These conference photos were shot by France’s Ministère de l’Environnement, de l’Energie et de la Mer (MEDDE) photographer. Unlike Canada, these French government photos were put into the public domain.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is being criticized for paying a photographer $6,662 to take pictures of its minister and her staff while they were in Paris for the COP21 climate summit late last year. [The French government’s COP21 site.]
The event ran 13 days and a local French photographer was hired to supply 13 days of photography services for the Canadian Environment Minister’s two-week stay in Paris.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the price paid. The real issue is that ECCC doesn’t understand how to work with a photographer nor how to effectively use photography. It appears that this two-week photo-op was just a wasted, vanity effort by Environment and Climate Change Canada.
The Photography Fee
ECCC originally budgeted $19,944 for 13 days of photography services. This might seem high but it really isn’t if ECCC’s exact plans were not confirmed at the time of booking the photographer. It’s not uncommon for a photographer to quote something like, for example only: $250/hour or $1,500/day. Here, the final fee would depend on how events played out. This suggests that ECCC budgeted for the worst case scenario since it didn’t know what its plans were.
Here in the Toronto area, an average photo fee to cover a one-day business conference, or similar corporate event, is about $1,600 to $2,000, or slightly higher depending on the circumstances. Most photographers will offer a discount for a multi-day event.
Perhaps the original $19,944 budget was for 13 full days of conference photography. This would work out to about $1,500/day which is well within average pricing for conference photography.
The final paid price of $6,662 for 13 days is equivalent to $512/day which is well below any reasonable fee for conference of photography.
Maybe the photographer was required for only a couple hours each day to shoot specific photo ops here and there. For this type of work, many photographers in Toronto would charge around $180 to $225/hour with a three or four hour minimum. So $512/day is at the bottom end for this type of work.
Perhaps the photographer was only needed for general public relations-type photography. In Toronto, this would cost about $1,000 to maybe $1,600 per day. So again, $512/day is a steal.
No matter how you try to rationalize the fee, the $6,662 paid for 13 days of photography is either average or outright cheap.
If I was paid $6,662 for a 13-day conference, and assuming no job expenses whatsoever and no extra time spent for editing, I would gross around 30% (about $2000 or $154/day) and my business would lose money. Overall, it would be a net loss.
These conference photos were shot by France’s Ministère de l’Environnement, de l’Energie et de la Mer (MEDDE) photographer. Imagine that, an environment ministry with its own photographer.
Unlike Canada, these French government photos were put into the public domain.
Now the government
The travel expenses by the environment minister and her immediate (eight?-person) staff totalled about $90,000 (airfare, hotel, meals and incidentals). Add to this each person’s salary and you’ll top $125,000 for the two weeks. Now add the cost of each person’s employment benefits and pensions (I’ll guess 25% but it might go up to 40%). This means that the minister and her immediate staff each cost, on average, about $15,000 for those 13 days. The photographer cost $6,662.
Note that the entire Canadian delegation to the COP21 Summit was 283 people. Other news reports put this number at either 150 or 350 people. So far there’s no official grand total for attending the COP21 Summit but one newspaper is stating a travel cost of $1-million.
One would think that the federal government would know what it’s doing when it come to communications and public perception. (I’ll wait here until you’ve stopped laughing).
One of the most serious dangers in public relations communication is the illusion of having achieved it when in fact there has been no communication at all.
– John E. Marston, “The Nature of Public Relations”
Considering the volume of needed photography, why not have a government-wide photo department much like a newspaper? Each government ministry could submit photo requests to the “Ministry of Photography” :-) . By sharing a central photo department across the entire government, the cost savings and the efficiency gain would be huge. For example, the entire Canadian delegation to the Paris summit might have shared one photographer.
Politicians and their staff usually have no clue about photography or about effective public relations photography. Their use of social media, for example, runs at the same level as a teenager. Their use of photography is at the amateur level. The only exception to this is the Prime Minster’s Office which, by no coincidence, has its own photo department. (Don’t be surprised when at least three provincial governments do something similar).
How would you fund the Ministry of Photography?
The million-dollar pay raise that federal politicians gave themselves earlier this year could pay for all of the federal government’s ministerial photography needs for four years. One year’s pay raise = four years of photography.
Just to point out, the politicians who complain about high photography fees are the same ones who earn 350% to 500% [and here] of what the average Canadian makes (about $49,000/year according to 2014 StatsCan data). The average Canadian photographer earns about $30,000, (2011 StatsCan/Quebec data).
Before blaming the lowest paid person in the room, perhaps politicians should look in a mirror.
Another great article! The only thing I don’t understand is how you’d only gross 30%. How do you get to this number? Many thanks.
Hi Miguel,
The average Canadian earns about $49,000 per year. A “year” is actually 261 paid work days per year, (365 days – 104 Sat+Sun = 261). These paid days *include* work days, sick days, paid vacation and paid statutory holidays. So the average Canadian makes about $188 per day ($49,000/261 = $188).
My minimum cost of doing business is about $660/day (and that’s only a minimum because it’s based on the average Canadian income. If I want to earn more then I’d have to charge more). So for a 13-day job, my cost would be $8,580. This event paid the French photographer $6,662. This means my business would have lost money no matter what.
My business policy is that I pay myself 30% of revenue (which doesn’t include job expenses). I feel this is an acceptable amount for me based on what the average Canadian earns. But in this case, 30% of $6,662 is about $2,000 or $154/day which is actually less than what the average Canadian earns. So for me, this means that a revenue of $6,662 is too low.
More information here about payroll and revenue.
I could pay myself a higher percentage of revenue but then my business would lose more. My business has to make money to pay for camera equipment, computers, etc.
For a 13-day conference, I would charge $15,000 to $20,000 depending on the circumstances.