Respect isn’t free

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Fifteen years ago, almost to the day, scientist and later president of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam gave a speech about his visions for India. His speech included:

If we are not free, no one will respect us.

 

(With apologies for misusing this quote), professional photographers should remember the opposite:

“No one will respect us if we are free.”

 

Two months ago, a friend and fellow photographer contacted one of his regular clients here in Toronto about a (then) upcoming assignment in Europe. The client was thrilled the photographer was available to go. But after consulting head office, the client found out that they didn’t have a budget to send a photographer. Instead, they were going to hire a local freelancer in Europe.
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Cheap Future

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For customers who expect cheap or free:

I cannot always sympathize with that demand which we hear so frequently for cheap things. Things may be too cheap.

They are too cheap when the man who produces them upon the farm or the man or woman who produces them in the factory does not get out of them living wages with a margin for old age and for a dowry for the incidents that are to follow.

I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth or shapes it into a garment shall starve in the process.

– Benjamin Harrison, 23rd US President, August 1891.

 

You Don’t Say

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Customers say the darndest things:

None of the photographers we hired last year knew what we wanted.

None of the other photographers knew how to take pictures we like.

We’ve had such a hard time finding a photographer who knows the right price.

I know this is what we asked for but it isn’t what we want.

If our budget changes, we may not be able to pay you.

We need a portrait of our CEO done this afternoon and we’re willing to pay $75.

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Magic Act

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Some photographers charge more, other photographers charge less, and some photographers undercharge and effectively work for nothing. But I’ve never heard of a photographer who overcharges or gouges customers.

A fellow corporate photographer recently wondered what he should tell potential clients who point out that another photographer charges much less than he does. Perhaps this might help:

Photographers are not economic magicians. When a photographer charges less, it means the customer is getting less. There’s no way around it. Maybe it’s less quality, maybe less service, maybe less experience. But it’s always less. The customer has to decide if they’re willing to settle for less.

If the pictures are not important then it might be okay to take a chance with low-priced photography. But smart companies know to always avoid risk because cheap can sometimes be too expensive.

My photography business doesn’t settle for less, (which is why I buy only premium cameras, lenses, computers, software, etc.), and I refuse to offer less because my customers are important.

I want my customers to succeed in their business marketing and I want my pictures to play a part in that success. I don’t cut corners and give customers less because that would only undermine their business goals.

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Time and Space

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Professional photo shoots can be more complex than a customer might think. After several equipment cases have been brought into their office and many lights set up, a client will often remark, “Wow, all this just for one picture?!” or “I didn’t realize this would be like a Hollywood movie!”

Some photography can be done with minimal equipment in minimal space. But other assignments can require a fair amount of lighting which usually requires more space and more time.

When a client says, “It’s just a couple of pictures and it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes,” photographers always start to smile.
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Photographers are not Press

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This is a ridiculously long rant about this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. If you don’t cover the film festival or are not involved with it, then save yourself some time and skip this post.

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The 38th annual Toronto Film Festival recently ended. It’s the one event that all Toronto news photographers look forward to covering. Yes that was sarcasm.

Being the 38th edition, one might guess that the organizers might be, uh, organized and know what they’re doing. Sadly that guess would be wrong.

What do photographers need to do their job? They need to know who, what, where and when. Guess what information wasn’t given out?

Upon check-in, each photographer was given a bag of stuff, all of which was rather useless except for a pizza coupon :-). The bag contained no information that a news photographer needed.

Sigh.
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Twittering Away

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Over the past two years, I’ve noticed that many professional photographers have abandoned their blogs in favour of using Twitter. While Twitter may be more fun, more immediate, and faster and easier to do, it makes little business sense for a commercial or corporate photographer.

While there’s nothing wrong with using Twitter for personal activities or in conjunction with a blog, it doesn’t seem to benefit a professional photographer enough to warrant leaving their blog behind.

Unlike Twitter, a photographer’s blog has (or should have) more thought invested, is better indexed by search engines, holds long lasting value, is a deeper source of information and is much better at building trust and credibility.

When a company is deciding on which corporate photographer to hire, do you think they’re influenced more by a blog post or a bunch of tweets? Which better enhances a photographer’s reputation, a blog post or a few tweets?

For a professional photographer, the marketing value of a blog (aka content marketing) is huge compared to Twitter because of a blog’s capability for search engine optimization. A blog can be worth many thousands of dollars per month to a commercial photographer.

Although having said all that, as more photographers abandon blogging, the better it gets for those who stay with it.

 

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