business practices

Photography On Purpose

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Photographers, why are you in the photography business?

“To take pictures and make money,” I hear someone say.

 

While walking through a park, a young girl sees a photographer taking pictures of some people and she asks him what he’s doing. The photographer replies, “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m taking pictures.”

She continues her stroll and a few minutes later, the girl sees another photographer taking pictures of people and asks him what he’s doing. The photographer answers, “I’m busy making a living.”

After walking further through the park, the girl finds another photographer taking pictures of some people and asks him the same question. The photographer says, “I’m making a special portrait for this family’s photo album.”

 

For corporate and commercial photographers, you should be in business to help grow the value of your customer’s business. Your job is to use photography to help their business succeed. If their business doesn’t succeed, neither will yours. You are their business partner just as much as they are yours.

 

For Internet Slaves

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If you’re an “Internet slave”, read this New York Times article by writer and cartoonist Tim Kreider about working for free.

Practicalities aside, money is also how our culture defines value, and being told that what you do is of no ($0.00) value to the society you live in is, frankly, demoralizing. Even sort of insulting. And of course when you live in a culture that treats your work as frivolous you can’t help but internalize some of that devaluation and think of yourself as something less than a bona fide grown-up.

For most professional photographers, this should not be news. But photographers new to the business should pay attention.

 

Mileage for Canadian photographers

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Most folks still use the word “mileage” even though we’ve been metric for a long time. The correct word seems to be “kilometrage.”

When calculating what to charge for kilometrage, the operating expense portion is easy to figure out. Add up all your operating expenses for a year, (e.g. gas, repairs, maintenance, etc.), and then divide by the total number of kilometres driven that year. If you had $10,000 in operating expenses and drove 20,000 km, then it cost 50¢/km to drive the vehicle that year.

But what about the ownership expense portion (i.e. cost of vehicle, insurance, licences)? If your car cost $35,000, how do you factor that expense into your kilometric rate? Vehicle depreciation depends on what car you own and how long you keep it.

Possible ways to help determine a suitable kilometric rate:

• The federal government publishes a list of kilometric rates for government employees. These generic, one-size-fits-all numbers are the bottom end of what you should charge.

• The government also publishes “acceptable” auto allowance rates for company employees. These more realistic numbers are higher than for government employees. You can charge even higher if your situation requires it.

• The CAA has a somewhat limited driving cost calculator. If you can’t find your vehicle when using “By Brand” then try the generalized “By Category.”

Remember that your mileage rate, (it’s easier to say than kilometrage :-), covers only your vehicle expenses. It does not cover your time. If driving to/from a job takes hours, you should be compensated for that, too. Your time is worth a lot more than, say, 75¢ per kilometre. Your travel fee should include compensation for both vehicle expense and your time.

Also remember that you can claim only the business portion of your vehicle expenses on your tax return. You need to record the kilometres you drive for business purposes each year. For example, if you drove a total of 18,000 km in a given year and that included 9,000 km for business purposes, then you can claim 50% of your vehicle expenses.

 

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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Make me an offer I can refuse

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Earlier today, I received an offer to photograph a sports event next month. A US photography company is seeking a few photographers to cover an all-day athletic event. The photographers just take pictures and no editing is required. Does this sound like a good assignment?

The job pays $225.

Does this still sound like a good assignment?
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Take the long way

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About two years ago, a US survey asked kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. One of the most common answers was “a celebrity”. When asked what they wanted to be famous for, the kids said they did’t know or it didn’t matter – they just wanted to be famous. (Here’s a British news article about a similar but unrelated UK study.)

In the old days, someone had to work to accomplish something and then, maybe, they might earn a degree of fame for their achievements.

Today, it seems many people want to take a shortcut. They want the fame but without achieving anything first. Popular shortcut attempts are: appearing on a reality TV show, releasing a scandalous video or tweeting provocative pictures of themselves.

Photographers are not exempt from taking shortcuts.
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Fear Photography

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As a photographer, which would you prefer: lots of low-paying customers or only a few high-paying customers? For example:

Photographer A shoots three business portraits every week at $100 each. His annual gross revenue is 3 X 52 X $100 = $15,600.

Photographer B does only one business portrait every other week at $600. Her annual gross is 26 X $600 = $15,600.

Which is better: low price with high volume or high price with low volume?
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