First Event Questions !HELP!

First off this will be my first paid event. A woman I have worked with before noticed i was taking pictures out in the parking lot not to long ago. I told her I was getting into photography. To make a long story short, She wanted me to come to an event this weekend and take pictures for three hours. She wants all the pictures on a CD. I already jacked up the pricing by telling her $50 dollars an hour. My first mistake. Secondly I know I need some sort of contract. Where can I find a good one to go from? Should I watermark all the images on the CD? Lastly I must provide her with a Invoice, which I am a little uncertain of what to exactly include. Any and all help would greatly be appreciated.

Well, I see your in Atlanta, I am in Gwinnett. Glad to hear your getting into photography. Find out if she wants to print pictures straight from the CD, if she does, you can't watermark them. Some people write up there own contracts. I know this isnt much help, but I like giving advice

Stephen

Well thanks for the quick reply. Any one else that could help me on the legal side of things?

Well, try to pre-empt on the contract if you know she'll ask for the impossible.

I suggest something to the lines of:

x hours for y $ an hour for:
personal use only, no editing, or commercial use, can't be used outside of x,y,z websites. final images are selected by me, no guaranty on number of images.

if you know she wants to use it for commercial use, first, you're probably undercutting yourself anyway. make sure it's one time use for print, if for web, specify a number of months that the images can be used for.

Take the pictures, take the money, and don't try to add conditions that weren't in the original agreement. She'll assume for $50/hr she can do whatever she likes, i'd let her. You're new, not a professional, use it for the experience.

Invoicing requirement vary depending on your location. Here you need to have your name, address, tax number, description of good, prices, add taxes, etc. From what you make you have to pay taxes on it. An accountant to do this will cost you hundreds, or if you do it yourself it'll take a LOT of time.

I would suggest you ask her to drop the invoice requirements and pay you cash, in exchange she can have a CD with no strings attached. If she wants the paperwork then impose the conditions - personal use only, watermarked, etc.

tim wrote in post #6048297
Take the pictures, take the money, and don't try to add conditions that weren't in the original agreement. She'll assume for $50/hr she can do whatever she likes, i'd let her. You're new, not a professional, use it for the experience.

Invoicing requirement vary depending on your location. Here you need to have your name, address, tax number, description of good, prices, add taxes, etc. From what you make you have to pay taxes on it. An accountant to do this will cost you hundreds, or if you do it yourself it'll take a LOT of time.

I would suggest you ask her to drop the invoice requirements and pay you cash, in exchange she can have a CD with no strings attached. If she wants the paperwork then impose the conditions - personal use only, watermarked, etc.

This is very helpful information!

I agree generally, use it for the experience and let her have the pictures as discussed with just one limitation. She must not re-sell, the images or the right to print the images to any third party.

Basically she is paying you for the images but you dont want her to make money off them.

That agreed, give her everything else she wants, make sure you do the very best job you can, select your pictures for the cd carefully ... do not include anything soft or OOF and ask for your details to be included in any prints she presents to those attending the event or in any published media.

Andrew

Even though Tim is Kiwi, he provides good advice. I have only been here for a few weeks and i have seen lots of good constructive comments from him.

Sounds like she is wanting to write off the job herself. Dont make it complicated. If you do well, you may be referred by her, this is where you have to seriously consider starting a small business. If you leave paper trail of invoices, it may cost you in the long run.

Good Luck

MMD wrote in post #6049880
Even though Tim is Kiwi, he provides good advice. I have only been here for a few weeks and i have seen lots of good constructive comments from him.

wtf is "even though" meant to mean?!!

Just a friendly jab from an Aussie to a Kiwi...easy tiger!

Ah, your location said Nevada. You moved from the west island to the big island

Hi,

I'd also put a phrase in there "Photographer retains ownership of all copyrights."

At some events, there's really little or no potential to market the images elsewhere. So, little chance of follow-up sales, except for prints or higher resolution digital files to the original client. That's one reason to limit file size, try to gear them to having you do any prints larger than about 4x6 or so. However, that may not be an option here.

If thought there were some potential for selling the images elsewhere, later one, then you'd be well-advised to get model releases on all the shots, so that you could maximize your sales potential with commercial usage, as opposed to editorial usage which doesn't pay nearly as well.

The invoice can simply be a letter that adds up the costs and totals them, tells them how you'd like payment made and where they should send it and any other terms of payment.

Normally there might be a non-refundable deposit, to secure the day for them. Probably too late for that, though.

You might look locally for a copy of "Legal Forms for Photographers" co-published by the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP). it has examples of contracts, invoices and other common forms for you to work from.