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Doing photoshoots for money? i need input!

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jeano
Posts: 333 - Karma: 104


i'm thinking about doing photoshoots for people at my home mountain...

i was thinking of charging $50/shoot for park, and $100/shoot for big mountain/pow, which includes 10-15 great, fully-pp'd images on a cd.

1.) is this legal to do, or will i have problems with epicmix/resort?

2.) is $50/75 a fair price on a days worth of shooting?

3.) do you think people would be really interested? or are they more into footage, not photos?

thank you and i appreciate your input!

cheers,
G




Oct 9 2012 12:10AM
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jeano
Posts: 333 - Karma: 104
edit: for #2, i meant $50/100, not $50/75
Oct 9 2012 12:11AM
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ONTerriible
Posts: 1210 - Karma: 126
How long is a day? That should be your big question. If your shooting for 6 hours and only charging $50 you would only be making about 8.34 an hour. Is your time worth that, are your skills worth that. just some food for thought.
Oct 9 2012 12:17AM
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jeano
Posts: 333 - Karma: 104
yeah i'll definitely take time into consideration. it'd most likely be early shoots from 8-12, so about 4 hours of shooting (depending on conditions, of course.)

i truly love taking photos and post processing, and would honestly do it for free because i love meeting new people and collaboration to create unique shots and what not. but money buys beer, and i enjoy a good beer.



Oct 9 2012 12:21AM
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EastShoreDrive
Posts: 188 - Karma: 862
Here is the question, are you doing this just to do it or are you doing it to make money? Price can make or break what you are trying to do because it gives customers a perceived value of your product. Don't charge enough and perceived value will be low (customers will think you are producing/selling a junk product, even if it is not the case). Charge too much and customer will think they are not getting enough value for the cost. You need to balance the two. I would charge more than what you are suggesting, a higher price will lead customers to believe there is more value in what you are doing. You also need to figure out your costs (time is a cost) and find out if there is an actual market for this. Are people willing to pay for the services I'm selling? Do some research, come up with a plan, and if there is a market I would charge more than you are planning on now. Make people think there is value behind what you are doing.
Oct 9 2012 11:04AM
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Mag
Posts: 8155 - Karma: 14,809
Another way to do it is to set up a website/use an already made one where you can sell your photos, then go to a park at some mountain, and take photos of people hitting jumps/rails etc, have a banner made up and stick it behind you with your website address and say you're selling them, this might not be the best place to do it, but you'll enjoy watching people hitting stuff.
Oct 9 2012 12:55PM
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jeano
Posts: 333 - Karma: 104
Yeah, I definitely do not want to come off as a fauxtographer haha, WHICH I AM NOT! I make my living right now off of photography and have a portfolio to back that up. I could put up a website no problem that showcases recent clients work and all... Maybe use zenfolio or smugmug? I'll make a portfolio website as well, which showcases my best work and make some business cards and what not...

I really just want to have a ton of clients, rather than just a few who are willing to pay good money, you know? Possibly do multiple skiiers at once?

I know I'd be down to throw $50 on a good quality photoshoot... Would you guys do the same?
Oct 9 2012 1:08PM
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pikupfulofsnow
Posts: 2077 - Karma: 9,696
i think this thread is a possible troll.
you are making less money then you would at mcdonalds. you say you are a professional? really. and the time on the hill will be easily matched with post production/editing, emails back and forth, invoicing, re-invoicing, getting the payment. so your 50$ a day will come out to around $2.50/hr. don't do it, unless you have another source of income.
Oct 9 2012 1:27PM
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zbphoto
Posts: 7789 - Karma: 12,037
I charge $125 for a one hour photo shoot, like just some portraits. I find 1 hour of shooting requires around 2 hours of post as well. For a full day on the hill $50-70 is stupid, you might as well work for free.

Is this not your 'portfolio'?, you kept mentioning how you need to get a website. There is some great work on there

http://www.ginotroian.com/

I'm seriously thinking this is a bad attempt at a troll, right of your website, your rates are:

Portrait/Headshots: $65/hour
Live Music/Events: $200/gig
Oct 9 2012 2:07PM
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jeano
Posts: 333 - Karma: 104
Haha no I'm not trolling at all... I just want to reasonably price my work...

And yes, that's my main portfolio, but I would obviously create a second one just to showcase specific ski work. I work at a studio in SF part time and make a few G's a month and absolutely love it there, and will continue to work during the season, so money isn't really the issue. I'd just like to be able to have cash on hand to buy steak and beer and what not you know?

My websites rates page is honestly bullshit, I just put it there cause every website needs one haha. I usually don't charge ever for portraits since it's a mutual benefit, and I do charge $200 a show, which I believe is fair.

So... Do you think kids and older people would pay $150 a shoot? I feel like that is way too high. Like I said, I don't mind the time in post or shooting; if I enjoy doing something, money isn't my main concern.
Oct 9 2012 5:41PM
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jeano
Posts: 333 - Karma: 104
bump
Oct 10 2012 9:47PM
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pjbackwoods
Posts: 1396 - Karma: 420
I would shoot a couple clients for free to start therefore you have some backbone while building this buisness. My mom takes care of kids for a living and because she does such a great job, many people know of her. The best advertisement is through mouth.
Oct 10 2012 9:56PM
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pjbackwoods
Posts: 1396 - Karma: 420
I hope you know what im getting at.
Oct 10 2012 9:57PM
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juicedrummer11
Posts: 1960 - Karma: 1,331
see you are in a predicament. if that is your website, i think you have some good stuff first off. second, there are no action sports shots which is like a whole new ball game. not saying you can't do it, just looks like you haven't or don't do it often.

on another note, are you planning to shoot the good riders? or just the groms with their parents money who want to blow up their facebook winter 12-13 album? or just anyone in the park good or bad? usually, at least all of the good riders i know, already have a group of people and connections if they want some pics or videos usually for free.

my suggestions would be to hit up the park and lap it early when all the real riders are out, talk to them and ask if you can take some pics with them, publish some free stuff, get their info get some contacts. that might allow you to get some shoots set up. if it was me, and someone came up and asked if i was down to do a photo shoot for 150, i would say no unless it was someone big whose work i have seen and know they can do an awesome job. i feel like you need some work to back your requests so people can say "damn, id pay to have him take pics for me"
Oct 10 2012 10:06PM
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juicedrummer11
Posts: 1960 - Karma: 1,331
word of mouth is the best advertising. its already landed me several wedding jobs for next summer
Oct 10 2012 10:07PM
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jeano
Posts: 333 - Karma: 104
no yea definitely, I want to put together a small portfolio before charging anyone. i'm literally going to be on the mountain six to seven days a week since I won't have to worry about school or anything.
Oct 10 2012 10:07PM
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juicedrummer11
Posts: 1960 - Karma: 1,331
you said ur from san fran? where will you be riding? tahoe area?
Oct 10 2012 10:09PM
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jeano
Posts: 333 - Karma: 104
[quote]see you are in a predicament. if that is your website, i think you have some good stuff first off. second, there are no action sports shots which is like a whole new ball game. not saying you can't do it, just looks like you haven't or don't do it often.

on another note, are you planning to shoot the good riders? or just the groms with their parents money who want to blow up their facebook winter 12-13 album? or just anyone in the park good or bad? usually, at least all of the good riders i know, already have a group of people and connections if they want some pics or videos usually for free.

my suggestions would be to hit up the park and lap it early when all the real riders are out, talk to them and ask if you can take some pics with them, publish some free stuff, get their info get some contacts. that might allow you to get some shoots set up. if it was me, and someone came up and asked if i was down to do a photo shoot for 150, i would say no unless it was someone big whose work i have seen and know they can do an awesome job. i feel like you need some work to back your requests so people can say "damn, id pay to have him take pics for me"[/quote]

i used to shoot a LOT of actions sports and have some photos that are published which is pretty cool i think. i really just set up my website as an online portfolio for music, not for actions sports. here's some stuff you could check out:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5203/5224810285_8e910b61c8_b.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5102/5772754719_8fe7dda75f_b.jpg

i plan on shooting everyone! i don't mind shooting 10 year old, or pros (which is pretty unlikely haha.) and yeah i understand all the good guys already have photographers... so i might just cater mostly to the younger crowd with wealthy parents $)

definitely doing that... once i get a good customer base i'll start charging. is $150 considered a fair price?
Oct 10 2012 10:16PM
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jeano
Posts: 333 - Karma: 104
yeah man, i'm actually from mountain view (near san jose,) but i work at a studio in sf, so i'm like always up there. i have a cabin right at the base of heavenly man! i'll be there till mid janurary!
Oct 10 2012 10:19PM
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corona
Posts: 12751 - Karma: 32,259
I really don't think there would be any legal trouble
Oct 10 2012 10:19PM
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juicedrummer11
Posts: 1960 - Karma: 1,331
lucky s.o.b.. well ill be cruisin heavenly on the weekends so if you need some portfolio helpers, ill throw a 5 or 7 off some big jumps for ya lol.

oh and that bike pic on the wall is pretty sick.
Oct 10 2012 10:26PM
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jeano
Posts: 333 - Karma: 104
forsure man pm me your number and i'll hit you up this season
Oct 10 2012 10:35PM
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ESB
Posts: 9273 - Karma: 10,647
As mentioned already, you should charge more. The kids who are gonna spring for this are going to be spending their parents' money, and as mentioned above, your price suggests the value of your work. In this day and age 50 bucks is a joke, especially when you consider it's for hauling your camera gear all over a cold-ass mountain all day.

On the legal side, depending on which resorts you want to shoot at, you could have some trouble. Many of the corporate-run mountains, if they know you're on-hill shooting commercially, will require you to have liability insurance of $1 mil or more. You can probably get by operating discretely, but if you want to do something like setting up a banner on-hill advertising your services, you're going to have to clear that with mountain management.

All in all I don't think it's the worst idea, if approached correctly. There are lots of kids out there who want to have good shots of themselves, but you're going to have to market yourself well because the question they'll be asking is "why should I pay a hundred bucks for this dude when my friend/girlfriend/dad can take pictures of me too?"

Here's a suggestion, offer a price to shoot groups, so that a whole crew can hire you. If you get 5 dudes each chipping in $50 a day for you to shoot all of them, you're getting closer to your money's worth for the work.
Oct 11 2012 8:15AM
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juicedrummer11
Posts: 1960 - Karma: 1,331
pretty good idea actually. cuz then you aren't waiting most the day for one rider. you have several going one after the other.
Oct 11 2012 12:50PM
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