gallery bought an entire body of work.

Dec 18, 2008 at 08:20 PM

mkweaver
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p.2 #3 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

Yeah! Awe! Disbelief! Incredulous! Thrilled! What if! Fear! Awe, and all over again. I'm still going through it! It was a Quinceanera I photographed 8-30-08, and I've worked like mad on it. They're thrilled with the results, and I'll never do it again!
I had nightmares I'd play out and not be able to stay with it that many hours! And I thrilled all the way to the bank!
The pictures are great!
I wish I were younger! But pushing-70 is too old to be doing that long a gig! But at least I had mine!

Back to families and babies! Love 'em!

Dec 18, 2008 at 08:28 PM

Chris Beaumont
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p.2 #4 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

Two days ago I booked my first >£1000 (actually £1200) wedding, for that they get me from morning (bride preps) until the reception starts to die town, a 12x12 album from Loxley Colour's Bellissimo range, 2 A5 photobooks and 25 6x4 prints. Still I guess fairly cheap by national standards, but I'm feeling what letenele described, I'm just really happy that someone feels my skill level is worth that much to them.

Dec 18, 2008 at 10:48 PM

jcolman
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p.2 #5 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

While not wedding related, I still remember booking my first independent film. I was fresh out of film school and was asked to submit a bid to produce a ski film for a local ski area. This was to be a marketing film. I knew nothing about making marketing films but I knew how to ski and I could produce some pretty good film shots.

I fretted and worried for a couple of days about how much to bid. I had never done a budget before (except in school) and didn't really have a clue.

I first came up with a figure of $2500 (this was 1972 mind you) for a 1/2 hour long film shot on 16mm. I thought that too little and eventually settled on a figure of $4000. I thought "there's no way they're going to pay me that much!". To my utter surprise, the board of directors didn't flinch and said "fine....when can you start shooting?".

I was floored. I was excited. And I was scared to death.

To make a long story short, I finished the film, it was a big success but I owed the film lab $900 when all was said and done. I had to sell my beloved Bolex Rex 5 camera and editing system to pay the bills.

Nevertheless, I retained a copy of the film for myself, which became my demo reel. That film eventually landed me a good paying job and I learned a lot about budgeting and making marketing films.

Dec 19, 2008 at 01:19 AM

57suzi
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p.2 #6 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

mkweaver wrote:
Yeah! Awe! Disbelief! Incredulous! Thrilled! What if! Fear! Awe, and all over again. I'm still going through it! It was a Quinceanera I photographed 8-30-08, and I've worked like mad on it. They're thrilled with the results, and I'll never do it again!
I had nightmares I'd play out and not be able to stay with it that many hours! And I thrilled all the way to the bank!
The pictures are great!
I wish I were younger! But pushing-70 is too old to be doing that long a gig! But at least I had mine!

Back to families and babies! Love 'em!

Good for you, Martha

And I'm sure the clients are lucky to have you.

I think I've solved my issues with stamina and health, I'm training my son in law as second shooter with a view to having him carry whichever part of the load I'm unable to. I am so relieved, as I was seriously thinking I would have to give up weddings before I ever got a chance to get good at them.

Dec 19, 2008 at 01:20 AM

jcolman
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p.2 #7 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

mkweaver wrote:

I wish I were younger! But pushing-70 is too old to be doing that long a gig! But at least I had mine!

Back to families and babies! Love 'em!

My hats off to you! I'm pushing 60 and just starting my "second career" as a wedding shooter.

Dec 19, 2008 at 01:28 AM

cpichado
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p.2 #8 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

Not to rag on jcolman, but since it's a 'tad' off topic, I'm pointing my finger at him for this comment of mine... ;-)

First off, on topic - my first wedding as a main got me $420, basically a shoot and burn. My time as a 2nd did pay off in that I didn't screw up, and I got to try a few things i'd been planning in this shaggy head of mine. The 2nd was a gig I'd promised to shoot a year in advance, back when my main photo income was shooting music gigs. By the time the wedding came around, I knew a ton more than I had, even after shooting regularly the past 10 years (hobby/amateur wise). It scored me $520. I was fully stoked, and got a new lens out of it.

Now, the off-topic... I have a potential gig for a local office that is new in town, but the company is nation-wide. The company built a few notable buildings around town, and were referred my name by a fellow co-worker / photog buddy. They want me to provide shots of the 8 (eight) buildings around town, and want digital hi-res copies for brochure/pamphlet use. This will have to be done over several days, and in trying to get the shots in either of the golden hours will limit me to only a couple days per shot... Anyway, basically they want rights to reproduce, and they will also blow the prints up to poster size for 'decoration' in their new bare-walled office.

I have searched online, and emailed a few notable corporate-style photog what they think I should charge, as that info seems to be nowhere in the world of google. As wedding photography seems to be the only comparably priced type of shooting, would any of you mind providing your input on at least a general window of what I should charge? I know I need to take losses into account, hours spent scouting, working, etc, plus assistant pay if needed... But I can't help but think they'll either scoff and hide behind the "but didn't you hear us? We're a new office in town!" type of excuse (or politely turn me down), or say yes as they snicker when I walk out the door, thinking "what a sucker - for that price, he's gotta be crap!"

:-(

Thanks for any feedback whatsoever everyone.

-
Chris

Dec 19, 2008 at 05:00 AM

MarianneDoidge
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p.2 #9 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

cpichado wrote:
Not to rag on jcolman, but since it's a 'tad' off topic, I'm pointing my finger at him for this comment of mine... ;-)

First off, on topic - my first wedding as a main got me $420, basically a shoot and burn. My time as a 2nd did pay off in that I didn't screw up, and I got to try a few things i'd been planning in this shaggy head of mine. The 2nd was a gig I'd promised to shoot a year in advance, back when my main photo income was shooting music gigs. By the time the wedding came around, I knew a ton more than I had, even after shooting regularly the past 10 years (hobby/amateur wise). It scored me $520. I was fully stoked, and got a new lens out of it.

Now, the off-topic... I have a potential gig for a local office that is new in town, but the company is nation-wide. The company built a few notable buildings around town, and were referred my name by a fellow co-worker / photog buddy. They want me to provide shots of the 8 (eight) buildings around town, and want digital hi-res copies for brochure/pamphlet use. This will have to be done over several days, and in trying to get the shots in either of the golden hours will limit me to only a couple days per shot... Anyway, basically they want rights to reproduce, and they will also blow the prints up to poster size for 'decoration' in their new bare-walled office.

I have searched online, and emailed a few notable corporate-style photog what they think I should charge, as that info seems to be nowhere in the world of google. As wedding photography seems to be the only comparably priced type of shooting, would any of you mind providing your input on at least a general window of what I should charge? I know I need to take losses into account, hours spent scouting, working, etc, plus assistant pay if needed... But I can't help but think they'll either scoff and hide behind the "but didn't you hear us? We're a new office in town!" type of excuse (or politely turn me down), or say yes as they snicker when I walk out the door, thinking "what a sucker - for that price, he's gotta be crap!"

:-(

Thanks for any feedback whatsoever everyone.

-
Chris

I haven't a clue as I haven't done a gig like that one before, but I would suggest starting a new thread, possibly in with the City forum... you would likely get more responses there. Good luck!

Dec 19, 2008 at 06:27 AM

MarianneDoidge
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p.2 #10 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

We were pretty happy when we booked our 2K package and are finding the market around here isn't worth increasing so we are just hoping that someone will book our "make the $2000 look cheap" $2800 package this year. We will see how that goes though seeing as we are going to be relocating from north of Toronto, Ontario to north west of Ottawa, Ontario.

Our first was a freebee, the second was $250... Still not playing in the majors with some of you, but I'm pleased with our progress.

Dec 19, 2008 at 06:31 AM

ngm2000
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p.2 #11 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

I typically book packages over $3000 (£2000), for me it really doesn't matter how much people spend - I put the same amount of work into every wedding, and time is more important to me than the money, but it's nice to get lots of add-ons booked!

My biggest ever thrill was when I got my first booking - I cheered, sang and shouted all the way home in my car - I couldn't believe someone had given me a deposit - actual money!

Nicola

Dec 19, 2008 at 07:26 PM

jcolman
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p.2 #12 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

cpichado wrote:
Not to rag on jcolman, but since it's a 'tad' off topic, I'm pointing my finger at him for this comment of mine... ;-)

Now, the off-topic... I have a potential gig for a local office that is new in town, but the company is nation-wide. The company built a few notable buildings around town, and were referred my name by a fellow co-worker / photog buddy. They want me to provide shots of the 8 (eight) buildings around town, and want digital hi-res copies for brochure/pamphlet use. This will have to be done over several days, and in trying to get the shots in either of the golden hours will limit me to only a couple days per shot... Anyway, basically they want rights to reproduce, and they will also blow the prints up to poster size for 'decoration' in their new bare-walled office.

I have searched online, and emailed a few notable corporate-style photog what they think I should charge, as that info seems to be nowhere in the world of google. As wedding photography seems to be the only comparably priced type of shooting, would any of you mind providing your input on at least a general window of what I should charge? I know I need to take losses into account, hours spent scouting, working, etc, plus assistant pay if needed... But I can't help but think they'll either scoff and hide behind the "but didn't you hear us? We're a new office in town!" type of excuse (or politely turn me down), or say yes as they snicker when I walk out the door, thinking "what a sucker - for that price, he's gotta be crap!"

:-(

Thanks for any feedback whatsoever everyone.

-
Chris

Hey Chris,

I just did an "office building" shoot for our local power company that took me about a half hour to shoot and another half hour to process and burn the images to CD. The company wanted full rights as well. I charged them $300 for the images. One of the reasons they got off so light was that I was already shooting a video for them and just happened to bring my camera with me.

Had I been contracted to photograph the building outside of my video work, the prices would have been higher. How much higher is hard to say but from what others have told me, $800-$1000 would have been in the ballpark.

Hope this helps.

Dec 19, 2008 at 11:28 PM

cpichado
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p.2 #13 · Do you still remember that feeling when you

Thanks for the info jcolman!

I found this article/document (http://tinyurl.com/95at3o) online and followed it's suggestion. Of course, I bid based on the lower-end as it's really my first foray into this specific type of shoot, and I should hear back from them by mid-January.

I'll let you know how it turns out, yay or nay, whatever their choice may be. I'm up in a bid amongst other photographers, so I'm not sure how much I have going for me, but the in person interview seemed to have gone well.

Just wanted to say thanks again. :-)

-C

Jan 06, 2009 at 05:45 PM

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