Starting in April, my rates are going to increase a little bit. I debated long and hard regarding this change. Industry experts advised me to just announce that my rates were increasing and leave it at that but I don't feel comfortable doing things that way so I am going to provide an explanation as to why I am doing this and the reasoning that is behind it.
For the longest time I have been told over and over again just how low my rates are especially considering everything that is included in my session packages. I have also been chastized at great length for providing my clients with all their high resolution digital files on a CD ROM and allowing them to have full access to their images. ie: "what do you mean you GIVE them their photos???!!!" Boy have I taken alot of flak for that one! It's obvious that by letting my clients have full access to their images rather than charging $70 per 8X10 print I definitely lose a great deal of income and that my decision to do things the way I do them is perhaps a bit financially unsound. I understand that my approach is most certainly unconventional. So I've gone back and forth over the years questioning whether I should start charging for prints but, ultimately, I just couldn't bear the thought of my clients not having all the wonderful images I take for them. To have them only be able to afford a handful of all their fabulous photographs was just heartbreaking to me. I guess I'm an emotional artist and not much of a business person...
I want my clients to not only ENJOY their images but SHARE them as well. Make copies for all their relatives, especially those who live far away. Enjoy scrapbooking activities with the photographs. Do arts and crafts projects with the kids with them. Make HUGE prints at a fraction of the cost it would normally be to buy it from the photographer. Surround yourself in these wonderful memories.
So, bearing that in mind, I have spent alot of time doing research lately. I learned that there are only a very small handful of on location photographers in the Greater Bay Area (and even less in SC county) who also offer, in addition to their standard session fee (which usually runs about $300) the OPTION of purchasing the CD ROM of the images from a photoshoot. These photographers all sell prints as well (usually a la carte pricing or large packages starting at around $2000). For those very FEW who offer the images on a CD ROM, not a single one offers the CD for less than $1,000. Most sell it for much much more AND only after the client has paid both a session fee and minimum print order package. I believe my images to be on par (if not superior) to the ones I was seeing on their sites. And after going from one to another and seeing the consistent pricing accross the board I had to concede that I am really undervaluing my work and myself by charging so little for what I do.
I decided to break it down and figure out exactly how much time I spend on each shoot and I discovered that when I add up the driving time, the actual shoot time, the many hours of post processing, the resizing and posting of the images on the blog, the creation of the custom CD package, the mailing of said package, and the time consuming record keeping involved with every single shoot it turned out that each shoot was the equivalent of about 10 hrs of work (sometimes more...). It's when I faced that realization that I knew it was time to make some changes.
I have always felt very very strongly that EVERYONE deserves to have fantastic images of their family, so my goal has always been to be as accessible as possible. That said, I also believe that I deserve what I am worth as well. It's a fine line and a delicate balance. I want to be fair to everyone, including myself and my family.
In two weeks I will be attending two (back to back) very valuable photography workshops taught by highly sought after industry leaders and some of the brightest and most amazing photographers out there. I know I will come back from these with even more experience, knowledge and skills.
As you can all see I have given this a great deal of thought and, to be honest, grappled with it quite a bit. I ultimately decided that I really had to raise my prices but I didn't want it to be a huge jump either in order to be as fair as possible with regard to my long time clients. I had to pick between no longer offering the images on a CD (and therefore charging for each indidvidual print), OR, raising my session rates. I strongly believe that my clients would still much rather have total access to all of their images so I went with the latter option. I feel I have found a reasonable balance with my new pricing structure. Bear in mind that all my packages still include BOTH color AND B&W images as well as other specialty toning that I include at no extra cost. I also average about 80 images with my family shoots which is more than twice what every other photographer offers. I have restructured my pricing fees as follows:
Mini Session/Headshots: - one person only - $250
Basic/Pregnancy: - Up to 2 people only - $350
Newborn (w/ Parents): - $450
Family: - Up to 4 people - $500 [each additional person is $100]
Weddings: Starting at $2,000 for 4 hours of coverage
I know it's a bit unusual for a photographer to provide an explanation for a rate increase but I did it out of respect for my clients. I wanted them to know the extensive thought process/reasoning as well as the significant amount of research that went into my final decision.
Thank you all for your support.