Making the Best of Event Photography

[by Jenna Close]

I will fully admit that events are far from my favorite type of thing to shoot.  It seems that the lighting is always difficult, the days are always long and the settings less than majestic.  That said, there are benefits to event photography that can be used to your advantage.  Often it is a great way to meet and interact with those who make the marketing decisions for large corporations.  If you play your cards right, these people may hire you to fill the commercial photography needs of the company in the future.  It can also be an excellent way to practice shooting portraits on the fly with minimal lighting set-ups.

Two things have really stuck with me from my experiences with event photography: one, make sure you charge enough.  Many estimates for events seem to be priced by the hour, so make sure you set your hourly rate high enough to make it worthwhile.  Don’t forget about post-production charges if you intend on doing any.  If you need to, add this labor into your hourly rate.  Two: wear comfortable shoes.  Really.  Conference halls are large and you will be running around quite a bit.  (I once chose fashion over function and had sore feet for days after.)

Jenna Close, along with partner Jon Held, run P2 Photography.  They specialize in imagery for the alternative energy market.  You can find Jenna at www.p2photography.net.

Staying True to Your Creative Fee

[by Jenna Close]

As a general rule, I don’t lower my creative fee when negotiating pricing with a client.  Since (as the name implies) this is the price I put on my own creativity, I want to retain the initial value I have placed on it.  My feeling here is that negotiating pricing is a give and take.  If I am going to give the client a lower price, then I have to take something away to make up for that difference.  How can I take away part of my creativity?  How can I do a ‘less creative’ job for less money?  I can’t.  So, if the client needs to reduce the overall cost of the shoot, the first item I start discussing with them is usage terms.  Do they really need the rights to display that image on the side of a bus?  Why not license the images for 3 years instead of 8?  Giving and taking with concrete items like usage, post-production fees, etc (versus the more nebulous “creativity”) makes the interaction very easy to understand.

Jenna Close, along with partner Jon Held, run P2 Photography.  They specialize in imagery for the alternative energy market.  You can find Jenna at www.p2photography.net.

The Joy of Job Jackets

[by Jenna Close]

Start a ‘job jacket’ for each new client you book.  Keep a folder with a copy of your estimates and all revisions, contracts and contact information for people involved in the shoot.  Don’t forget to include email correspondences.  This way, if a dispute arises you will have documentation.  It’s also a good reference point for contract terms and pricing should that client come to you with another job in the future.

Jenna Close, along with partner Jon Held, run P2 Photography.  They specialize in imagery for the alternative energy market.  You can find Jenna at www.p2photography.net.

Taking Stock of Stock Photography

[by Jenna Close]

I wasn’t involved in this industry during the glory days of stock photography, but from what I hear it was a time of plenty.  Plenty of money, plenty of freedom, plenty of fun.  It seems to me that royalty free images, market saturation and perhaps even the digital age have closed that chapter in history.  That said, I don’t think one should write off stock as a means of income.  With due diligence and a little research, stock is a great way to squeeze more money out of your images.  For me, the successful route has been finding a smaller, rights-managed boutique agency that specializes in a certain type of imagery (in my case, images relating to the environment).  That way, many of the images I shoot for clients can be re-used as stock.  While my stock sales wouldn’t pay the bills on their own, it’s a nice source of secondary income without much added work.

Jenna Close, along with partner Jon Held, run P2 Photography.  They specialize in imagery for the alternative energy market.  You can find Jenna at www.p2photography.net.

Your Down Time Can Help You Up

[by Jenna Close]

Got time on your hands?  A few days off between shoots?  Research photographers whose work you admire.  Go see an exhibition of art, photography, sculpture, etc, then ask yourself what it is about the art that moves you.  Go out and shoot some personal work with this in mind.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a photographer for ten days or ten years, there’s always room to grow.

Jenna Close, along with partner Jon Held, run P2 Photography.  They specialize in imagery for the alternative energy market.  You can find Jenna at www.p2photography.net.

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