michaelchadwickphotography

Seconding Ben's advice. Unfortunately, equipment loses value faster than a used car leaving a nefarious dealer's lot. I paid $1500 (with accessories) for a drone that I rarely if ever use and could not sell for $200 now. That's just the way it works. My advice is also to keep the equipment and use it for backup purposes. I also recommend holding onto it in case the "high end real estate photography business" doesn't pan out. That's putting a whole lot of eggs into a very weak basket.

I just had to share this with all of you. I loved this group. Very funny people. Two sisters getting married in one year, and I just finished the second one's wedding tonight. They didn't tell me this would going to be in front of the ceremony space. I laughed out loud when I saw it.

The worst case scenario here is, you lost $1500 to a crook. If you start with that, you only can gain from there. Even if you sue and are awarded a settlement or judgment, collecting it is another matter entirely. You paid by check, which unfortunately, limits your options. If you had paid with a credit card you might have had some sort of buyer protection. I know that isn't helpful, but might be if someone else reads this. At this point, it would seem (based purely on your one side of the story) that someone just cheated you out of $1500. So the question becomes, other than that $1500, what do you have to lose by going after him? Probably not a lot. Look at your contract and see what your options are if you cancel. If he called it a retainer, then he is "retained" to photograph your wedding. Will he show up? Will he deliver the photographs? Good questions. It is certainly an unenviable position to be in. If he's a crook, then you just lost $1500. All you can do is have him (hopefully) shoot your wedding or replace him entirely and lose the $1500. If he's NOT a crook, getting him on the telephone and expressing your concerns over the news story and what you're experiencing will make him pony up and either refund your money or do the right thing and shoot your wedding (and deliver the images). Finally, and this is probably the advice you (may not) want to hear, but confronting him about it might solidify that he's a crook and that you've lost that $1500. That way, you're no longer in this "limbo" state. You'll at least know the money lost and you can then move on and hire someone which a much better reputation and history.

Don't be wary of Quickbooks. It's easy. It's a necessary thing to learn as a part of you doing business, too. If you're really that scared of it, Quicken has a Home and Business version of their software that can be used as sort of a go-between and will help you with getting your taxes together at the end of the year.

OP isn't responding and only created the account to ask this one question. Not sure if this is worth giving more information until there is a response with more specifics.

There are many already existing threads and discussions about this. I recommend doing a search. The short answer: Whatever works for you. Publishing the prices knocks out price shoppers who don't value your art and who are just looking for a cheap solution to the problem of needing pictures. It means you don't get to educate them on the value of what you do, but it saves you wasted time talking to people who won't hire you because they think you charge too much. You can say that the published prices are "suggested" packages and let them know you are happy to customize a package for them. Not publishing the prices means you get to talk to everyone and educate them on the value of what you do, but it also means you have to talk to everyone. It also allows you to customize each package on a per-wedding basis without them comparing it to a published price. In the middle ground there is the "starting at" approach. This allows you to knock out people who want to low-ball you and are actually looking for someone cheap, but it also allows you flexibility to be more customized and talk to more of your potential customers. In my experience talking with couples over the years, many have expressed that they appreciated me publishing my prices. They said they would leave the web site of photographers who didn't. But, that's only the experience coming from someone who publishes their prices. You might get a very different answer from someone who doesn't.

Seconding getting the bride's help with this. You want to tell their love story, and how they communicate physically is the embodiment of that story. So, enlist the bride to help by just interacting with him in a loving way. Then, find angles yourself which will accentuate the good and hide the bad. This will be more natural for them and will more accurately tell their story.

My first suggestion is to narrow it down to a specialty or two. There are very different challenges to each specialty, and you will get much more helpful responses if you narrow it down. There are also many books, web sites, and seminars on the business of photography.

LOL - I'm so sorry everyone, I for some reason thought that said "deaf" and not blind. Ugh. Nevermind. Maybe I should stop going to the forums late at night after an exhausting wedding. :D

I have photographed a deaf couple before, and it's actually quite cool. If the groom does not read lips, you would be well served to learn a few signs relevant to a wedding. Some really easy ones to learn are the signs for family, bride, groom, thank you, dress, rings, bouquet (and bouquet toss), vows, father, mother, and bacon. Because bacon. Additionally, learning what, where, who, and when are pretty easy and are generally helpful. Oh, and the top of the head is masculine, the bottom is feminine. If he starts signing while eating, tell him not to talk with his mouth full (a joke my deaf bride told me). Also, learn how to sign applause.

This is a dead(ish) thread, but I do want to address something with everyone that Rick just brought up. If you are willing to take a bad check or non-payment of any kind before the wedding, and not get your payment entirely in full and cleared before the wedding, you are asking for such troubles and such clients. Yes, they pay a retainer to retain your services, so if you subscribe to the notion that this means you must show up to shoot, *do not* process a single image in post until all payments have been made in full. Before your client sees a single image, the payment must be made. My contract states that all payments must be made in full prior to the wedding day, by the appropriate dates listed in the contract, or the contract becomes null and void and no refund will be granted. I have photographed hundreds of weddings and never once have I had anyone say they are unwilling to live with those terms. If they did, I would immediately wonder why they had issue with it and very likely would not work with them. If you are not willing to have this in your contract (which the client reads before they book you, so there is no surprise there) then you are asking for trouble.

You (of course) need to do what works for you, but due to the variable nature of what one photograph needs versus another, I would suggest charging an hourly rate instead. That way, if they give you an amazingly complex request, you'll get paid more for that work. I was once told "If they don't try to bargain with you for a lower price, you charged too little." Photographers often fear the loss of a client if they ask for too much, but by asking too little they end up devaluing themselves. There is also the "Perception of Value" to consider. The more you charge, the more the editors will believe you are worth. Unless the fashion retailers are new at this, they know what they have paid in the past. If you gave them a rate and they said yes right away, you probably just undersold yourself. It is probably too late to jack up the price too quickly on your existing clients, but I would start testing out that ceiling with new clients.

Hi Owen, That's somewhat of a regional question, but when I did architectural photography in the northeastern U.S. I charged $150. I only did that for single family dwellings. Commercial properties were a different matter, where I charged either a half or full day rate (and did not charge for processing). In what little experience I had, I found there were two types of architectural photography out there. First there was single family home shoots for real estate agents and the occasional developer. You would think a $500,000 home seller would want good photographs, but they weren't often willing to spend $150. They wanted to spend $50, because the real estate agents were having to pay for that out of their commission. The other type is a high-end magazine-ready style artistic shoot, which in my area can get anywhere from $1000 to $2000 per shoot. This is not as often for selling a house as it is for architectural publications and things like that. Ultimately you will have to find out what your own market can bear. But, $100 per hour doesn't seem like much to me (who is in the northeastern U.S.)

This is nearly a year old - why is it being resurrected?