Beyond the obvious

I'm off on my travels again and will be back next week. Which means another break in the blog. In the meantime if you want to see the work of one of the most highly acclaimed wedding photographers then check out Joe Buissink . Yes, I know weddings! But these go beyond the normal pictures of someone elses wedding. He has an artistic flair, and a flair for business too, charging 10,000 dollars for a wedding reportage. I like many of Joe's images and believe it or not I really like photographing weddings too, especially when the client wants something special that goes way beyond the normal formal set of poses. You can see some shots from one on my weddings here . Catch you soon, Paul

How much should I charge? It's question I've seen numerous times on forums. Photographers facing the prospect of their first professional commission wanting help to figure out how much they should charge for a piece of work. You could write a book to cover all of the aspects involved and of course each type of photography brings its own set of criteria. Instead I'll mention a few things here that should be considered. It's up to you do detailed research about pricing in your own field. Don't even think of taking on a professional commission without finding out more and it's vital that you should agree prices up front with your customer. Research your market. The short answer to the question of how much to charge is that you should ask for what you can get without over charging or under selling your services. Most keen amateurs charge far to little for their work because they don't need to live from selling their photography, they're flattered that someon...

Working out how much you should charge is one of the questions most frequently asked when setting up as a professional photographer. I’ll endeavour to answer the question but it may not be the answer you expect. I have a view that breaks with industry tradition. Traditionally photographers charge for a shoot by applying half day or full day rates. The rate is the same, no matter how their images are being used or what value their images add to the client’s business. I think this is wrong. We are expected to charge by a fairly arbitrary system based loosely on the time we spend at a photo-shoot. It’s a pretty archaic way of working things out which originates from a mass production factory mentality. As photographers we’re not cogs in a machine. Our uniqueness, our approach and the value we can add through our creativity and ability to solve problems should be reflected in the amount we charge. I live and breathe to deliver the best possible work. I use my insight, creativity, u...