Cheap Photographers Only Kill Themselves, Not The Industry. Inspiring words by Zack Arias

Posted: March 22nd, 2011 | Author: Lucia | Filed under: Information, Inspirational, News, Photography | Tags: industry, Information | 2 Comments »

Opening words By LUCIA GRIGGI,  Photo by ZACK ARIAS

I am taking time out today in-between getting ready for my trip to Sri Lanka at the end of the week and organising my business before I go. The last few weeks have left me thinking about how I should deal with certain clients in the surf industry. How, sadly, some photographers have been left feeling, due to ‘that other photographer’ who will do the work for considerably less, or hang on, maybe ‘just’ for free. I ask myself this: “Is it the client that should stop taking the free photos they are given?” Or: “Should the photographers be responsible for honoring their self-worth and expense sheet?” The answer to my question, I guess, is like trying to answer “who came first, the chicken or the egg?” My point being should I keep bashing my head against the wall trying to figure this unanswerable question out? Should I carry on feeling stressed about why companies downgrade for free or why photographers put in all their effort, but get nothing in return? It came to me that this pointless thinking needed to be eliminated and taken out of my current mindset. I needed to concentrate on more joyful thoughts, which would encourage me, and my work, in the surf industry and outside of it (which you all must know has a much higher level of professionalism).

The truth is, I started playing around with a camera in 2004. I spent all of my savings getting my first three prints together, thinking I could sell them and be a professional photographer in a small Cornish country village. So, realising soon after that this was not going to give me a full-time career, I worked shooting surfers in the UK on the British Surf Tour. Getting paid $120 a day. Standing 12 hours on a freezing-cold English beach. I was later ‘picked up’ by a PR company called Excess Energy Communications, where I was used as their staff photographer shooting commercial events with press related campaigns around Britain and Ireland. I earned about $400-$600 a job — which would be either a half day or a full day’s work, maybe once every few weeks. I finished with them in 2006 when I started to travel more, working internationally (meaning I left home to venture into the much harsher world of being a traveling professional photographer). The rest took its toll and I am now to where I stand today. Still working to better myself, improve and gain more knowledge. Work for higher regarded clients and live on a perfect right-hand surf point someplace in this world. Have a little wooden cabin somewhere away from consumerism, but still getting amongst the hustle and bustle of the world when it is needed. This will have to come at a price… The price of being payed.

I’ve sat down today and written down what I’ve done for very cheap in my everlasting pursuit for the ‘top’. Let me tell you, this climb never stops when your ambition and self worth is at a standard higher — a standard higher than those who engage in consistently giving their work out for free. Today I was honest to myself:

Rip Curl Pro Contest 2007, Santander, Spain —Rate: $800 (plus expenses)
Surfline coverage at Billabong Pro 2009, J-Bay, South Africa — Rate:  $1500, split between myself and another photographer.
Front cover image of Elise Garrigue,  for Rip Curl ‘Point of Sale’ catalogue — This image was used without authorization and by accident… I later billed them $1300 for the image use.

The above, well the first two, were jobs I know where under payed for their worth, but like Zack states in his philosophy:

“I’m pretty certain he didn’t buy a camera one day and start invoicing $1000 a day the next. I don’t think he landed his job at The World & I magazine without some sort of portfolio of work that I can only imagine was made up of pretty cheap photo shoots. Maybe I’m wrong. I am the antithesis to every point he is fighting against in that blog post and I’ve built a career off of it and from what I can gather – I didn’t kill the industry doing so.” Zack Arias 2010

I learned from the first two points. The next time I quoted for an event it was that of $3000 and no less — I’m not sure if I ever got the job however. I realised I had taken on too much work for Surfline for what my job itinerary had been defined as, so I changed that the next time. And with the front cover image, although I had never had an image published like this before — especially as a global cover — I risked never being used again for my right to step forward and charge a fee I thought right for my work. So yes, I did my first ever Santander job for $800 — cheap, but at least not ‘free’, and I learned from it. I stepped forward in a moment of self worth when I had everything to loose. I was over worked as I wanted to impress and get a job done to its full potential. Now, I value my work and myself for what I know today and for what I knew not back then. And I may have lost clients because I charge what is due, but I’m making more money then ever before. So, those people who have the budget and appreciate my photography are giving me the income I deserve… so that one day I can have a little paradise on my right-hand point.

So what is the answer I get from all of this? An opinion I can get out to our surf industry? Maybe we are all getting what we need. Those that are coming up, growing into their careers, let’s encourage them, feel less threatened by them, and educate them on costings so the brands don’t undersell them. The photographer that has been in the industry long enough to know better and still feels the need to work for cheap or for free is the one that is needed by the low budget companies.

“This is what happens when you are the low ball cheap photographer. You either don’t get enough work to stay alive and you have to quit the business or you get so busy being the low ball cheap photographer that you can’t keep up with the workload and you have to quit the business. You can only stay cheap for so long before you have to make a change to your pricing to either stay alive because you aren’t getting enough work, or to get fewer clients so you can keep up with the workload and actually have a day off from time to time.” Zack Arias 2010

Those that become great at what they do will be valued by well-paying customers and will be the ones supported well into the future.

Now, read the below for the true story that inspired me to write today…

Lucia

A blog

Words and Photo by Zack Arias

http://www.zarias.com/cheap-photographers-only-kill-themselves-not-the-industry/

First, thanks for all of your input on the first blog post of this series. As usual, your comments are far more interesting, entertaining, and thought provoking than anything I write here. If you haven’t read through those yet, you should. What’s interesting to note in the comments there is how the tone of comments changes through the 100+ of them. They start off friendly enough and then somewhere in the middle a few feathers begin to get ruffled. That’s fine. That’s welcomed. It’s a very interesting time in our industry right now and it’s good to have passionate discussion about it. The smart photographers will sit with open minds and get a bit introspective and take a look at their own business practices. The stupid photographers will sit from on high and just point fingers OR sit at the bottom and think, “I’m banking an extra $1,000 a month that I don’t claim with my $800 camera!”

Anyway. Check out that photo above. It’s some stop light advertising for a wedding photographer advertising weddings starting at $350. Man… that’s cheap. Is this person part of the problem in our industry? Absolutely not. I admire the hustle. I admire the fact that they are trying. Now –  if you are the type of pro photographer that looks at that and says, “This is everything that is wrong with this damn industry! You can’t be a pro charging $350 for a wedding! What an A-hole!” Yeah, if you’re that photographer let me challenge you.

Think of the brides out there who don’t have a budget but want some photos of their weddings. Maybe there are young couples getting married who don’t have the parents to pay for a big event or they don’t want to start their young family in debt but they would like someone to come take some pictures. Are you saying that if they can’t afford a $3,000+ photographer then they don’t deserve photos? Are you saying that if they can’t afford a Mercedes then they shouldn’t be allowed to drive? Shame on you. Not everyone can afford pro level prices. That doesn’t mean they can’t have some level of photographic services available to them.

Let me tell you a little something about my journey being the cheap photographer after the jump…

I started out shooting bands seven years ago for free. Then I charged $50. Then I charged $75. Then I charged $150. Within a year I was up to $250 and I leveled off there for awhile and I was busy shooting bands. My goal was to shoot 10 bands a month at $250 each and fill in the rest of my financial needs with second shooting for Marc and and any other jobs I could gather. After a year of marketing to bands I was shooting 20 bands a month at $250. I doubled my goal and darn near became the Olan Mills of music photography. You know what happend? I almost lost my business.

This is what happens when you are the low ball cheap photographer. You either don’t get enough work to stay alive and you have to quit the business or you get so busy being the low ball cheap photographer that you can’t keep up with the workload and you have to quit the business and that’s what happened to me. You can only stay cheap for so long before you have to make a change to your pricing to either stay alive because you aren’t getting enough work, or to get fewer clients so you can keep up with the workload and actually have a day off from time to time.

Some of you may be reading this and think, “20 bands at $250 each = $5,000 a month = $60,000 a year.” and you’re thinking you would LOVE to have that “problem”. If you are young, single, no kids, no pets, living in a crap apartment and drive a crap car and have no plans of paying taxes then yes… $60k a year shooting seems really nice but let me tell you what it’s like in the “real” world.

First of all, thanks to our tax codes you can go ahead and take about 30% of that and give it to the government. If it’s not in income tax it will go to taxes somehow so just budget for that. I want to buy a house one day and to do that as a self employed person I have to show that I actually make money doing this. If I don’t claim my income on my taxes then I have no paperwork to show that I have income when it comes to buying a home so I claim every penny I make. It’s very tempting to hide income and it’s quite easy to do as well but one day it will catch up with you and you’re going to be hosed. Render unto Caesar and all that. You just have to.

So our $60k just dropped to $48k a year. How much does it take you to live? Let’s put you in a $900 apartment + utilities, add some car insurance, a set of tires, a new transmission for your crap car, a 24-70 2.8 lens, food, and some beer money. Life can easily cost around $2,000 a month in many places. Especially places that actually have 20 bands a month to grace the doors of your business. That’s $24,000 so you have $24,000 left in income for the year.

Wow! That’s a ton of money! Awesome!

Now throw kids into the mix and your life easily got $1,000 a month more expensive. Now we have about $12,000 a year in profit. Not bad. $1,000 extra bucks a month. Oh wait. You’re shooting 20 bands a month. That’s a lot of driving. I totally forgot to add gas in this mix. Oh yeah, and you need some insurance on that new lens. You think you’re going to get 20 bands a month coming in the door without some sort of advertising, networking, marketing, and web presence? Nope. Tap, tap, tap on the calculator and I can tell you for certain that when I was bringing in $5,000 a month on bands I had about $250 left over every month. It could take four months to replace a $1,000 camera. Please note that you haven’t bought so much as a new pair of socks with this budget. You’re eating cardboard three times a day as well. Want to take a vacation? No can do. Want health insurance? Hahahahahahahaha! That’s a funny one! You want health insurance. Silly photographer! You’re ONLY bringing in $60,000 a year. You can’t afford health insurance. Better budget for some vitamins.

Look at the workload as well. 20 bands in a month. It was rare that I shot more than one band in a day so that’s 20 days of shooting. You have 10 days left to do the post production, answer emails, network, spend time with friends and family, sleep, etc. You’re in a dying marriage. You’re trying to keep your business alive. You’re trying to be everything to everyone. Husband. Dad. Artist. It’s a hard life that can lead to a divorce lawyer. Not that I know anything about that at all. Replace divorce lawyer with car wreck or cancer or broken arm. You’re barely staying alive bringing in $60,000 a year and I was living in a cheap place and driving beater cars. I did have a small studio space and that was part of my marketing. I was competing with other young music photographers and I had to separate myself from the small pack of us in Atlanta and part of that was stepping up from the coffee shop office to a studio space.

I was so covered up in work that I couldn’t keep up with it. I either had to start raising prices or I was going to die. I once figured out that I was making about $5 an hour. Note that I quit a $10 an hour job for this. Hmmmm. Nice job Zack. Be your own boss and make less than a slacker in a copy shop.

Did you visit the site of the photographer in the photo above? Notice that they are out of business. No idea what they are doing now with their life. Maybe they raised their prices, ditched the brand, became a better photographer, and now go by the name of Joey Lawrence.

When I started raising my prices I didn’t get as many clients as I used to but my income stayed about the same. It helped me take a few days off. It helped me take a breather and work on my business. I started diversifying my income and started attracting new clients. I could start focusing on my craft again. I got my very own set of Pocket Wizards after two and half years of shooting full time. I started to see the value of what I do. The clients I attracted saw the value as well. And that attracted new business.

My pricing for bands is a tad higher than $250 these days. I’ve seen real growth in my business and at some point I’ll have to blog about the fact that I am not where I am today without the help of others to get me here. I didn’t do it on my own and I still don’t do it on my own. People like Michael Weeman, Erik Dixon, Kara Pecknold, Sherri Innis, and Dan Depew have helped me as I’ve branched into new opportunities and those new opportunities continue bringing in opportunities. I still hustle. I still have to continue pushing. There are photographers that are far more expensive than I am and there is an army of shooters under cutting me to the bone… but I stay afloat. I’m still alive. I still don’t have health insurance. Still haven’t purchased my home. Still shooting Alien Bees instead of Profotos. I don’t fret over the cheap photographer. I actually tip my hat to you and say “Good luck and good shooting.” It’s a hard life but at the end of the day… for those of you who can’t seem to do anything else with your lives… photography is the greatest job in the world no matter if you’re getting $50 or $50,000 for a shoot.

This isn’t the post about pricing you may think it’s becoming. That’s for a different time. I’ve laid this all out to make the point that cheap photography has it’s place. It has it’s place for clients who can’t afford much and it has it’s place for photographers trying to build something from nothing. It’s part of becoming a full time working photographer in an age when so many want to become a photographer. I have a lot of respect for John Harrington. By a lot I mean boat loads. I understand what he’s saying in this post about shooting for free but I have to wonder… how in the hell did he get started as a photographer? I’m pretty certain he didn’t buy a camera one day and start invoicing $1,000 a day the next. I don’t think he landed his job at The World & I magazine without some sort of portfolio of work that I can only imagine was made up of pretty cheap photo shoots. Maybe I’m wrong. I am the antithesis to every point he is fighting against in that blog post and I’ve built a career off of it and from what I can gather – I didn’t kill the industry doing so.

Hyundai didn’t kill Mercedes. McDonalds didn’t kill Ruth’s Chris. Wal-mart didn’t kill the mom-n-pop shop… oh wait.

Up next… Microstock. Now there’s something to look at.

Sometime after that I want to have a discussion about shooting for free as if that discussion has been beaten to death already… because guess what… Shhhhhhh. Don’t tell anyone… (I still shoot jobs for free every now and then.) Shhhhhhhh.

Cheers,
Zack

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