I read at least one article a week complaining about photographers who ‘throw away’ their services for free, and how they’re ruining the market. In the past much of a photographer’s revenues were from marking up film and development costs. Even if you didn’t feel your time was worth charging, it stil seemed acceptable to add a few bucks in this way.
But the digital revolution has done two things. The first, it’s put a camera in just about everyone’s hands–making it a commodity. What’s the difference between a pro and an amateur but the size of the camera, right?
The second is, digital, after the initial purchase, it pretty much free. At least in terms of taking and delivering pictures (truly it’s not, but for the sake of argument, we’ll say it is).
Because of both of these industry altering factors, everyone has had to reevaluate their pricing. Where this really started to become a factor was when new photographers, not trained on “film pricing” enter the market and begin creating their pricing not based on these same age-old standards but by ‘digital’ standards. Their fresh perspective seems to fly in the face of the well-worn tradition.
The same argument I keep seeing goes like this: don’t give anything away to anybody; figure out all of your expenses, including depreciation and your salary; add your profit margin; and charge that.
Sounds good. But people aren’t doing that.
Just like they’re not using fax machines. I’m sure the fax machine companies are a little ticked about this and come up with plenty arguments (at least I’m sure there’s one out there somewhere) about why fax should still be used, but the plain fact is. It’s not.
Enter, supply and demand.
Continued in part 2, coming soon.
Can’t wait for part 2. I guess all these musings mean we need to get out there and make some photos.
You figured it out, huh, haha