Cheap Photographer

A couple of months ago, I got a phone call from the photo editor at one of the largest newspapers in Canada. He wanted “magazine-style” portraits of a business person here in Toronto. The photo editor said he required six different looks each with different lighting and a variety of backgrounds.

Best part of all? Not only was he willing to pay $150 but he would also pay mileage!

Two weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a photo editor of large, well-known, UK publication. She wanted “stylized” executive portraits of the CEO of a very large, international bank which had its head office in Toronto.

This UK financial publication, whose rate card lists $40,000 for a 1/4 page B+W ad, wanted “a large selection of portraits, all with high-quality lighting.”

The punchline? The e-mail said they would be “happy” to pay $250, including expenses.

Here’s the deal:

In the 1980s, $250 per assignment might have been okay. But over the past 25 years, something strange has happened. The cost of running a photo business, not to mention the cost of living, has gone up a bit.

• Lenses are now double the price. Cameras are triple to quadruple the cost. In the 1980s, cameras were replaced every eight to ten years. Today, cameras are replaced every three to four years.

• $5000 computers, $1800 monitors, $2700 laptops and thousands of dollars of software, all of which were non-essential in the 1980s, now have to be replaced every few years.

• The cost of business and equipment insurance has tripled. The cost of health and dental insurance has tripled. Car insurance has doubled. In 1987, my (then) new station wagon cost $13,620 and in 2007, my (current) new station wagon cost $31,600. Apparently, the cost of gasoline has gone up too.

Did I mention that the cost of living has gone up? According to the Bank of Canada, from 1985 to 2009, the Consumer Price Index increased 83%. This means that $250 in 1985 is now worth $457 in 2009, and that accounts for inflation only.

Photographers are not magicians. They cannot charge below profit, let alone below cost. If they do, then the only magic trick they will accomplish is to make their business disappear.