Not a business question. . . .

[DickArnold]

<p>I made a big mistake a few months ago. I have been out of the business for a few years. I know what I charged when I left. The mistake initially was stating my background and the job I had coming and asking how much the prevailing rates were for that type of photography on PN as I had been away for a while. I got a huge ration of smug, santimonious crap about how I didn't deserve to be in business if I didn't know how much to charge and why didn't I have a contract etc. Then two real professionals posted what they thought I should charge which gave me the info I needed. The job was with a prominent person and family and we had agreed that I would charge prevailing rates. They knew full well I had been out of the business for a while and I had told them I would check and charge accordingly which I did. The information I received here on PN was valuable after the arrogant crap I had to sustain trying to find out. I charged on the low side of prevailing rates and received a very significant bonus for my work. I think any working professional would like to share information about prevailing rates. When I had my business I stayed below the competition in my area and got a lot of business doing that. I really wanted to know what others were charging. </p>

[tonybynum]

prevailing is relative to your location. . . your skills and your reputation for getting the job done on time, and on schedule. . .

[robert100]

<p>to kelly... actually i didn't say 15 years ago, i said "over" 15 years ago, it'll actually be twenty years this year, however yes, even then digital "existed", i had seen my first digital camera "write up" in either 1986 or 1987, so perhaps i should have said "no working pro in the field i was in would apy attention to them yet", for unlike the speed instance you quoted, our emphasis was on image quality.... at the time i was shooting mamiya rb67 medium format for "general portraiture", and a 4by5 Linhoff View Camera for product work, architectural, and for "high end" portraiture....and that Linhoff 4x5 system with three magnifico pieces of glass was worth in fact one h of a lot more than the 20k you quote for the early digitals.... our objective at that time (and no we did not meet it every time) was in fact to sell every portrait client a 20 inch by 30 inch framed portrait at the very least... at that time i priced those 20x30's at six hundred and fifty dollars, unframed, and no, i would not have considered trying to do that quality of work with a 1 point 2 megapixel camera... as far as the approach i will be taking now, in re-entering the business, is that at the moment at least i can't see myself ever even wanting to be in the same room with a finished "print" of any size if i can help it, i will be establishing a fe structure to do the camera work and to provide a dvd with digital images on it "ready for printing", and where the client wishes to go from there will be in their own ballpark.... it is an approach i personally liked, as, in 2001, for a business use i had of my own at the time, i contracted a local pro to spend one entire day with me photoing me with my paintings in various set-ups, then provide me with the images on at that time a cd and from there on they were mine..... in 2001 i paid the lady who did it, using a 2 megapixel "pro" camera, if i recall, two hundred and seventy five for the day of photoing me, and a hundred and fifty dollars for the digital images which i then used in setting up my first website and burning cd's of my work to distribute to galleries who carried my work (i have spent the 20 years in between working as an artist in acrylics, the images were used for personal promo materials and have served me very very well over the years, i definitely got my money's worth).. and thank you for the history lesson of digital cameras, i sincerely enjoyed reading it.... </p>