MpactPhoto » Professional Photography Resource Blog: MpactPhoto

Well said Dustin.
I recently was approached by a local restaurant for a two day shoot with no less than nine delivered images. While we were discussing the specifics and ideas for the shoot she slipped in the possibility of trade. At which point she got a blank stare from me.
She also mumbled something about how she “knows” photoshop and can take care of the color balancing. Again, a blank stare.
It amazes me that since the advent of the prosumer camera photographers are so often disrespected and devalued. We are not hobbyists and if you don’t pay us we don’t eat. Nor can we pay our bills.
You can be sure I gave her an accurate estimate, including very specific language in the terms that any altering of my work, aside from minor cropping, is prohibited.

Nice one! Sometimes I think we forget to value ourselves.

Great way to handle it Dustin. I hope she hears you and can stick to it. I am always trying to beat that tidbit into fellow photographers. I can’t begin to tell you the number of photographers that say to me, “Yeah but my business isnt like yours, I don’t live in a big city, so my clients won’t pay the same amount as your clients.” And to that I always respond, a camera costs what a camera costs.

If most photographers would realize that most all of the hard costs of business are the same regardless if you live in a rural market or a metropolitan area. Cameras, lenses, prints, albums, computers, software, and most all the tools of the trade cost the same regardless of your address. The only reduced costs of a rural studio are lower overhead in the form of rent or mortgage and lower insurance costs.

And in the commercial world, usage is usage. In fact, many large national companies can be found in rural markets because of the need for cheap labor and cheap land. However these clients are advertising nationally, so rural photographers need to consider that usage. If they have a multi-thousand square ft facility on 10 acres of land, and dozens of employees, think about the revenue that company is generating to turn a profit.

So remember, a camera costs what a camera costs.