1. How did you start charging people?
For most people, this is the sticky, iffy, uncomfortable part of being a photographer. Myself included. I lacked the confidence to be able to justify charging people for my work, but my “hobby” was getting more and more expensive. And there was no way I could keep going without making ANY money. So I used a magic little thing called TIME.

I started getting really serious about photography in the fall of 2007. And serious meaning, I was taking pictures of EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. Just for practice. I remember driving by Central Market one night and seeing lights on their trees (not dissimilar to Christmas trees), so I screeched into the parking lot and took some pictures. Just for practice. My dog & cat were sick & tired of me shoving my lens in their faces. But I was also sitting down and learning how to shoot in Manual Mode, learning about ISO and aperture and shutter speed. And then one day, someone approached me about Christmas pictures. I called Aaron immediately for advice. What do I do?? What should I charge?? What if I suck??? What if they want their money back and nobody will ask me ever again?!?! Maybe I shouldn’t charge – I’m not good enough!

After calming me down, we decided on an idea. I wouldn’t charge them for their Christmas pictures. In fact, we wouldn’t charge anybody … until January 1, 2008. It was the perfect idea! This way, I wouldn’t feel guilty about charging, and people could get some free pictures if they didn’t mind risking it all on a newbie. But it was also very clear that I wouldn’t be doing them for free forever, so it encouraged people to try me out within a timeframe. And it worked pretty well without making me hyperventilate.

2. How do you decide on your prices?
I started looking around on other local photographers’ websites. I would look at their work and their prices. If I felt like my work and style was similar to theirs, I would charge a little less than what they would due to my lack of experience. Once I had done several successful shoots and I knew all the work that was involved, I stopped comparing and decided for myself how much my time and work was worth to me. I basically sat down and said, Okay, that shoot took 1 hour, it’ll take me 2 hours to edit, so that’s 3 hours of work and time spent away from friends & family. How much is 3 hours of work worth to me?

Another thing to consider is equipment usage. People don’t always know just how much money is spent on equipment. Sure, there’s the camera. And maybe a few lenses. And of course, a computer. Well, what about hard drives for storing all your pictures? Money spent on branding your company? Hours spent maintaining your website? Editing software? All these expenses needed to be taken into consideration when deciding how much to charge.

The great thing about all this is that YOU can determine your prices, and YOU can change them at any time!

3. What advice would you give to someone who is starting out?
Besides practice? PRACTICE. Practice two things: practice shooting in Manual Mode, and practice interacting with a client. I’ll do a separate post on that later, but client interaction is SO SO SO important in being a photographer. Also, study different photographers. What do you like about their work? Try to mimic it. Do you tend to gravitate towards a certain type of photography? Are there any workshops in the area that you feel would be beneficial to you? Sign up for one!

Here’s a sneak peek of our shoot with one Cole Novak. You may remember the dirty warehouse from our shoot with Sarah, wow, almost exactly a year ago.

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