Tuesday, January 18, 2011

When to charge and other related questions

When to charge?

It's a question that photographers and models alike tend to ask quite a bit. Am I ready to charge? How much should I charge? What if no one pays?

To simplify the topic, you're ready to charge when people are willing to pay you.

But when is that? How do you know?

For both models and photographers, a good sign is that you're booking more work than you can do. Photographers, if you have 5 shoots a week and you can only manage 3, then it's time to start charging. The same goes for models.

When you have something no one else does, chances are you can get away with charging. It's no secret that girls who shoot nude get paid more, but that's because there are less of them in the area and they're in demand. Girls who have a specific look, or a large repertoire of poses, or are stylists and makeup artists.....anything that sets them apart from the crowd will help them charge faster than other people. When there are so many people shooting TF*, it's important to set yourself apart from the crowd.

But what do you charge?

Look at the photographers around you. What seems to be average? How do you see your work in comparison to theirs? And then you charge accordingly.

The same goes for models. Can you pose as well? Can your emote? Can you bring something more to the shoot than the other girls.

Once you start charging...

That doesn't mean that you charge everyone. If someone can help your portfolio, then don't send rates. The key to building a strong portfolio is to always work with people who can help your portfolio, whether that means working with someone TF* or paying them. You send rates to the people who can't benefit your portfolio, and work TF* or pay those who can.

An important note about charging and setting rates, be realistic. No matter how long you've been shooting, or how much your spend on maintaining your appearance , none of that plays into your rates. What does play into your rates is your level of experience, and your ability to produce something worth buying. Models, can you pose and emote well, and do you maintain your appearance? Photographers, can your consistently create strong work that will benefit a model?

And let me be blunt here, no one cares how much you've spent on equipment. Just because your photography equipment totals 10,000 doesn't mean models have to pay you. Models, just because you're cute and you've been modeling for a year, photographers don't have to pay you. Honestly, no one has to pay anyone...it's their prerogative. Which brings me to my next point...

Don't take offense. If you've been sent rates, that simply means that the person sending the rates feel that your work won't benefit them at that current time. It's not an insult, it's just business.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Fashion Side of Things


It's funny how life works, it really is.

When I first started shooting, I said I would never shoot fashion. Although I love fashion, and I have a few copies of Vogue stowed away in a bookshelf, fashion didn't seem the right fit for me. If you've seen me, I'm a bit of an awkward girl, mousy, crooked smile, and I certainly don't appear to be the height of fashion. But hey, if Ann Ward can be fashion, so can I...right?

So here I am, shooting the fashion side of things (as I like to call it).

I love Terry Richardson, although I find his actions with models questionable. The ring flash is my new best friend. And as I continue to shoot, I'm realizing more and more how much I love fashion and how malleable I find it.

Fashion isn't just about clothes, it's a mood, it's a lifestyle. The lighting can be simple or complex. The clothing can be intricate, or minimal. But somehow it all ties together to create the fashion genre...it just works.

And it just works for me. It 'appeals' to me as I often tell people, and I plan to continue down the fashion path as long as it continues to 'appeal' to me.

What does that mean for you? Well, more fashion work on my Facebook, and more of a fashion focus in portrait shoots and even weddings. I want to infuse fashion into all facets of my work, subtly, but with flair. I want to create something unique and new for the Quad Cities, and I hope that it'll have a place. If not, well, I suppose I'll have to make one.