There’s a joke that asks: “If price and worth mean the same thing, why do priceless and worthless mean the exact opposite?”
Price is set by the seller and worth, or value, is set by the buyer. Price is usually influenced by various market conditions and worth can be affected by marketing. The two are connected.
Ideally, a client wants high-value photography for free. On the other hand, a photographer wants their images to sell for a very high price. Does this mean that a photographer and their client are opposites?
While it should seem that no one would want low-value photography at any price, sadly that isn’t the case. There is a market for low-value photography and, as expected, it’s at the low end of the price scale.
If you were to draw a graph comparing price and worth, the two would start out increasing together, (i.e. “you get what you pay for”). But there’s always a point at which price and worth part company. Beyond this point, there are two possible situations:
(i) Price continues to increase but the worth to the client has levelled off. As price increases beyond its worth, we enter the world of luxury or extravagance, (i.e. “I’d love to buy that as soon as I win the lottery!”).
(ii) Worth or value continues to increase but price has levelled off. This is called an investment. This can apply to photography and it does benefit the client.
The goal of both the photographer and client is to find a point where worth is at least equal to price. This is where both parties are not opposites but instead are on the same path.
The hard part for the photographer is making the client aware of the worth of their photography. The hard part for the client is knowing how important that worth is to their business.
Anyone can buy worthless but no one can afford it. Priceless is somewhere between free and expensive, and it’s always a bargain.
