My first pro assignment.... don't laugh!!!

[tiziano]

Ok.... Just to clarify.... I'm not a pro... Maybe sooner or later I'll become a good amateur...:)
I am not a small kid, and I have my own life and ordinary job...
BUT I GOT MY FIRST ASSIGNMENT AS PHOTOGRAPHER!!!
Now the story: yesterday I riceived a call from a woman, who introduces herself as "art director" of an advertisement agency. She has been given my number by a friend of mine, who works for the same agency. The friend of mine told her that I am a good photographer... and they have an urgent assignment for me. They need some shots of some kind of physiotherapic machine. I ask: what kind of pictures do you need? Reply: "good pictures, because our guy with a P&S camera did a very bad job...."
I ask: by when do you need the shots?: Reply: "By tomorrow...."
This morning, I rush to this physiotherapic center ( I was given the wrong address) carrying with me tripod, lights, umbrellas, backgrounds... You can image all the possible stuff plus some more..... When I get there, the woman working there, shocked to have to deal with another photographer, carrying a lot of stuff, tells me that I have 5 minutes, because they have people to take care of and so on....
Pictures where taken with my camera, with my EX550 flash on it... no chance to do any setup....As a personal kindness, I was allowed to place some paper as background....
No need to say it.... pictures were orrible....
I send them to the agency...and... guess what...they say: "JUST PERFECT".....
Here is one of the shots of the stupid machine:

One final thing: When I was asked how much I wanted for the job, I said : "I don't know, how much do you pay normally"? Didn't get an answer...
Not bad, as a start... :D ... and... you know what... I enjoyed it!!!:D

[am_pitbull_terrier]

:lol: great story..... Glad things worked out for you.

[tiziano]

Well, it would seem it worked... They said they have other tasks for me..... :rolleyes:

[Amorous]

Well, it would seem it worked... They said they have other tasks for me..... :rolleyes:
Time to start thinking about buying more gears because extra cash is coming in.:lol::lol:

[rlhphotos]

Its crooked....so I fixed it...

http://www.rlhphotography.com/images1/firstassign.jpg

Nice job though for 5 minutes though :) Hopefully they pay you well. CONGRATS!

[tiziano]

Its crooked....so I fixed it...

Thanks Rob! Now I see the real machine beauty! :D :D :D

[Carzee]

Hey thats a good looking piece of scientific stuff. But I wonder if we just did a easy mod whether it would sell on ebay in the photography category...

[tiziano]

:D :D :D

Cool idea!!

[tim]

No need for more gear... camera and 550EX did the job, don't make things complex.

[::John::]

Cool - strike while the door is open. Congratulations.

[BLINN]

I agree with Tim. Remeber on stills you can have longer exposures with use of a tripod. Might get rid of the shadow about the display on the this device. At least they liked it. How much did they pay for this assignment?

[tiziano]

I Agree with Tim too... I'm going to buy more stuff, but only for my own fun! :D
My answer " cool idea" was to Carzee, and his idea on the machine potential usage...

About how much will they pay, I'll find out tomorrow. I will go at their office at lunch time. I'll let you know! :)

[SuzyView]

Great first job and keep working at it.

[Curtis N]

You did a nice job in a pressure situation. Don't be afraid to charge a good buck for your services. Dealing with short notice, no time for setup, etc. is one of the reasons photographers charge what they do.No need for more gear... camera and 550EX did the job, don't make things complex.Tim's right. A decent background, a white ceiling and a good flash unit is often all that's required for a nice shot.

[tiziano]

Thanks Suzy and Curtis! :D

[Moniphoto]

congrats lucky guy...

[Ray Marrero]

No need for more gear... camera and 550EX did the job, don't make things complex.

Come on Tim, you don't have to have a need to buy more gear, any excuse will do . . . right?:) I love buying crap that I will probably use once. It's fun.:)

[tiziano]

Ok... I met these people at lunch today!
Very nice guys, and they do some interesting work.
The shots I sent them, they had already done a very good job of extracting the machine from the background, and place it a very nice presentation.
I asked 300 Euros, and got it. They were happy, and said they will have more work for me.

WOW!!! :D :D :D

Am I a pro now? :lol: Just kidding.....

[allanc]

Ok... I met these people at lunch today!


Am I a pro now? :lol: Just kidding.....

Actually, you pretty much are a pro now. You have been paid for working AND you made your client very happy. Just about anyone can take pictures but not everyone gets paid AND makes the client happy.

Congrats...

[Curtis N]

Am I a pro now?Talk to an accountant about that. Seriously.

My wife and I got into photography as a hobby, and it turned into a business sort of by accident.

Since the money you make is taxable, you may as well handle it as a business and file the proper forms so you can deduct all the appropriate expenses. At the very least, the money you make helps defray the cost of all this expensive equipment.

Work with an accountant to make sure it's all handled properly.

[tiziano]

Thanks Allan and Curtis.

You are right, Curtis. Taxes. That's another thing to worry about.
For the italian low, for small amount there should be no problem, but if I really start earning some money, situation is going to be complex, because this is going to be added to my other incomes.
But I'll manage! better to earn more, then to earn less, isn't it? :D

[LBaldwin]

Hi All,

I am new to this board, but I am a pro w/ over 30 years experience. And truthfully this situations is not good.

First when you get a call like this the first thing you need to do is find out the budget for the job, and the usage for the image. Remember that the ad agency is trying to get useful images for as cheap a price as possible. If you don;t set a price and you let them do it then you are limited to what they pay FOREVER. You will never be able to raise your rate to industry standards, which is what they want to start with. How would like to find out that the budget for the entire process was over 10k and you received less than 250 for the image and it becomes the primary artwork for the ad campaign?

Most likely they will do a knock out on this and put a drop shadow on it and make the flyers and maybe magazine ads. Remember magazine ads run several thousand dollars for even the smallest ads.

Before you do another job like this you need to get your photography business's house in order. Forms that can be modified to your company name can be gotten at the EP website editorialphoto.com

My guess is you have no usage agreement, no payment agreement and worse of all no idea what to charge. Those are bad for your fledgling career and bad for our industry.

If you need help just e-me and I will help you get started.

Les

[harryb49]

I think you did a great job for the time and equipment you had to work with. Nice going!

[tiziano]

Thanks Harry and Les.
Les, thanks for your advices. I totally see your point. I have received the same advice from another experienced photographer in this forum, and I didn't let the agency to decide how much to pay me. I asked for an amount of money that I consider fair for the time it took me to do the job, and they have been very correct. They payed me easily, and they want me to take more shots for them, because so far they have always bought images from external agencies. Please consider that this was not a creative job, but a technical one. I had to take simple, plain and good pictures of a square machine. And their are not going to become rich with my shots. They are preparing some pdf brochures and some posters for the customer, for presenting his solution to the market. I guess that even the market situation in US is different. I don't know how much you can charge in US for this work. Anyway, in Italy, for my marriage, I had two persons shooting pics to me for one full day, with a medium format Hasselblad, and giving me the 100 prints, color and B&W, everything for 950 Euros. The overall time I spent on this was two hours, for giving them only the files. That's how I calculated my price. If I'll keep doing this I'll organize myself properly.
Thanks!

[akide01]

great story!

[LBaldwin]

Hi Tiziano,

I run my business somewhat differantly too. I refuse to charge an hourlly rate. My preferance is to charge a creative fee and then usage fees depending on the what the client wants.

I do think for your first time you did well on pricing vs the subject matter. The fact that named your price and got it with little or no argument is a wonder in todays world but great nonetheless.

Remember to use good solid contracts and act as if you have been using them for years.

FYI next time take a few of the pictures with the lights and dials lit if you can :-) They sell better

Les

[tiziano]

Thanks Les, for your support and advices!
Yes, I have to find some kind of contract to be signed. I haven't done it so far because I'm still a little bit scared. You know, a contract can be used two ways... :D
Yes, I took some shots of machine turned on!
Here is one:

[Mike_B]

Lucky break and a good story.