Job in Pomona area - Group Photo - $150.00 - jpgs on disk.

Hey all,

A friend of mine has asked to see if anyone wants to do a group job of a small family reunion of about a dozen people. She is thinking about $150.00 for an outdoor 60 to 90 minute shoot.

Location is the Pomona area of southern California. The only days that will be available will be Monday Dec 22nd or Friday Dec 26th.

She is specifically asking for jpg's on a disk rather than prints.

Any semi-pro's wanting to add to their portfolio?

Rad

That's selling yourself a bit cheap I'd say, certainly not professional rates. Up to 90 minutes work? However there's plenty of people out there with a camera who would do it. And what's worse is clients now expect super cheap rates because they cant tell the difference from a pro photo and an amateur's.

Just to clarify, this is work being offered to anyone here who is interested, and lives locally. I am not talking about myself.

But on the topic of that being a bit cheap, I am surprised! Worst case scenario is 90 time. At $150 that works out to be $50.00 per hour. Over $100,000 per year is "selling it cheap"! Wow! I honestly did not know that professional photography was so lucrative.

In my profession - medical imaging, I belong to the highest paid specialty, and even after 19 years of experience I am STILL shy of $50.00 (Next year's performance review should put me over, but sill, that then will be 20 years experience.)

For me, it's just a hobby - something I do for personal enjoyment and artistic expression. Maybe I should consider a move....

But again, anyone interested in a 1 to 1 1/2 hour job for $150.00 in the Pomona area, PM me and I will pass on your info.

Rad

I'd do it for $200 if all they want are .jpgs straight from the camera. Hell, for $200, after the shoot is over, I'll hand them the SD card straight from the camera and call it a day. Then it truly would be ~$133/hour rate. I live about 25 mins from Pamona btw.

The point is, most repsectable pros and semi-pros will spend a few hours editing. Then there is the cost of gas, and perhaps eating out when you might normally not do that. There is also the expense of software editing and uploading to web...etc.. For 12+ people though...$300+ is probably a fair rate.

Radtech1 wrote in post #17311390
Just to clarify, this is work being offered to anyone here who is interested, and lives locally. I am not talking about myself.

But on the topic of that being a bit cheap, I am surprised! Worst case scenario is 90 time. At $150 that works out to be $50.00 per hour. Over $100,000 per year is "selling it cheap"! Wow! I honestly did not know that professional photography was so lucrative.

In my profession - medical imaging, I belong to the highest paid specialty, and even after 19 years of experience I am STILL shy of $50.00 (Next year's performance review should put me over, but sill, that then will be 20 years experience.)

For me, it's just a hobby - something I do for personal enjoyment and artistic expression. Maybe I should consider a move....

But again, anyone interested in a 1 to 1 1/2 hour job for $150.00 in the Pomona area, PM me and I will pass on your info.

Rad

Rad,

No worries on your views my friend, but I do think it's important to respond to your analysis of how much money one would (or would not be) making on this job.

A 90-min photo session is not a 90-min job. Aside from the travel time to and from the event, there is a lot more time spent afterwards editing and delivering photos to a client. Every job varies, but on average, you can count on working for approximately 2-3 times more than what you spend shooting. A good solid editing session, uploading, etc will take 2-3 hours for 90 minutes of shooting. So now you're up to 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours once you include the travel time.

Also, it's very important to remember that unlike your job, photographers don't have 90-min sessions lined up one after the other for 40 hours in a given week. If it worked that way and I was paid $50 an hour, 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, then I wouldn't even be typing a response here.

Of course, I applaud you for trying to find someone here on POTN to do the job. It sure beats Craigslist! And just because you're a fellow POTN member, I would do the job if it was near me just to help a fellow POTN brother/sister out.

I'm not questioning anyone's skills here, but please remember that it takes a very skilled photographer to properly pose people (while ensuring they're having a good time) and consistently deliver high-quality results no matter what the shooting location or lighting looks like. It takes years to develop these skills. And even though you'll find plenty of people on Craigslist lining up to do the job, just don't be surprised if they show up with a Rebel with a kit lens, they shoot in the Green Box mode, and have no posing or people skills whatsoever. Generally speaking, you get what you pay for.

One last thing, and please don't think I'm picking on you...but this thread does not belong in the Market Watch Forum. There's a forum called Services Needed and its clearly the superior choice for this thread. Our awesome volunteer mods work hard and the least thing that long-time posters such as you and I can do is to at least post threads in the right location. Let's create less work for them.

I hope you lock in a great photographer that's willing to help you out.

Cheers,
Bryan

Also Rad - I'm not sure if you have to pay for the equipment you use, you're probably on a wage. I have insurance, repairs (recently dropped and ruined a lens worth $2500) and as Bryan pointed out we don't work on that rate for 9 hours a day - 5 days a week.

I for one wouldn't just burn to a cd without editing - that's just plain unprofessional. And if they want an unpro job why don't they do it themselves. Also not mentioned here is the prep time, and that includes a fair bit of communication prior to the job, prep of equipment and then I pay taxes. $150 for 90 minutes work may be fair for some type of work but certainly not a Professional Photographer.

bps wrote in post #17312060
Rad,

No worries on your views my friend, but I do think it's important to respond to your analysis of how much money one would (or would not be) making on this job.

A 90-min photo session is not a 90-min job...So now you're up to 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours once you include the travel time.

Thanks for taking the time to reply - as always, more than meets the eye.

bps wrote in post #17312060
Of course, I applaud you for trying to find someone here on POTN to do the job. It sure beats Craigslist! And just because you're a fellow POTN member, I would do the job if it was near me just to help a fellow POTN brother/sister out.

I'm not questioning anyone's skills here, but please remember that it takes a very skilled photographer to properly pose people (while ensuring they're having a good time) and consistently deliver high-quality results no matter what the shooting location or lighting looks like...Generally speaking, you get what you pay for.

And my hope was maybe someone here who knows their way around a camera and wanted to stretch their wings. Perhaps family is tired of being the eternal subject, and the photog wants to gain a some experience without the pressure of producing the quality of a 10 year veteran to groups shooting. Hopefully, a win-win.

bps wrote in post #17312060
One last thing, and please don't think I'm picking on you...but this thread does not belong in the Market Watch Forum. There's a forum called Services Needed and its clearly the superior choice for this thread. Our awesome volunteer mods work hard and the least thing that long-time posters such as you and I can do is to at least post threads in the right location. Let's create less work for them.

Yeah, I know it's the wrong forum. I posted this in "Wedding and Family Talk" under the assumption that it would be seen by the maximum number of shooters who fit the criteria I mentioned above - competent with a camera but ready to "learn by doing" more about family/group shooting. The post was moved INTO Market Watch. Oh, well.

bps wrote in post #17312060
I hope you lock in a great photographer that's willing to help you out.

Cheers,
Bryan

Before the thread was moved, I did get some communication from a member who's online portfolio is quite impressive, and lives locally. I forwarded contact info and now we will see if my coworker follows up.

Rad

You always have to be careful posting jobs like this on POTN that don't pay a significant amount... all of the "pros" will chime in and tell you it's not worth their time, and you're degrading the photography industry. They don't realize that $150 for an hour's worth of side-work (plus editing, of course) is worth plenty of people's time.

What they fail to comprehend is that for every "pro", there are 50 other people willing to do the same job (not at the same quality, of course) for the given price because it puts extra money in their pocket and it gives them experience. The OP obviously doesn't expect a pro to pick up this job, but there are plenty of people willing to do it for $150.

If your not interested, just move on

smmokan wrote in post #17313824
You always have to be careful posting jobs like this on POTN that don't pay a significant amount... all of the "pros" will chime in and tell you it's not worth their time, and you're degrading the photography industry. They don't realize that $150 for an hour's worth of side-work (plus editing, of course) is worth plenty of people's time.

What they fail to comprehend is that for every "pro", there are 50 other people willing to do the same job (not at the same quality, of course) for the given price because it puts extra money in their pocket and it gives them experience. The OP obviously doesn't expect a pro to pick up this job, but there are plenty of people willing to do it for $150.

A Family reunion, 60-90 minutes. Sounds like a job for a pro, or even a semi pro as the OP asks for. As for Pros chiming in, I thought our opinions would be welcome. Also you're right for every pro there are 50 other people willing to force down prices and earn without paying taxes - and worse still masquerading as a pro. Sorry if my response wasn't sugarcoated with pleasantries,

highway0691 wrote in post #17315560

smmokan wrote in post #17313824
You always have to be careful posting jobs like this on POTN that don't pay a significant amount... all of the "pros" will chime in and tell you it's not worth their time, and you're degrading the photography industry. They don't realize that $150 for an hour's worth of side-work (plus editing, of course) is worth plenty of people's time.

What they fail to comprehend is that for every "pro", there are 50 other people willing to do the same job (not at the same quality, of course) for the given price because it puts extra money in their pocket and it gives them experience. The OP obviously doesn't expect a pro to pick up this job, but there are plenty of people willing to do it for $150.

A Family reunion, 60-90 minutes. Sounds like a job for a pro, or even a semi pro as the OP asks for. As for Pros chiming in, I thought our opinions would be welcome. Also you're right for every pro there are 50 other people willing to force down prices and earn without paying taxes - and worse still masquerading as a pro. Sorry if my response wasn't sugarcoated with pleasantries,

As the OP I have to side with smmokan here. Re-read my post. A friend of mine has work available - this is what she was offering.

I was asking if anybody wanted the work. I was not asking for commentary from "professionals" who look down their nose at work that is beneath them. As scorpio_e above put it, "If your not interested, just move on." No need for opinions, sugarcoated or not.

Rad