You’ve got your tea, right? Coffee works too, if you prefer. I’ve got mine, because “pricing” is a topic that’s better suited to a friendly chat over the table – me bringing me to you, letting you in on my dreams, letting you know that I care about yours. Because even after Monday’s rather messy, personal post, I don’t want to have an adversarial relationship with the world.
I was a budget bride who appreciated good photography, but I made the choice not to pay for it. I sent my photographer a proposal asking for three hours of portrait photography for $650. I hoped he’d see me, and take photos that would remind me I was beautiful on a wedding day that tore my heart out, but he only snapped a shutter and got his settings right. I wanted more, but I chose not to pay for it.
For years after my own wedding, I tried to accommodate my brides with all-day, artistic photography coverage at the same price I paid (or less) so they wouldn’t have my regrets. It was exhausting. And painful. I shot in awful lighting, afraid to ask for photos or to speak to schedules. I shot in shame, trying to hide the fact that I was even there, still getting all the traditional hate-the-photographer comments from everyone and very little feedback or encouragement from my clients. My heart was dying.
During this time, I chose not to make my prices public, thinking that withholding them would bring queries in and give me a better shot at getting better bookings. Even then, I practically apologized for my prices even though I was steeply underselling the market.
It didn’t work. People who didn’t want to pay even discounted prices disappeared. Others who saw my low-to-mid rates had hoped that my inexperience meant I was cheap. $800 for 12 hours including travel cheap. Others quibbled over small dollar amounts on packages that included travel on holiday weekends. Clients who received free portfolio sessions took their photos and ran – no referrals, no feedback.
Because I didn’t go to school for photography, because I’ve learned business on my own, because I was a bride once who wanted pictures, I accepted this as my photographic “college” experience. I put in my time, and I didn’t ask much in return.
But as I’ve been focusing my brand and thinking seriously about pricing and packages, I’ve realized that as an artist and a person, I am not merely a photography service available for hire. My camera is the tool I use to make my art, but I don’t mass-produce photos weekend after weekend, shoot after shoot.
Every image I deliver is a piece of my heart. Every email I send, every comment I leave, every session I shoot – I am IN it, one hundred percent. I need clients to invest in me as much as I invest in them, and while I know many won’t, if they are paying for my work, they will care about what I’m doing and give me the time I need to make my art for them.
I’ve finally defined what a “successful” business looks like for me, and there are numbers involved. Because I need to pay for my equipment. Because my art is worth something to me. Because the time I spend on photography is time I don’t get to spend with my family. I spend much more time with my photos than most photographers – even film photographers – spend. My style is best-suited to individuals, couples, and smaller weddings (50-80 people). I’ve become a boutique photographer, investing myself deeply in only a few clients, instead of catering to the industry masses.
2012 is the last year in which I will book weddings at a medium price point. I’ve spent years building the quality of my work and adjusting my packages to sustain the pricing increase I will release with my website soon. In posting my prices, I hope to clear the “please send me your price list” queries and to get to work with people who really want to work with me. I’m not wheeling and dealing to get more business. I could quit today and still take pictures for the fun of it, no money involved.
I know a few of my readers may disagree with me here, and some potential clients may not be able to afford me, but here’s the thing – pricing aside, I’m still OPEN TO RELATIONSHIP. If you love me and trust my work, and if I have space in my schedule and room to adjust my prices, I will do practically anything for the person who dares to ask. I just need to know we’ll be get to be people together, and that we can LIKE each other, even if I have a camera.
Some photographers raise their prices just to get into a certain market. They are the biggest reason I haven’t raised mine for so long, because my heart was still budget-briding it through life, and I’ve been terrified of charging more than I would pay. But things have changed for me. I need the protection of the price point, the knowledge that my clients are willing to place value on the work that I do.
And when Pete and I have our re-wedding, I’ll be willing to pay what I am charging (or more, if necessary) for a photographer who will make art with my day, because I know what that is worth. Because after almost seven years with cop-out wedding photos I could afford, after postpartum depression stole Piper’s first year from me and all I had was pictures, after shooting and shooting and shooting, I know that beautiful pictures are the. most. valuable. thing. I have for remembering my beautiful life.
Anybody with a camera can snap a shutter and standardize photos, but not every photographer knows how to create something beautiful. If you want to see the art in your real life, photographers who make art are worth every penny you pay.
FILED UNDER: Branding, Business, FAQ, Photography, Pricing
yes, yes, yes, yes.
Oh my yes.
Behind you 100%.
You know, it’s just not a photography issue. I think it’s a creative-industry problem, period. I’ve watched it happen over and over. Our culture engenders this isolationism that makes our cities practical deserts, and enables a trendy narcissism that cripples relationships. Sometimes I wonder if these situations happen because the other side doesn’t even know how to engage in relationship? Or see beyond the service to the person behind. I’m to the point that I dread going to restaurants because of how people treat the servers- even at upscale establishments- and for that matter, it’s a culture-wide problem.
You can’t ever put a ‘real’ price on relationship- it’s so intangible- but making your prices reflect the work and investment you put in it are absolutely necessary. I totally agree.
Oh yes! I so agree. This is the call of my heart as well. What you are writing here, giving your best and all of your heart. Connection and art. Yes!
Amen, Kelly!
I’m not a photographer, but over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about this same thing – this idea of value and relationships and work and price. You’ve said it well here, and I’m grateful you said it. I needed to hear it.
So true and well spoken, Kel. Proud of you for making the leap and valuing yourself and the value that you are providing. Cheering you on!
This is exactly what I needed to hear today. :)
ok, so, this made me cry. so beautifully put.
You.
Go.
Girl.
‘Tis the human touch in this world that counts,
The touch of your hand and mine,
Which means far more to the fainting heart
Than shelter and bread and wine;
For shelter is gone when the night is o’er,
And bread lasts only a day,
But the touch of the hand and the sound of the voice
Sing on in the soul away.
~ Spencer Michael Free (“The Human Touch” in Best Loved Poems; PermaBooks; 1946 & 1952)
See … this helps me soo much! If I’m going to live on the work my heart pours through, I’ll have to process life this way. It’s not like there is a bloom on this thought yet … but the green shoot is poking through the earth, and I can see that prices may become part of how I function. … I still want to blame someone else for setting them, though, because then people won’t battle with ME about it, and I can send them to argue with the other person. :P
This most was crazy inspiring. And I totally agree with you. It is super scary to put yourself out there and ask people to put a price on your hard work.. I’m doing it and still building my clientele. Thanks for the post!!!
Very well written post on an important topic, Kelly.
And you know what? You do not have to explain and justify your prices to anyone. Set them and hold to them. That is your right as an artist.
Absolutely, beautifully said, Kelly! You are an artist and the world is a better place for the art you make with your camera — your heart and soul spilling over into all you do. :)
Very well put, Kelly! You said it better than I could have! :)
Love that last paragraph!
I’ve come to the place that I’m comfortable with losing business if I’m too high for someone. I’m also comfortable with not allowing people to tell me what they want to spend. I put a lot of research and time into figuring out my prices and I’m in the medium range for portraits. It’s a lot of work and time away from family. I spend a lot of time thinking and preparing before a session. I’d rather take less clients who are wonderful to work with than nitpick over the money for just more “volume” so to speak. Sometimes even my friends and family package is “too much” for people! But the thing people need to remember is you’re not just paying for someone to click buttons, but for an “eye” and a vision. You will get radically different sessions depending on who you go to so pick someone who’s work you’ll love and cherish and you won’t be sorry!
Kelly, as I expressed to you after the past week with my Kelly, then with Kelly & Matt’s wedding, YOU are a gift from God for our daughter and for our family. The grace with which you create your “art” in photography is nothing short of genius. While I am grateful to have experienced your keen perception in capturing not only my daughter’s physical beauty, but also her personality and her spirit, I am even more grateful to have met you and been gifted with your Friendship. I will treasure the photographs AND the relationship. You deserve and have earned the right to determine your worth in a competitive marketplace there in Charleston and, of course, beyond. As my Mom always said, “the proof’s in the pudding!” All they have to do is take a look at your amazing portfolio of “art” to know. Thank you SO much for helping to make Kelly & Matt special celebration so complete–you ARE the best! I can’t wait to see all you “captured” from the wedding and reception.
Kelly-BRAVO!!! I loved ” Monday’s rather messy,personal post” & now THIS! You Go Girl! Something God has been trying:) to teach me for 16 years as a Nurse is—-I’M GOOD ENOUGH. I HAVE BEEN GIVEN A GIFT TO SHARE. DO NOT COMPARE MYSELF TO OTHERS . AND MOST OF ALL DO NOT SELL MYSELF SHORT. I WAS BOUGHT WITH A PRECIOUS PRICE. So on the good days I see that ” Nursing Is My Art” and the days I feel like I should’ve , could’ve….. I read your blog and others and feast my eyes on the beauty of words and pictures that touch my soul . So Thank You for using your gifts and sharing who you are and helping me see The Beauty Of Who God Is. Blessings— Kay RN
[...] I’m not getting referrals, when my few-and-far-between queries turn tail and run upon seeing my pricing, when the people in my current sphere are more budget-conscious than value-conscious, what do I do [...]
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