After posting our September Real World Estimate, I received an email from Chip Mitchell, a board member of the Central Virginia ASMP. Chip had been following our monthly posts for some time, and he asked me if I could give a presentation on negotiating and pricing at one of their chapter meetings in Richmond. As luck would have it, I would be passing through Richmond on my way to produce a shoot in Western VA around when they wanted me to present. So the timing worked out perfectly.
Nearby construction made it so hard for me to get to Crittenden Studio that I was concerned that nobody would be able to get to my talk. But It turned out that the folks in attendance were much more adept at navigating the streets of South Richmond than I was, and they managed to park and find their way to the studio just fine (including one gentleman who drove all the way from Tampa).
The evening started out with a pizza and beer social hour, where I was able to chat with a few of the board members before the nerves took over and relegated me to my computer to review my talk. After some last-minute tweaks, the seats filled with about 25 photographers, and I launched into a presentation that touched on copyright, licensing, and production basics. I then went over a variety of actual estimates and wrapped up with a slightly overhyped live estimating exercise.
While I can’t say I’m an expert on copyright, I’m pretty comfortable with the main issues that photographers and clients need to understand. The most basic of them is that U.S. copyright law says that the creator of a work owns the copyright until he enters into a contract (licensing agreement) conveying rights to someone else. This is the foundation of any photography contract.
I talked about the main factors that influence photography value:
Production was a topic I could tell was less interesting to the audience, so I just briefly reviewed a few tips; the most important was to consider everything the shoot could possibly need and present the most thorough estimate you can muster. A client is going to be more comfortable shrinking the parameters of the project a bit rather than wonder why you hadn’t thought of everything.
Next, I reviewed a number of estimates, covering assignments ranging from flat rate editorial portraits to corporate architecture to international advertising. My goal here was to promote pricing structures that align the interests of clients and photographers, which almost always means somehow factoring in the number and prominence of the images.
I wrapped up my presentation with a less than exciting round of live estimating. The week before the presentation, the board members sent me project descriptions that they would like to see my estimate live the night of the presentation. As it turns out, the actual process of putting together an estimate is very boring and should be kept out of the presentation hall.
After a quick Q&A session, I capped off the event with a couple of beers with the board at a local pub. Big thanks to Chip Mitchell for inviting me down!
Jess lays down his pricing strategy. (Photo by Andrea Monzo.)
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