Pricing Questions

[jkantor]

(Not as dour as mine.)

Regarding pricing, there are only two types of photographers: ones who price their work as a commodity, and ones who price themselves as artists. If the clients can afford an artist and he has the reputation to back it up (as an artist - not necessarily as a wedding photographer), then he can charge a lot. High-end, but relatively unknown photographers in southern CA start at $8-$10K. The top photographers start at $20K.

[mbanstendig]

I agree wholeheartedly with your premise.

Alhough, as an obvious aside, what who considers artistic and an artist is wildly variable.

(I personally feel it is always clear and provable, when someone is an artist. but many would not agree with me. And there is no arguing with anyone who has not studied with some people who have the requisite qualities and know how to explain them, including the techniques and attitudes to develop and sustain real, non-vulgar, artistry. I personally have little use for the self taught, which are rampant these days, as one is always only as good as that, which one does not know or notice. But if one can charge for something, who can argue?)

Be all that as it may, we know what you are saying.

What I do not know is the end of your post. What do the numbers with the K's mean exactly?

Thanks for getting right to the real point,

Mark

[mbanstendig]

I checked out the referred thread and did a search. Unfortunately the new site has changed some URLs. But i did find the English price list.

Still, that is hard for me to relate to since things usually are different in the US.

Could we start anew here or somewhere else, with some ideas of actual current US prices charged by wedding photographers?

Thanks,

Mark

[drewstrickland]

K is shorthand for thousand.

Regarding pricing you will find a multitude of opinions. We are in what I would call the upper middle class market for our area. We currently start at $3,900 for up to 9 hours with an 18 page pre-designed coffee table album credit included. You can view our website here: www.melissadrew.com Of course, we design a much larger album and they are welcome to purchase the extra pages for $85 a page. So, we hope to average around $5,500- $6,500 per client contract after album upgrades and reprints.

As to what your freind should charge, who I don't believe has ever photographed a wedding, well, that is a different story.

Wedding photography today is all over the board. If your friend is a strong photojournalist and intends to cover the event this way then he may hope to charge a reasonable fee. If the client, however, is more interested in traditional work then he will probably have quite an eye-opening experience on the wedding day.

Melissa and I prefer a primarily photojournalistic approach. But, we often work in the Indian and Latin American markets. These cultures place a strong emphasis on the extended family and typically want a very large volume of traditional posed photography. Quite often, they could care less for pj work. I recently covered a mixed Indian/ Scottish ceremony where we took over 130 "formals" before and after the long ceremony. They wanted every family pose both in Indian dress and western dress. We had no real problems with this because we worked it out with the client beforehand. We also have quite a bit of experience in this market. I doubt someone unfamiliar with the customs would have a clue what was important to the client.

All that is to say. Just like everything else in business, the client is king. If you are on the same page it should be great and your friend should feel free to charge what he values his time to be worth. If he has no clue about all of the unexpected things that may happen in an often stress filled, time pressure, 9 hours on your feet kind of day, it could quickly become a nightmare. Again, it all depends on client expectations and your friend's experience.

Below are some additional links for reference.

Additional Resources: www.theweddingreport.com (National and local wedding pricing database)

http://www.theweddingreport.com/wmdb...te&location=00

www.theknot.com

http://www.theknot.com/vs_ATLANTA_PHO.shtml (local atlanta vendors, websites and pricing)

[jkantor]

www.mikecolon.com $20K plus (nationally famous)

www.davidjay.com $10K including album Southern CA, not really famous (yet), but a great local referral network

www.studiofourphotography.com $850-$10K; full 6hr wedding with 9x9 album - $2100; 8hr wedding with two photographers, 10x10 album, two 5x5 parent albums, location engagement session, DVD slideshow, the original files, and some prints - $3100 (pretty good local part-time photographer - but you obviously can't make a living on that)

Here in Florida, photography is pretty cheap: $1500-$2500 usually, before the album, which might be another $1,000. There are some photographers in the $3K to $8K range, but not many.

As for being an artist - the only thing that matters is what the client thinks.

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