Camera Labs

gave great publicity to a local photographer who does portrait work for kids and infants. It was an interesting article. What REALLY caught my attention was when it was mentioned that this particular photographer charges $1500 per session!!!!!!! It looked like she was using one of Canon's Mark cameras so she was obviously pretty serious about what she does. But it started making me think...

$1500 is more than a month's wages for me right now...so i'm not lookin to make that much of a salary jump right off the bat. She obviously has a reputation that adds value, because having a $8000 camera shouldn't mean you can charge 600% more than someone with an XTi.

How's this for an idea?

In order to simplify life for myself and be a little easier on the customer's wallet I would charge a flat fee of say $150 or $200 and promise to take X amount of photos. Once the shoot is over, I put the photos on a CD and give them the CD for no charge. I spend 1-2 hours shooting simple portraits, I make $200 ($100 per hour) and I don't have to even touch any prints. Plus the customer can make as many prints as they want at the store for MUCH cheaper than I woulda charged.

Anyways... if there are any professionals out there that do portrait work regularly and see a major flaw in my idea then by all means call me out. Otherwise I'm just venting ideas. Wish I had the time and money to get an idea like that going right now.

I've thought of doing the same my self, I think 1500/sitting is totally messed up, and there must be some REALLY RICH people in your area. Good luck getting going and hopefully if you ever do start doing this, you can make some money!

Jake

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Jake O'Connell, 40D Crew
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"Photography isn't so much about the results as it is the collective experience, your interactions with people and with the world"

shoot I live in Idaho so you gotta know we dont have TONS of rich people. But i guess at that price all you need is a couple rich people to come along a month and your pretty set.

Would you post proces the images as well? I think that's a big part of the pro-photographer's work, retouching the images so they look as good as possible. Once you're fully able to do this, I think it's a very good idea to offer these photoshoots. I've thought of it myself too, offering photoshoots to my classmates so I can buy some new gear, but they don't seem willing to spend their money on photos .

Good luck with your plan to earn some cash!
- Bjorn -

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The ones who want Family Portraits?

Parents who want them done with their kids, and with their kids on their own

Who can't afford to pay $1500?

Most Parents


- A gap in the market if I ever saw it =)

Perhaps offer to do some for a discounted price to get you started. The thing is, you have to make an investment first, be it on lenses, backdrops, lighting w/e something is gonna need a little bit of money first.

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