Why cheap photo sessions are destroying YOUR DREAM......

So I guess I'm going to be the one to say it, your sessions at $150 each are killing YOU. I know you….because I’ve been you. You love photography, and the dream is one day your passion becoming your career. The problem is your rates don’t support a career. WORSE….they are putting legitimate photographers out of business. Stay with me and I’ll explain how this will hurt your dream down the road.

On the surface it seems fine! Even expensive! $150 for 30 minutes right? That’s $300 per hour!!! Or is it? Actually, $150 for 15 images / 30 min session isn't sustainable business. Not even close. Here's a breakdown of what a full time business looks like and why this model is so damaging to YOUR future.

CONSERVATIVE monthly business expenses:
Insurance: $50
Accounting: $50
Business license and fees $10
Equipment Maint / Improvement cost: $200
Software: $25 (minimum, More likely to be upwards of $100)
Website: $30 - Mine is $65
Supplies: $20
Phone: $100
Mileage: $100
Bank Fees: $15
Rent: $0 (for sake of illustration we're going to assume it's legal to work out of your home. In most cases it is not)

$600 a month in hard costs. You now need 48 sessions per year or 4 per month to pay your bills. 48 Sessions….and you don’t make a dime. Also take into consideration this doesn't cover car insurance/maintenance, or any of your personal living expenses.

Next let's look at this - how long does a session take? 30 minutes right? Sorry…not quite.

Session: 45 min (come on, you love what you do, when's the last time you finished on time?)
Download & Selections: 15 Min (but who culls in 10 minutes really?)
Edits: 45 min (3 min per image)
Delivery: 20 min (Assuming digital upload this accounts for export to JPG, uploading final files, and informing the client the files are ready for download)
Correspondence: 30 min (Setting appointments, receiving payments)
Travel: 20 min (anywhere up to two hours, we creatives love the perfect field in golden hour)
Equip Prep: 15 min
Packing Equip: 15 min
Unpacking: 15 min
Marketing: 10 min (avg time spent to result in booking)
Misc: 10 Min

Total: 4 Hours

Let's keep in mind this doesn't include paying your taxes, bookkeeping, time spent with clients who don't book, rescheduling, arranging a babysitter to cover your session, and other unexpected time. I realize you can shave some time off this estimate, but overall, this is a realistic look at the time you really invest into your clients!

48 sessions with editing takes at least 192 hours. And you made nothing. That's over a month, an entire month of no income. Working full time.

But you can do better than 48 sessions! You can do at least 150 a year right? (I’m being a little sarcastic…150 requires a solid marketing plan well beyond your circle of influence. This won’t come easily at all).

150 x $150 = $22,500

22,500 - 7200 ($600 x 12) = 15,300

150 sessions take at least 4 hours each with marketing, correspondence, editing, travel etc

Now you are talking!! $25.50 per hour!!!

One small problem. Most want this to be a career. 150 clients isn't realistic for most people who are part time. But in order to make even $30k, you need 300 clients per year. This is a nearly insurmountable task, especially with no staff!

Keep in mind we haven't calculated no-shows. We haven't calculated having to re-edit because someone isn't happy. We haven't calculated refunds. We haven't calculated speeding tickets, parking tickets, dropped gear, or stolen equipment. We haven't calculated rescheduling due to rain or when our children get sick.

And let's be honest, some of the fees I posted above are grossly underestimated. A 70-200 lens costs $2500. That's a year of equipment based on the schedule above. As you grow in your skills your eyes will start to see that cheap equipment produces poor image quality. A normal pro set up costs about $7200 with one lens and one body. (Nikon D5 and a 24-70 2.8 lens, plus a few misc items)

I get it, I really do!! I started out charging $150 per session! But I had an incredibly supportive husband that watched me fail over and over again all while paying our rent and bills on his own. Not only was I devaluing my work as an artist, more importantly I was putting a strain on our home and social life because I wasn’t being savvy in business. My husband deserves better than me using my time and skills to make pennies.

You deserve better too. Charge fees that not only support the industry, but keep you and your goals at the forefront as well. When the industry is undercut, it hurts everyone. HERE IS THE CRAZY PART. The MIDDLE market is disappearing. Studios are closing because the moderately priced professional is getting crushed by cheap amateurs. So when the amateur photographer wants to turn full time, the leap is huge. They have to go from maybe $300 a session to $750-$1000 per session. So they are stuck. And it’s awful. Most just go quit having no idea the damage they caused to the industry. A few amazing ones slip thru and make it big, but then they are forced to charge high fees to keep the business going.

Now…the final issue is a hard one. Some of you are going to say….no one is going to pay more than $150 for my services. And some of you are right, they won’t. The reasons vary. Some of your photos simply aren’t very good. For some of you your ability to create a client experience is lacking. For some you simply have no understanding of how to light, pose, and create client relationships. The reality is if people won’t pay a sustainable amount for you to create images for them, you should probably stop charging people until you get some education and improve on those areas.

I love this industry. I don’t want it to die and I want that moderately priced level of photography to be revitalized. Until the newbies begin to take long term effects into account for our industry…..we are on a really rough road and it’s harder on everyone. If you are one of these photographers and you need help understanding or creating a business model that works, reach out to me. I’m happy to help.