The value of photography

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Jed Hassell

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Jed
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I've been holding off posting my concerns as I thought its something I could figure out. But I cant.

I'm a freelance photographer. Mostly specialising in social media content for clothing companies and influencers.

Last year I had a great year with clients and had so much work I didn't know what to do with it all. Now, however, I have nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Even when companies do reach out to me for photoshoots their budgets are under £300 for me to shoot 2 models, 5+ outfits etc. This price also includes travel, editing time, usage rights, 30+ edited photos etc

Did I miss something or is photography suddenly undervalued? What am I doing wrong? Is £300 normal for all of the above? Am I aiming too high when it comes to pricing?

I'll say this to anyone! I'm not trying to become a millionaire from photography. I'm just trying to make a living to survive LOL

If anyone has any tips or advice. I am all ears. And i'd be truly grateful for any help.

Instagram: JEDHASSELL
 
Much of the retail sector is in recession. Formerly successful brands like M&S or John Lewis have seen several lean years. When this happens it ripples through the economy and belts are tightened all round. This usually harms the smallest businesses the most and the only way to survive is to seek out alternative markets and/or to diversify your offering. You may also need to lower your sights in terms of charging to ride out the storm although in my experience that can be the riskiest strategy. I ran my business (not photography) for over 30 years and survived 3 harsh downturns by applying those simple rules.
 
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Jed Hassell said:
I've been holding off posting my concerns as I thought its something I could figure out. But I cant.

I'm a freelance photographer. Mostly specialising in social media content for clothing companies and influencers.

Last year I had a great year with clients and had so much work I didn't know what to do with it all. Now, however, I have nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Even when companies do reach out to me for photoshoots their budgets are under £300 for me to shoot 2 models, 5+ outfits etc. This price also includes travel, editing time, usage rights, 30+ edited photos etc

Did I miss something or is photography suddenly undervalued? What am I doing wrong? Is £300 normal for all of the above? Am I aiming too high when it comes to pricing?

I'll say this to anyone! I'm not trying to become a millionaire from photography. I'm just trying to make a living to survive LOL

If anyone has any tips or advice. I am all ears. And i'd be truly grateful for any help.

Instagram: JEDHASSELL
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Have you tried reaching out to them? That is what everyone else will be doing.
 
Thank you for your kind response, Andrew.

The companies I have shot for are all, online only. I was able to offer 'content creation' shoots for companies who need regular content being posted every day of the week. For online companies, I'd assume they have a marketing budget in mind for things like content. Without the content no one will see their products, you know?

I have thought about moving away from what I know best. And did try that a few months ago. This seemed to cause confusion with my online following and i believe it harmed my business as it was. I'm just lead to being more and more confused as to what I can charge.

I'm also competing with young guys and girls, shooting for free these days. Which makes what i do even more difficult
 
f/2.8 said:
Have you tried reaching out to them? That is what everyone else will be doing.
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Oh yes. I am used to sending out 50-100 emails per week.. Perhaps i should send more! haha. As i said in a previous response. I am up against people shooting for free. which makes things more difficult.

To make it clear. What i offer is social media content. Usually 30 edited images from a single shoot. These can be used for the companies Instagram, facebook, website, email newsletters, blogs, their ambassadors etc so what I give them can be recycled very well. I typically shoot with 2 models per shoot at an outdoor location (London) and shoot for the day. £300 in my mind does not cover all of what i am providing. When you take travel and editing into consideration also...
 
Jed Hassell said:
Oh yes. I am used to sending out 50-100 emails per week.. Perhaps i should send more! haha. As i said in a previous response. I am up against people shooting for free. which makes things more difficult.

To make it clear. What i offer is social media content. Usually 30 edited images from a single shoot. These can be used for the companies Instagram, facebook, website, email newsletters, blogs, their ambassadors etc so what I give them can be recycled very well. I typically shoot with 2 models per shoot at an outdoor location (London) and shoot for the day. £300 in my mind does not cover all of what i am providing. When you take travel and editing into consideration also...
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Do you think anyone reads those?
 
f/2.8 said:
Do you think anyone reads those?
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Yes, Most often I get responses. Usually asking for prices etc. I also reach out on Instagram direct message (which is a great way of communicating these days) But when it comes down to it they dont seem to have the budget.

Part of me wants to give them a full price break down and explain why i cant shoot all of the above for £300.
 
There are only 2 types of business purchase: essential and optional. If your offering is essential the customer will have to come to you or one of your competitors when they need that product so the only issue you have is to supply the right quality at the best price. Optional purchases have to clear many more and generally much higher hurdles. A product like photography, especially now, has the highest hurdles to clear because as you have observed yourself there are people quite prepared to offer the product for no charge.

This is the point at which you have little choice but to carefully analyse your past performance and create an honest assessment of what you did right and what you did wrong. Was your previous success due to your providing a genuinely superior product or was it that you formed successful relationships with the customers? If the latter you need to decide whether you can improve your product quality to make it attractive to new customers or if you need to move your offering to a related field where your people skills can be exploited.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
There are only 2 types of business purchase: essential and optional. If your offering is essential the customer will have to come to you or one of your competitors when they need that product so the only issue you have is to supply the right quality at the best price. Optional purchases have to clear many more and generally much higher hurdles. A product like photography, especially now, has the highest hurdles to clear because as you have observed yourself there are people quite prepared to offer the product for no charge.

This is the point at which you have little choice but to carefully analyse your past performance and create an honest assessment of what you did right and what you did wrong. Was your previous success due to your providing a genuinely superior product or was it that you formed successful relationships with the customers? If the latter you need to decide whether you can improve your product quality to make it attractive to new customers or if you need to move your offering to a related field where your people skills can be exploited.
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This is excellent. Last year when the going were good. I was indeed in front of my audience a lot of the time. I was able to speak with and share my work in person. In fact, i had to bother one client for 3 months before he finally signed a retainer with me.

Regarding people working for free... That does suck but im hoping companies will soon realise why they are working for free.

Thanks for the advice, Andrew. I will think about all what you have said some more and analyse my situation
 
One of the things that struck me from reading your posts has been you prefer to do most if not all of communications with companies "electronically" i.e. Instagram direct messaging and emailing and seeing what sticks. One thing I've learnt throughout my business life so far is that although email is convenient, your message is gets lost in the hundred possible thousands of other emails they receive. I follow the mantra of "people first, technology second" where I can.

Photography from what I can see tends to be more of a people and relationship business, so leveraging those relationships over the phone and in person will probably pay dividends down the line.
 
Just being devils advocate here to try and work out whats going wrong (if anything)…..

You’re sending out 50-100 emails a week and gets responses from ‘most’. You then reply with the prices, which could typically be around £300 and that’s where it ends?

If correct then you have a clear break point there. Your email marketing is obviously working really well as you are getting the enquires back. Its as soon as you start talking prices that it loses their interest, which is where I would concentrate.

Try a few different tactics and see what works.

I used to run (and still do on the side) my own self employed Architectural plans business. When Ive been through low times I try different pricing structures. Typically a self employed person would charge around £700-£1500 for plans for a house extension. I charge around £500 and have a slow steady stream. My mate charges double that and its packed out with work. As a test, ive even quoted plans for £100 (virtually giving them away) and I have no reply back.

Sometimes, things that seem cheap, often are for a reason. I once watched a business guidance dvd and the advice was brilliant. They said ‘ look around the streets, what do you see’. You see people with Aldi and Lidl bags which means people are looking for bargains, yet you also see people in designer clothes, eating out in nice restaurants etc. People will spend the money if they feel its worth it. With that in mind, don’t compete in a race to the bottom as all you are doing is devaluing yourself and your profession. Instead….. RAISE your prices. Just as theres a reason some people are so cheap, theres a reason some people cost more…..

Just try it on a few similar enquires. Maybe offer a couple for rock bottom and offer some for 1.5 times your price and see what happens.
 
As above, slightly higher prices may inspire confidence.

As you have no work planned at the moment it has to be worth a try, you won't lose - you've nothing to lose.

Best of luck though.
 
Shoot more personal work, through doing that you’ll find your unique point of view in terms of style and content - that’s what ad agencies and creative directors at companies are looking for. If you take photos that simply look like other photos you’ll get nowhere since they don’t really have actual value as they’re easily copied by others. The higher fees come from having a unique vision that’s perfectly on brand, ideally a company will be approaching you for creative direction as well as photo content.

Looking at your Instagram I see you’re very involved with bodybuilding, so how about shooting a series of some of your friends that involves their prep for competitions? You can approach it like a crossover lifestyle/documentary project, which has been a very popular approach for campaigns in recent years.
 
FruitFlakes said:
Looking at your Instagram I see you’re very involved with bodybuilding, so how about shooting a series of some of your friends that involves their prep for competitions? You can approach it like a crossover lifestyle/documentary project, which has been a very popular approach for campaigns in recent years.
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^^ This is a superb idea....
 
suter1972 said:
Just being devils advocate here to try and work out whats going wrong (if anything)…..

You’re sending out 50-100 emails a week and gets responses from ‘most’. You then reply with the prices, which could typically be around £300 and that’s where it ends?

If correct then you have a clear break point there. Your email marketing is obviously working really well as you are getting the enquires back. Its as soon as you start talking prices that it loses their interest, which is where I would concentrate.

Try a few different tactics and see what works.

I used to run (and still do on the side) my own self employed Architectural plans business. When Ive been through low times I try different pricing structures. Typically a self employed person would charge around £700-£1500 for plans for a house extension. I charge around £500 and have a slow steady stream. My mate charges double that and its packed out with work. As a test, ive even quoted plans for £100 (virtually giving them away) and I have no reply back.

Sometimes, things that seem cheap, often are for a reason. I once watched a business guidance dvd and the advice was brilliant. They said ‘ look around the streets, what do you see’. You see people with Aldi and Lidl bags which means people are looking for bargains, yet you also see people in designer clothes, eating out in nice restaurants etc. People will spend the money if they feel its worth it. With that in mind, don’t compete in a race to the bottom as all you are doing is devaluing yourself and your profession. Instead….. RAISE your prices. Just as theres a reason some people are so cheap, theres a reason some people cost more…..

Just try it on a few similar enquires. Maybe offer a couple for rock bottom and offer some for 1.5 times your price and see what happens.
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This seems a really good idea. I might also suggest you put the pricing in their hands for a few of the replies e.g. before quoting your price ask what sort of budget they are working to. They obviously like your work enough to reply and once you enter into a conversation you may be able to persuade them to spend a little more for a quality product, which you can deliver on time.

Best wishes for the future
 
its a rapidly changing world , young startups will give there work away just to boast to there friends that its there work , they probably still live in the bank of mum and dad , sadly happens all to often these days ..
 
Jed, I'm a sales manager (and ex-professional photographer) and believe in the old maxim that people buy from people, so here's something you might want to try.

Once you've sent someone your pricing give it a day to see if they're going to respond. If not, pick up the phone and ask to speak with them - ask them straight out why you don't get their business. Use an open question and it always gives you a chance to continue the discussion even if the answer is negative. It's the best opportunity you have to affect their decision making. If it makes it easier, choose someone you've worked for before as you already have a rapport with them. Gotta be worth a try.
 
Hey Jed,

There could be a million reasons why you're quieter this year as opposed to last - have you had a look back at last years success to see if you're doing anything differently? Have you raised your price? Taken a different approach to marketing? Focused on text or messenger platforms to create sales, rather than face-to-face? Perhaps the going rate in the segment of the market you're targeting is £300, so perhaps you need to target higher-end segments instead?

Business is a fickle mistress at times and sometimes things change very quickly without you realising it. The important thing is to try to be responsive and flexible to changing markets, customers, and their needs, and always evolve to yourself when they do.

My market is different, being weddings, but many principles are still the same, so I understand your concerns as I've felt them myself over the years. Happy to chat more if you need it :)
 
I'm not entirely convinced by the view that companies have essential and optional purchases, I don't know if it's that black and white. There are times when someone can spot a gap in the market and promote a product or service where the customer didn't initially see a need... but then sees the advantages having that product or service could bring.

I don't know if that's entirely applicable to photography but that idea about bodybuilding strikes me as a possible area to use to produce a product that some customers might be keen on.

Good luck with it OP.
 
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d00d said:
Influencing?

it seems everyone's at it!

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/lon...-tell-unapologetic-social-media-a4078806.html
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Chancers more like, when did this 'influencer' BS start? This f'ing gen does my nut in! From photographers now being reduced to 'stills shooters' by 'vloggers' to 'professional intagramers' - wtf? oh, wait is it 'content creators'? Something that was a hobby 5 years ago seems to be what every second upcoming teenager is writing in their 'what I want to be when I grow up'

Anyway, to the OP: seems you need to get a little more confident in your approach, make these clients feel you are the one to boost their sales, you are worth it - and of course, something to back this claim up would be nice - show potential clients the growth in numbers for other companies you've shot for maybe?
 
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New technology brings a whole range of opportunities for some and a range of problems for others.

But one thing's for sure, the 'insta' generation is here to stay.

I work in advertising and hate the idea of using influencers. I think it's lazy creative. It's just like celebrity endorsements from the 50's and we like to think that we're intelligent enough to see past the idea that someone's been paid to say these things.

But it works.

My daughter (14) doesn't watch TV or listen to the radio. Most of what she does is watch YouTube videos, or scroll Instagram or snapchat. And a lot of that involves following various influencers and being up-to-date on everything they do. And wanting products because these people use them.

Most of the real 'stars' have actually come about through a variety of being in the right place at the right time with the right product and, I'll begrudgingly admit, a fair amount of hard work. But most have done it on their own - or have a boyfriend/girlfriend who takes the shots for them. But most will have started small and their following will have grown organically.

However, I'd say that those influencers paying for professional photographers are probably not that high up on the list. They'd be aspiring. They want to be like the stars and are prepared to pay some money for it, but not loads. Which is why you're finding a ceiling price of around £300.

One of the girls linked in that article mentions she has 38,000 followers. In terms of influence, that's pretty small. Zoella, for example, has 11.8 million subscribers on YouTube. She doesn't pay people to photograph her, they now have to pay to use her. And in actual fact, most brands couldn't afford her now.

As for companies using your skills, I'd ask what you're giving them that they couldn't do themselves. This isn't a criticism by the way, it's a genuine way to think about your 'value'.

As someone said above, if you can show instances where your shots have been used, how many likes/shares did they receive? What's the industry standard? Were your shots higher or lower than that?

Are you coming up with ideas for the shots, or are you taking pictures to illustrate their ideas?

As more and more companies become ever more media/social media savvy, more and more of them will think "I can do that" - you need to be able to prove that they can't. or at the very least, that you can do it better.
 
I'm not trying to work in your market so take what I say with a big pinch of salt.

I'm getting far fewer approaches to 'create content' these days. The few approaches I do get are all on a trade basis. Sometimes they'll even try to charge me to become an ambassador for them with the promise of paid work in the future.

That's ok for me, it makes saying no easier as I'm not really interested in producing that kind of work. It does suggest that IG is changing, though. For instance, look at the Vans comment on one of your pics.. they'd like to use it for free.

As an aside, your insta feed is impressively consistent though does feel a little bit like a selection of (quality) selfies and shots of friends. Maybe you need to improve your captions to make it clear you're a pro fitness photographer?
 
Kell said:
I'd say that those influencers paying for professional photographers are probably not that high up on the list. They'd be aspiring. They want to be like the stars and are prepared to pay some money for it, but not loads. Which is why you're finding a ceiling price of around £300.

One of the girls linked in that article mentions she has 38,000 followers. In terms of influence, that's pretty small. Zoella, for example, has 11.8 million subscribers on YouTube. She doesn't pay people to photograph her, they now have to pay to use her. And in actual fact, most brands couldn't afford her now.
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Ah, Zoella.

This is a bit (OK, completely) off topic, but one of the funniest things I have ever seen on YouTube was a review of Zoella's 2017 advent calendar, which had been sold through Boots and other shops at £50 until the words started to get around as to what rubbish it was.

It's 10 minutes long, you need the sound, and there's a bit of moderately bad language, but if you only watch one video today I whole-heartedly recommend this one!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA91BaJWYQw
 
StewartR said:
Ah, Zoella.

This is a bit (OK, completely) off topic, but one of the funniest things I have ever seen on YouTube was a review of Zoella's 2017 advent calendar, which had been sold through Boots and other shops at £50 until the words started to get around as to what rubbish it was.

It's 10 minutes long, you need the sound, and there's a bit of moderately bad language, but if you only watch one video today I whole-heartedly recommend this one!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA91BaJWYQw
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The irony being that it's an influencer producing a genuinely funny and entertaining video. But as you can see, it doesn't really look like he needs external help, which brings me back around to the point I was making above.
 
I think it's just the modern so-called civilised western world that we live in where everybody is a photographer. Fact is anybody can go out and spend £3,000 on a laptop, DSLR and a couple of lenses and call themselves a 'professional' photographer. I'm amazed at the sheer volume of so-called professional photographers out there who are happy to do jobs for little.

I ran a video production business up until about 8 years ago and back then I was charging £650 per day, plus travel and expenses (if I had to get a long flight that took a day to get there that was £650 too, a day is a day, regardless) and my price was the same for editing and DVD authoring work too. And, I got it. But these days if I tried to quote that I'd get a response like this, 'Ah, forget it, I'll get my son to do it on his woolly camcorder' and they do, they get crap results, but the don't seem to mind. Only the big companies pay big money, but they use the same guys over and over.

When I ran my video production company a BBC cameraman told me that (this was 15 years ago) there were 60,000 jobs in the entire British television industry, yet every year 64,000 media students graduate with a degree somewhere in this (or a close) field. Basically I feel sorry for young people just starting out as they will have to wait until somebody dies, then get in line with about 100,000 others to try and get the gig.

To sum up, there are just too many people on the planet (I know, I digress here). In the early 60s there was barely 3 billion people on the planet, today there is close to 9 billion (including the unregistered births). There is only one pie in the sky and millions of people are all scrabbling away to get a slice, but the crust got small a long time ago and it's hard to even find crumbs now. To get all dark and depressing, we need a major global disease to take out two thirds of the planet's population so the remaining third can actually get on with it and work as a photographer and get to work with no traffic jam ;)
 
CreativeWriter said:
we need a major global disease to take out two thirds of the planet's population so the remaining third can actually get on with it and work as a photographer and get to work with no traffic jam ;)
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Well it’s really kind of you to volunteer. Would you prefer to be shot or is poison more your poison so to speak?

:ty: :exit:
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
Well it’s really kind of you to volunteer. Would you prefer to be shot or is poison more your poison so to speak?

:ty: :exit:
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He is actually perfectly correct and something I said a year or so ago, when the 'housing crisis' became big news. My figures were a little different, but basically in the last 5 generations the global population has gone from 1.5 billion to 7.5 billion. Since 1990 the population has doubled. This is why those who grew up in the 70s and earlier remember a much less stressful world, of course it was, the was more room for everyone. The social pressures that are building are in part due to overcrowding, the sheer scrabble for space. Don't believe me? Inner city 'humdrum' compared to the peace, quiet and solitude that people crave and find in, say the mountains (hills) or a deserted stretch of beach.... it is no coincidence that people state, time and time again, how these 'escapes' allow them to unwind - of course they do, the pressure is released.

Climate change is a cyclical event. I did some research a few years ago for a sea kayak feature. I had to research Greenland, where the ice cap is receeding. Yes, it is, I don't dispute that fact, but where it is receeding otherwise perviously unkown, or forgotten about, constructions are becoming uncovered. A bit like when the reservoir is almost empty the drowned village that was lost suddenly reappears.... what it means is, there wasn't ice there not that long ago, otherwise the settlements couldn't have been built - just like before the water of the reservoir was there a village was thriving. More worrying than 'climate change' is the effect of pollution, or it should be. Pollution comes in many forms - the CO2 (greenhouse) thing could be better described as 'pollution' - and how many youth age people around the world drink fizzy pops (Coke, IrnBru, Red Bull and the rest of the foul stuff), every can or bottle contains CO2.....which is released when you open the thing. This isn't naturally occurring CO2 either, this is industrially produced CO2, but of course, cows farting are far more damaging, despite it being naturally occuring methane.

How the population thing will be addressed I have no idea, but I have a feeling nature will intervene, whether that be in the form of some horrendous disease outbreak, or some geological catastrophe such as a plate shift, or volcanic action, or maybe a meteorite...... but something will have to intervene at some stage. Perhaps with the groundswell of discontent around the world there will be a massive war. Whatever happens, I don't think it will be pleasant for those involved.

As a final thought, I find it fascinating how the likes of George Orwell could predict the future 'shape' of our world. The film 'Logan's Run' is worryingly accurate, even now.
 
Lensflare said:
How the population thing will be addressed I have no idea, but I have a feeling nature will intervene, whether that be in the form of some horrendous disease outbreak, or some geological catastrophe such as a plate shift, or volcanic action, or maybe a meteorite...... but something will have to intervene at some stage.
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This is worth watching

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FACK2knC08E
 
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1990 5.5b to 2019 7.7b.
Also, the 'housing crises' has nothing to do with space for building houses, it's more to do with affordability of houses.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
The population doubling since 1990?
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It's more than doubled since 1900 though. The rate of population growth is exponential and is the biggest challenge humanity faces.

That said - the value of photography to me is immeasurable - not just because it's now my income source but also from a personal satisfaction of getting "the shot" but being out in nature and appreciating the world around me. Photography also offers others the chance to "see" things they'd otherwise not see and can be a great "story telling medium" - be that war zones, urban development, portraits, weddings etc.

Truth time - I'd loved to have been able to draw/paint. I cannot. I am laughably bad at turning what's in front of me into an image using paint/pencil etc and paper. A camera gives me that chance as an artist.
 
SFTPhotography said:
It's more than doubled since 1900 though. The rate of population growth is exponential and is the biggest challenge humanity faces.

That said - the value of photography to me is immeasurable - not just because it's now my income source but also from a personal satisfaction of getting "the shot" but being out in nature and appreciating the world around me. Photography also offers others the chance to "see" things they'd otherwise not see and can be a great "story telling medium" - be that war zones, urban development, portraits, weddings etc.

Truth time - I'd loved to have been able to draw/paint. I cannot. I am laughably bad at turning what's in front of me into an image using paint/pencil etc and paper. A camera gives me that chance as an artist.
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Are you a full time pro now?
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
Didn't realise.
Hope it's going well for you.
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Thanks - the relative lack of money is a struggle but I am far happier than I have ever been before. Strangely though I get to take far less landscape pictures than I did employed mainly due to workshops and doing a lot of architectural work I wouldn't normally want to do. Did I tell you - I am off to Spain/France for a full month in the Autumn. You cannot do that FTE :D - that will probably be the only worthwhile landscapes I will get bar a handful over this summer.
 
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