I have talked with a person at Lifetouch photography about doing some freelance work for them when they need a photographer. Lifetouch provides photo services to local schools in my area, mostly for yearbook stuff with posed stuff and they do some action stuff as well. I am interested in helping with their action stuff. Does anyone know if they have a set rate for covering a game/event or it is what ever you can negotitate? I'd like to go into the negotiation process with a bit of an idea of where to start. I am not asking you to divulge any personal salary information, but rather more generic stuff like do they pay per event, per image, per hour or any other insights. Thanks in advance.
Yes. Their rate is next to nothing. At least for their regular staff. A few years ago when I was just getting started I talked with these guys. They didn't pay squat.
They also suck. I would not want my name attached to them. I just got out of high school and am in college, and I can say, that they should take some classes or something. Hell, I had one where my head was cut in half. I would rather work for a paper or second shooter for someone. That aside, if that is what you want to do, go for it.
Best
Joey
Your right Joey, for a lot of the work I've seen (buying my kids pix), the work has been subpar. The person I talked with seemed quite pleased with my work, and I am no superstar, but I do think overall my stuff is much better than what I see in the yearbooks typically. I am sure they have a few good shooters, but you are right that a few bad ones can and have hurt their reputation. Maybe as j curtis said that their pay is so low, they can't attract good shooters.
That being said, if I can negotiate a good/fair pay rate (again, I am no superstar so don't expect supestar pay) and I can ensure the kids get good shots in their yearbooks AND get field access to get the images, I will improve my skills and make a good name for myself.
Lifetouch shoots the student portraits and team sports photos at the high school where my kids go, and IMO, what they produce is over priced garbage.
Quantity over quality. They are a machine and need to move massive amounts of images to make their business model work.
The composition of the team photos is horrible, horizons are tilted, and this past winter season, they spelled the school name wrong on the team photos. They've been shooting at this scholl for at least 5 years, the school name should not be a problem.
When my daughter had her winter cheer photos taken, there was a huge fold in the backdrop from being walked on, and the photographer never fixed it. My daughter's picture has this huge background crease going right thru her head. Idiots..........
Most of the time, it looks as though they have college students shooting the team sports stuff.
It kills me to write the checks to pay for this over priced stuff when I know I'm not going to be happy with it, but what are we to do? Your kid only goes thru HS once, so there's no "do overs".
I'm sure there are reputable photogs working for this company somewhere that know what they are doing, but they haven't shown up at our school.
For me, I'm staying away from Lifetouch as far as a working relationship goes.
Fortunately, I'm part of a small group of photogs that have developed relationships with the local HS boosters and we are shooting the HS sports for the action side of things.
I have single-handedly beaten out the competition (lifetouch) at my former high school for the sports photography. Now I'm not tooting my horn, I'm just saying that when one person who has been shooting for 3 years can shoot better enough to completely take over sports photos and beat out an existing company...something's obviously wrong with lifetouch's product.
I'm interested in knowing their rate, j.curtis, if you feel like you can share it. Not that I want to go work for them, I'm just curious as to what they are paying, because it may contribute to the crappy quality that the photographers are producing.
In my area I have taken 4 high schools sports T & I photos from Lifetouch and I could probably get them all if I didn't already have a full time job!!! Talking a school into using you the first time is the hardest part, after they see your work compared to Lifetouch, they beg you to come back. I'm loving the fact that they SUCK so bad. All the way to the bank.
Mike
Don't associate your name with them..I went to one of their recruting meetings just for kicks and they offer minimun wage or $10.00 for experience photographer.
But above all...their work sucks BIG TIME!! and thanks to their horrible quality I was able to add another HS where I can shoot the team and individuals. They just were not happy with the quality they were getting from Lifetouch. So, DO NOT let Lifetouch touch your life, and you don't touch theirs and you'll be happy.
Do yourself a favor and show your work to people at the local HS (coaches, players, parents, directors) and if Lifetouch is doing their sports action shots, they'll love yours.
Wow...thought it was just a spot problem. I shot media day at my daughters high school last season. I shot all of the cheerleaders T&I shots while Lifetouch shot the football players T&I. I'd heard grumblings from parents of the players. They were not happy with the product at all. Recently I have been contacted by a few of the booster club members about shooting the team this year. Looks like a trend across the country.
Is Lifetouch along the same lines as TSS(The sports section) photography. I had a guy call me and wanted me to take pictures for him, and he was going to pay me $15/hour to shoot with his equipment. I told him I preferred to use my own gear, and he asked what I had. I told him that I had the original 1D, and a 300 2.8. His response, "What kind of gear is that" I was like, "ARE YOU SERIOUS??"
Where I am (Ca) Lifetouch pays $8.25 for "experienced" photographers. Before we realized the quality of their photographers we hired a couple on a freelance basis for our T&I work, and found out these guys knew nothing!
One guy said he had his own stobe set, so we sent him on a small indoor shoot. Come to find out, he's never used his stobes before (or any as far as we can tell). His camera had no PC sync, he shot it all on Auto, with the stobes on full power. Oh, and he fired the stobes on slave mode with his sb800 pointed at the subject! (Can we say "just slightly overexposed"?) There were also two other photogs shooting in the same area, and he couldnt' figure out why his strobes kept popping all day. And thats not even getting into the crooked backgound he set up, the OOF images, and the cut off heads. Guess he didn't even look at the LCD to see what he was shooting!
The other two were just as bad, and didn't understand the relationship between ISO, shutter speed, and f/ stop. Shoot everything on Auto because "Its on the camera, so it must work."
I wouldn't want my name anywhere near this company!
Lifetouch is photography in a box. You have enough money and a photography background, you too can have your own Lifetouch studio. Usually the owner of the franchise in your area is a photographer, and in order to make money, they higher kids straight out of high school. The Lifetouch here does that, but they also pay freelancers for action photos. Myself and another local pro (who has a studio that competes against Lifetouch) freelance for them from time to time, but we have a contract that is more favorable to us as opposed to the $10 per hour deal. If I shoot a game on request for LT, I have a set rate depending on where the game is, plus mileage. If it is LT asking me after the game I may have shot for a booster club, I have a high per image price, plus any yearbook my images are in, I get credit plus free advertising space. If you are a well known photographer in your area and you want to supplement your normal income, Lifetouch is fine. If you are just starting out and shooting for them, it does not really pay to do it unless you can work out a more favorable deal. It all really depends on the specific Lifetouch in your area and how willing they are to negotiate.
That is the kind of information I was looking for. I think I can work out something favorable to me financially. Certainly, $10/hour won't get me interested, but if we can negotiate some (read that to mean considerably more than that rate) and include some additional perks, it might be worthwhile. They pretty much have a lock on the local schools county wide here. I am not ready to try to compete for that whole piece of the pie, but if they will give me small piece from time to time, that would be good.
davisjones wrote:
Is Lifetouch along the same lines as TSS(The sports section) photography. I had a guy call me and wanted me to take pictures for him, and he was going to pay me $15/hour to shoot with his equipment. I told him I preferred to use my own gear, and he asked what I had. I told him that I had the original 1D, and a 300 2.8. His response, "What kind of gear is that" I was like, "ARE YOU SERIOUS??"
I can't answer for all TSS franchisees, but I worked with one a while back, and they were a couple huge cuts above what I have seen from Lifetouch's action stuff. I wouldn't call them "pro" sports photographers, but they produced better product than anything I've seen from Lifetouch.
As with any franchise, though, the experience level, ability and business acumen of each franchisee can and will vary widely from region to region. TSS is actually one of the better sports photography franchisers. Whether this is saying much or not is up to you to determine.
I love Lorna Doones, especially with a cold glass of milk. Just wish they weren't so fattening.
Here's the problem though. Lifetouch has an exclusive contract with all of the local county schools to do ALL photography and excludes everyone from getting on the fields to shoot.
So, I guess my choices are:
1. Do nothing and continue to shoot from the best place I can get access to and get some pretty decent images and let the kids continue to get crappy images in their yearbooks (of which my kids and their friends will be getting one in the near future). Sell some images to parents, etc.
2. Try to take part of the contract they have with the schools to provide action photography. I don't currently have the ability to do all of the schools. I have a demanding full time job, so not sure how that would work. Just try to get the contract for a few of my neighboring schools?
3. Join them on a freelance basis (and getting compensated fairly) and learn the ins and outs of doing this work for the schools, get better access to fields, make better images and earn a good reputation so that when I retire, I can compete with them for a bigger chunk of the business.
4. Anyone have a different take on what to do or what can be done?
I have talked with some boosters and they are all unhappy with the current situation, but since the county school board handles the photo contract, they don't feel they can do much to be heard. Maybe that could be changed.
Anyone else have any suggestions and again, anyone else shoot for them that would care to diclose approximate negotiated rates, perks, etc.
Idiots..........
" I was like, "ARE YOU SERIOUS??"