shatterkiss
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 Re: My First DIY SoftBox | |
cordellwillis wrote:
I agree with SOME of this. But in all honesty I can't believe that any significant number of your paying clients contact you based on the gear they know you use. They contact you because the work you have produced and can produce for them. Unless of course you are speaking of something like an ad agency that need specific file types that a MF can produce....that's a different story.
If after looking at your portfolio you walked in with a Kodak EasyShare I would be surprized. However, I would not doubt that you know what you are doing with what you have because I've seen the end results. This is to say that the SB created here is not bad at all. Heck, there is gear with gaffers tape and bungie cords all over it. Does that mean the gear is falling apart or does it mean there maybe something attached to it to alter the light?
Sure, I get hired based on what results I'm capable of. But the real question is, would they hire me again after the first gig? And with any client their final satisfaction with your service is going to be a matrix of a number of factors...personality, how comfortable/happy they were with pricing and the business side of the process, your demeanor and comportment during the job, how they felt about the balance of pricing to value. Everyone defines "value" differently, and that's where an issue like this arises.
I've definitely had clients fail to hire me again because they felt that, at the rates I charged, I should have had better gear. In some cases that may be based on their knowledge of equipment (I call it "knowing just enough to be dangerous") or the quality of tools being visible in the final product...or just based on not showing up with enough stuff. I can roll in with 4 Profoto heads and still not make the right impression because the client would have been more jazzed with 1 head and 3 assistants. I have one client that's more impressed when I can do more with LESS equipment, because it means logistics would be as much of an issue for her. Honestly, you never know.
That said, I've never seen the situation where a client is more impressed with me showing up with DIYed and MacGuyvered gear. It may be a fun exercise for your off-hours, but a client generally will feel like they're paying you to own the right tools for the job...or to not be taking the job.
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