hiring a photographer

How to find the right photographer

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It should be easy to find the right photographer for your business photography, right? After all, every city has many, many professional photographers.

Recently, I was reading a web site for photographers who are new to running a photo business. These amateur(?) photographers were apparently hired by various clients to shoot corporate work, advertisements, business marketing or editorial assignments. Yet these photographers didn’t know how to price their work or, in some cases, even how to do the assignment. Why would any business hire an amateur photographer?

How should a business find the right professional photographer?

The best way is by referral from another business or a colleague. If this isn’t possible then a search engine is your best friend (or enemy).
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One price fits no one

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One problem when a photographer charges a one-size-fits-all photo fee, (i.e., an hourly fee or a day rate), is that the photographer ends up providing a variety of services to their clients all for the same price. 

For example: an editorial customer may require the photographer to use one camera to cover a one-hour press conference. A corporate customer may need the photographer to bring four cases of equipment to produce several studio-quality executive portraits within an allotted one-hour period.

Those two assignments require different equipment, different skills and different talents. So why should both clients pay the same price (i.e., the same hourly fee or day rate)?

Charging by the hour can even penalize the customer.

For example: a certain photo might take one hour to shoot or it might take four hours. Either way, the benefits to the customer are the same. Charging by the hour would mean that the customer pays more for the “slower” photographer yet gains no additional benefits.

Pricing based on photography and usage may be confusing to some customers but it allows the photographer to customize the price to suit each customer’s exact needs.

 

Best public relations photography

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Public relations photography, or PR photography, is about producing editorial photography that puts the client in a favourable light and increases their name recognition.

PR photography must be editorial in nature simply because that’s the style demanded by publications which use public relations photography. Newspapers, magazines, trade magazines, news websites and other publishers of PR photography use only editorial photography and not, for example, advertising photography because it directly impacts the publication’s credibility.

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Secret values

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A business looking to hire a photographer doesn’t want value in photography but rather value from photography. No company buys photography for the sake of having some pictures. Photography is a tool that can be used by a company to create some sort of advantage over its competitors.

Business photography, corporate photography and commercial photography should be regarded as an investment in a company’s future. Such photography can build trust, enhance brand image and attract customer attention. If the photography helps a business achieve its goals, then cost is just a transactional detail.

It’s not what the photography costs a business, it’s what the photography earns for that business.

Customers don’t buy from strangers or from anyone they don’t trust. Quality, authentic photography can help build trust. The right photography can help make a business appear more friendly. Effective photography can add power and credibility to the business message.

Choosing the right photographer is never about lowest cost but about highest values: value from the photography and value of the photographer.

While most professional photographers already know this, the hard part is letting customers in on this secret.

 

All that glitters is not gold

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Should you peruse some of the job “opportunities” for Toronto photographers on LinkedIn, you may see these glittery gems:

1. The job: Go to a few dozen used car lots each week and photograph cars for a publisher’s used car web site and print magazine.

Required: an “awareness of fumes, odor, gases, compounds or dusts related to the automotive industry.”

Not required: any photo experience.

Benefits: may get free parking at one of the publisher’s offices.

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What photographers need you to know

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Many clients may already know these things but here’s some information that photographers need you to know (in no particular order):

• When a photographer doesn’t answer the phone right away or doesn’t respond immediately to your e-mail, it usually means they’re busy on a job. The photographer is not ignoring you. Some photography can run all day or longer. We devote 100% of our attention to the client and job at hand. Please leave a message. Your call really is important to us.

• Depending on your proposed photo project, it might take from 30 minutes to several days to produce a full and proper photo estimate. Photographers cannot give an off-the-cuff or ballpark price because it’s meaningless. We have to figure out every step of the proposed work before completing the estimate. This benefits you. We put everything in writing. This benefits you.
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Defining Professional

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We’re all amateurs. It’s just that some of us are more professional about it than others.

– George Carlin, comedian

 

Professional photographer: Earns a living from photography. Consistently produces quality pictures to suit their customers’ needs. Stands behind their work and takes responsibility for their actions.

Amateur photographer: Has another day job. Produces pictures to please themselves. Has nothing at stake and nothing to lose.

 

Professionals are predictable. Amateurs are not.

An amateur practices until they get it right. A professional practices until they can’t get it wrong.

An amateur might know how to fix mistakes. A professional knows how to avoid them.

An amateur has to be good once-in-a-while. A professional has to be good every time.

An amateur is judged by their best photo. A professional is judged by their worst.

People don’t expect much from an amateur but they expect everything from a professional.

 

If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.

– Nathan Gilkarov, economist and philosopher

 

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