Yup, sometimes people just aren\'t gonna get on the same page with you. Sometimes you can get them there, other times you simply can\'t ... whether that be on our end or theirs (it does cut both ways sometimes) ...and \"pass\" can either be wise, foolish or simply unfortunate, depending on why a person is saying \"No\".
About ten years ago, I was discussing weddings with a locally renowned wedding/portrait/senior photographer and telling him how I didn\'t like doing wedding photography the way I did back in the 80\'s/90\'s. Without missing a beat (while shooting prom photos on location) his reply to me was that I needed to raise my prices high enough such that one of two things would happen. I\'d either price myself out of the work, such that I would be asked to do it by fewer clientele, or when I was asked to do it, the price would be high enough that I would enjoy doing it.
I always found that be an interesting response with a nugget of savvy from such a young individual at that time. I took it as a rather eloquent way of saying, \"Neither beg for work, nor bottom feed and you\'ll enjoy your work much more.\"
I\'ve enjoyed the dialogue ... hopefully our exchanges help shed some perspective for others. BTW, just for kicks (and perspective) ... I checked out the housing market differential (Sperling\'s) between my area and the OP\'s area. There is nearly a 700% variance in that market segment, and trust me, it is not my area that is 700% more than his (yes, I know the OP is looking to shoot food) ... i.e. you gotta know your market, both sides of it.
For some markets, a $300/day rate isn\'t worth getting out of bed for. For others, you\'re the top dog.
Figuring out your pricing will depend on your market (product/service offerings, industry, location, usage, license, etc) and your skills (photographic & marketing/salesmanship).
