The business side of photography
It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye. After clinching a playoff spot yesterday, the New York Yankees celebrated in their dressing room with beer and champagne. Take a look:
Notice that all the Yankees are wearing eye protection. If you look in the background, you can see plastic sheets covering the players’ lockers. Everyone and everything is protected.
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Yes, you guessed it. Today, Friday September 24 is National Punctuation Day in the USA. Someday, maybe Canada will realize the importance of punctuation and adopt this as a new national holiday.
Here are some official tips on how to celebrate.
Just for comparison sake, here’s the approximate cost per pound, (Canadian dollars, taxes not included), of a few items:
Nikon D3X camera: $2,828
Apple iPhone (base model): $2,200
Nikon D3S camera: $1,818
Nikon 24mm f1.4 lens: $1,527
Nikon 300mm F2.8 lens: $869
Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 lens: $847
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens: $622
MacBook Pro 15″ laptop (base model): $330
Mac Pro desktop computer (base model): $75
Think Tank Airport Security roller case: $38
Porsche Boxster (base model): $18
House in Toronto: $1.06 (1600 sq ft., freestanding, single-storey brick house including foundation. Assuming $340,000 and 320,000 lbs )
House in Toronto: $0.71 (2200 sq ft., freestanding, two-storey brick house including foundation. Assuming $425,000 and 600,000 lbs.)
Don’t even mention the cost of medium format cameras and digital backs:
Phase One 645DF camera + P45 back + 80mm lens: $5,206 per pound
F-35 Lightning II fighter jet: $4,780 per pound
Now do you have to ask why photographers charge so much?
There’s an old story that’s been attributed to author Margaret Atwood although there’s no proof or source to this story:
While at a dinner party, Margaret Atwood is asked by the man seated next to her, “What do you do?”
Atwood replies, “I’m a writer.”
“Really?” says the man. “When I retire, I’m going to become a writer.”
Atwood then asks, “What do you do?”
“I’m a neurosurgeon.”
She replies, “How interesting. I always thought that when I retire, I’d take up brain surgery.”
You could easily replace “writer” with “photographer”. It’s funny how many people confuse “photographer” with “camera owner.”
The press release was sent out last week, the big day has finally arrived and now photographers are showing up to cover your news event. Here are eight tips to help guarantee failure:
1) Hold the event in the darkest location possible. Why waste money on lighting? Photographers can always use a flash or they can do something with Photoshop.
Another money-saving tip: use the smallest room possible.
2) When photographers arrive at your event, make them wait awhile. Sure, the press release said that it would happen at 1:00 pm but we all know these things never start on time. Besides, photographers have nothing else to do except cover your event.
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Here’s a funny video showing what can happen if you hire the wrong photographer for the job:
While this video may seem far-fetched, situations like this do happen, especially when a client shops price only and hires the cheapest photographer.
Some photographers may be a jack-of-all-trades and they can do half-decent pictures of almost anything. But a true professional knows their limits and won’t waste a client’s time and money by trying to shoot a project that’s not within their field of photographic expertise.
A professional photographer knows that doing it right the first time is good not only for the client’s business but also for their own.
