The Business of Photography

This morning, I conducted a “mini test class” on the business of photography, with 9 members of the digitalphotographer.com.ph forum attending.

The following is part of my notes. The discussion and role playing were very interesting. The class was a lot of fun, and I hope I can offer it again.

Negotiating Photography Services:

When you approach the negotiating table, what do you bring with you?

Do not go empty handed and think that you can wing it. Do your research – on yourself or how to market yourself, on your competitors, on your clients and even their competitors, and the project at hand. These questions are by no means exhaustive, but trying to answer them can make you better prepared to negotiate.

On yourself:

How good a photographer are you? Are you adequately equipped – in terms of experience, facilities, equipment, and staff or support services– for the job that you are bidding for? What are your costs and your break-even points? What kind of price would you aim for, or be acceptable to you, and what would not be?

On your competitors:

Who are your usual competitors? Who are your competitors for this particular job? Are you as good, or better, or worse off than your competitors for this particular job? Who among them do you think is the favored one? Who among them is not equipped to handle the project? How do they normally price? What special qualities do they have? What do you think would make them win over you?

On your clients:

Is your client a start up, a hard-up local company, a multi-national? Are they profitable? What do you know of the brand that you will work on? Who are the photographers they usually work with (local, international, high-end, low-end)? Whom do they favor? How do they perceive you? What do they consider when choosing a photographer to bid for them? What do they consider when choosing a photographer to get the job – reputation, dependability, facilities, equipment, suitability, style, price, relationship, favoritism etc.? Who is the decision maker?

On the project at hand:

Have a thorough knowledge of what is being required of you. Ask for a shot list. Ask for pegs. Ask them to explain what images they expect. Ask for sequence of shoots. Ask if products are all available for one photo session? If they need outdoor shots, do they need dawn or dusk shots? What responsibilities do they want you to assume?

Negotiating is an art, a science and a skill that can be learned. In addition to getting to fully understand the process and its different components, try to approach the negotiation table with these fundamental knowledge and beliefs:

1. Believe in yourself. This includes having the determination and negotiation skills to keep at or above the price and type of work that you’ve set. Have the courage to walk away from jobs that are beneath you. Believing in yourself also means investing in yourself so you can continue to rise and deserve better assignments, prices and respect.

2. Know how to sell yourself. Everything that you have, know or can do – collectively called value – is useless at a negotiation table if you cannot relay that information and impression to your client. Sometimes, clients think our work is simple and so, they price us accordingly, but if they are made aware of how much is required – experience, equipment, facilities, experimentations – then they may be more willing to concede.

How many times have you heard uninformed customers say – “That’s just one shot?” Or now that it’s digital photography, that “anyone can do it.” It’s time for us to emphasize that in addition to investing in expensive equipment, professional photographers invest in their training and education. The experimentation that helps build up expertise may take years. We should emphasize that we can actually save clients time and money because we know how to do the job properly and we are not experimenting at their expense.

What value do clients get when they work with a pro? Make a list and be ready to recite some of them when they say to you – “but, that’s simple, anyone can do it.”

3. Respect your client or customer. Realize that your client or his representative or agency is mandated to find the best photographer for the job at a price that they can afford. The customer’s goal is to try to minimize cost without sacrificing quality. When negotiating, do not take personal offense if they try to haggle or cut costs – that’s their job. Your job is to defend your price, and – the way things are going nowadays- even your profession.

4. Be creative in getting concessions. When your clients ask for a concession, ask for a concession for you in return. It does not have to sound like a “Quid pro quo” or “Tit for Tat” – you can find the right moment when to give and when to ask. Maybe you can say yes to a discount that your clients are asking for, if they would reduce the number of shooting days, hours, variations, CD sets, Photoshop editing, or if they would be willing to pay a bigger down payment, or pay the balance earlier, sign you up for the next contract, pay you a retainer, provide transportation or food. Or maybe they can let you charge separately for the extra services, etc. Or, when they ask for more set ups, you can charge for variations. If they are not sure that they really need or would need what they are asking for, offer them (extra hours, days, prints, set ups etc) as options. Assure them that they will get charged only for what they ask for.

5. Think of long-term costs and implications when giving concessions. A ten percent discount that did not win you any reciprocal concessions may spell the difference between being profitable or not profitable. Careless discounting can erode the credibility of your pricing, or even of your reputation.

6. Be flexible. If, from the start, your client does not think you will move an inch from your fixed position, then they may not even ask you. Encourage clients to ask you – who knows, it may be something you are willing to grant.

7. Believe that negotiations should be win-win situations. This is not a winner-takes-all kind of interaction. Instead, if you demonstrate that you respect your client and that you are genuinely looking for solutions that are fair to both of you, your client will reciprocate.

8. Don’t jump to conclusions. It’s very easy when we lose bids to blame the winning photographer of lowballing and accuse him of giving an unreasonably low bid, but it may be unfair to do so. Most companies look at bids and analyze the bidding patterns – who is high, who is low and who is in-between, how many are in each cluster, and how far apart are the bids. The lowest bidder is not always the winner, and the highest bidder is not always the loser. Find out what the client considered and learn from it.

9. Don’t burn bridges. Don’t be a sore loser. Congratulate the winner, and maintain your relationship with your client. Even when you lose a job, you can still keep a client. Some photographers quit bidding for jobs when they don’t win bids – I think this is a mistake. You can’t win if you are not even in the ballgame – so welcome every invitation to bid and try to improve your chances of winning by being prepared.

Every summer, and sometimes, even during the semester, we get approached by students who are required to do on-the-job (OJT) training with a company of their choice, or as recommended by their OJT advisers.

Most of the applicants we get are advertising or communications arts students who express their preference for studio work – working as photographers’ assistants. But they come totally without any experience in studio work, and some without even having attended photography classes. They also sometimes come with the mistaken notion that we would teach them basic photography.

Many years ago, we used to turn them away, as sometimes they just get in the way of a busy shoot. They pester the photographer with questions about the set up WHILE the photographer is setting up his lights or busy shooting. They stand close to the photographer peering into his camera viewfinder. Or, they would just sit in one corner watching everyone at work. We were getting upset with them until we realized that it was our fault that they were not given proper briefing before being allowed to observe studio shoots.

We like sharing what we know but we needed to design a program for the students who come on as OJTs. We did not want to just relegate them to menial tasks such as making coffee for clients or filing folders in the accounting department, as we heard they were being asked in other offices or studios. Surely, these are bright and enthusiastic students who could do and learn more.

I sat down with a few of them one summer and asked them for suggestions. I listened to them tell me what they liked and did not like with their OJT experiences, and what they would consider to be their ideal on-the-job training. They expressed the need to be involved in meaningful projects and to feel part of the team, and not considered as outsiders, or worse, as kibitzers.

Together with the OJT-students, we designed this program:

1. Each OJT will undergo an orientation on our company, and how we can work together. An interview with each student hopefully helps us uncover his interests, skills and preferences so that we could build a better fit between him and our company.

2. Before the actual shoot, the Studio Manager will brief him on the project, introduce him to the creative team, and prepare a short job description for him, so that he is actually a participating member of the team, and not just thrown in one corner of the studio to “observe.” He will also be told how to behave (some do’s and don’ts) and be useful when he is allowed to join the photographer.

3. To provide him with a meaningful project to work on between shoots, an OJT will be asked to work on a photography-related project. He could choose from a list that we would present, or he could suggest his own. Some of the projects have included the writing of “A Photographer’s Assistant’s Training Manual,” photographing cameras, lenses and lights for a “Visual Inventory of Photo Equipment,” or designing a photographer’s website.

4. He would be allowed to do some work at home, and as long as he touches base with us regularly – at least once a week, either personally or through email – to submit his progress report, we would honor the time that he claims he worked on the project while at home.

5. We would communicate the OJT’s progress to his adviser.

6. We would keep a library of projects accomplished by OJT students for actual implementation in our studio and to serve as inspiration to future OJTs.

During the short summer break when students get exposed to real-life work, we hope these suggestions help inspire students to make full use of their on-the-job training and for employers to harness the tremendous talent that these students offer.

We welcome suggestions from students, faculty members and other entrepreneurs on how to provide OJTs with a meaningful and profitable experience.

Sometimes it can be awkward when friends ask us to do photography for them, especially the first time they do so, and we don’t know whether to charge them our regular rates, a discounted price or none at all.

On one hand, if we are too embarrassed to charge, our friends may feel embarrassed to expect work of the highest caliber since we are not charging. They may feel that they have no right to impose, or to challenge us to work to the fullest. After all, we’re working for free.

On the other hand, if we charged, we worry that our friends may feel that we are not giving consideration to our friendship. Or, even when our friends offer to pay, we may feel “guilty” about charging our friends for our services.

What a dilemma.

Here are a couple of stories when friends asked us to do work for them:

Recently, we did a family portrait for a balikbayan friend and his young family. I really did not want to charge him because first, he is a friend, and secondly, portraiture is not one of our expertise or services. But he insisted on paying. I informed our studio manager that we were not charging for the photo session, but that if he would insist, then graciously accept whatever payment he would give so he would not be embarrassed to come again. He paid some cash – based on his experience having his family portraits done in Vancouver – and gifts galore for all our staff.

In 1975, when we were just starting, John took photos of Napoleon Abueva, the sculptor for the General Motors magazine. In 1976, Dean Abueva was being nominated as National Artist, and needing photos for his nomination, he came to our studio to order copies. He offered to pay for them but I would not hear of it. I explained to him that I was a U.P. student in the 60′s who marveled at seeing him drive a chariot (yes, a chariot!) on the Diliman campus. I was totally blown away by his presence in our studio and of course, didn’t want to charge him. He graciously thanked me.

He came back to invite us to the ceremony recognizing him as a National Artist, and to dinner afterwards with family and friends. I was thrilled to no end. He also presented me with a bas relief in wood on which he carved a flower and his name. It’s a treasure I keep, and one of the most precious things I own.:)

May I hear from you about your experiences – negative or positive, funny or serious, inspiring or otherwise – doing business with friends?

Someone in one of the online fora that I participate in asked about writing photography job contracts – where he can find sample contracts, if photographers should present their own contracts to their clients, or just wait for their clients to present their contracts to photographers.

This is my reply, which I hope will help other photographers facing these questions.

We (our photo studio that represents four photographers) have our own contract that we ask our clients to sign. There are pre-printed terms and conditions, while in the open part, we indicate what clients are asking us to do and what additional conditions, including price, which we would like them to accept.

Sometimes, we do get clients who present us with their standard contract. We find many of their standard terms and conditions not suitable – such as the venue for litigation being in some foreign country, or our liability being a humongous amount that we cannot possibly pay and which is not appropriate for the amount of the transaction between us. We also find that some of these standard contracts define our relationship as “work-for-hire” and that by signing such contracts, we lose our copyrights. When this happens, we approach our clients and point out the terms that we cannot accept, and we ask for adjustments.

If client is adamant (they are sometimes this way in the beginning, but if
they like or need you, we find that they are willing to negotiate), then we
decide if we are willing to be covered by such “onerous” provisions (onerous for us, it may not be for another photographer who lives in their country, or willing to assume multi-million law suits, or give up their rights), or walk away from the job.

But, so far, so good. We find that clients, even big multinational clients,
are reasonable and willing to change their standard contract to one that
would be acceptable to them and to us.

We do have a lawyer whom we ask to draft the amended terms and conditions, as we cannot really expect our clients to have to rewrite their contracts for us. After all, the terms that we want changed are those we want to be more favorable to us and maybe less favorable to them. We find that when they are willing to accept our revisions, we would still have to write the revisions. That is good enough for us.

I am willing to share our own contract, but they may or may not be
appropriate for everybody. There are sample contracts in many books and websites on the business of photography, including a wealth of materials in the websites of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and the Advertising Photographers of America (APA). You can find many more resources with sample contracts and explanations on them on the Internet. Choose which ones you like or apply to you, and you can then draft your own.

Hope this helps.

Hello to everyone. I am sorry to be posting something that is not related to the business of photography, but in a way it is.

Telephones are the lifelines of any business, well, one of the main ones anyway. In our business, since we don’t have walk in customers, we depend on our phones to help bring in the business. But today, all our PLDT lines (4 trunklines and one telefax line) are out of order. If you are calling us, you would hear the phone ringing, but it is actually not ringing here. We can’t use the phones for calling out either. All five lines are dead.

We have called PLDT but they have not acted on our complaint. The last time this happened, it took them a month to repair — but the damage to our business might be irreparable.

If you are trying to call us, please call us on our cellphones. Or text us and we will call you. My cellphone number is +639209207199. John’s is +639209207184. Maritess’s (our Sales Manager) number is +639178316117.

Please keep in touch – by calling or texting our cellphones or emailing us: harvey@adphoto.com.ph or harveychua0208@gmail.com

There is an interesting article here that highlights the need for designers (in our case, photographers) to be knowledgeable in business. The title of the article is “Wanted: VPs of Design,” by Jessie Scanlon.

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2007/id20070829_407662.htm

Comment and question from a reader:

“But I think alongside the inescapable technology upgrade is the upgrade of photographic style as well. Or is it more important to be consistent? Do we change our output to look like what’s in vogue? Years ago, gritty, urban (i.e. grainy, low saturation) photos were the rage, found often in jeans adverts to appeal to the youth market. Then somehow that morphed into the metallic look (high contrast, hard lighting) which still finds itself applied to most fashion magazines nowadays. In short, must technique & technology keep together?”

To be successful in selling to both loyal and new customers, an apparel store must offer some standard designs as well as have a rack for new styles, following what is trendy at the moment. But the combination of standard pieces and new styles is not enough. If it wanted high-price items (where mark-ups are greater), it must present its own exclusive and innovative designs.

What does an apparel store have in common with a photographer? Both are offering style.

As suggested in the comment, a photographer can choose to be a consistent one-style photographer, a trend-follower or a trendsetter.

Each decision has its pros and cons and a photographer, to be highly marketable, will need combined doses of each.

If a photographer stuck to one style – then he would probably be best known for that style, and would get a faithful following among those who seek that style. He would be identified with that style. He would be top of mind when customers want that style. However, those who require other styles would not go to him, thereby limiting his market to a small, albeit faithful, group of customers. His investment in equipment and training would be minimal, but unfortunately, so would his staying power, as there is always the danger that his style would become passé rather quickly.

On the other hand, a trend-follower will flit from one new style to another, and will need to constantly re-tool and re-learn, without gaining the reputation of being an expert at any particular style. Those who want to go by what is fashionable may go to him, but will not stay with him, as they, too, are constantly seeking new photographers with new visions. As the photographer hops from style to style, so will his customers – from photographer to photographer. Without his own style, the market may be confused at what he is good at.

A trendsetter stands out because he does not follow other photographers’ styles and sets out to introduce his own. This innovative attitude is brave but he will need lots of time for experimentation. Plus time and expense to market his new innovations. Therefore, his photography will tend to be expensive but he will find clients who are willing to spend more to go with his groundbreaking ideas.

Confused which one you should be? There is no need to be. Like the apparel store, there is a way for a photographer to combine different approaches.

Find the right mix for you. Combine appropriate doses of each approach. A photographer cannot afford to stay within the confines of his studio without learning what is going on around him. He needs to know what new styles are attracting customers. At the same time, he should be discriminating and adopt only those styles that fit his own image and concept of what kind of a photographer he is. Lastly, he should set aside time for his own experimentation so that every now and then, he can innovate and set his own trends.

If you’re into the business of photography for the long haul, you’ll find ways and time to experiment until you find the combination that is right for you.

If only I could just send this comic strip dated August 8, 2007, whenever we are being asked to work for free:

http://www.whattheduck.net/