Commercial, Corporate and Architectural Photography

Photography Rates Explained

I got a call this morning from a client that is also a friend and has known me forever. He has hired me in the past for his company (he is the owner) to do Architectural shoots so he knows my work and he knows how I make my living. Even though we have known each other since we were both in diapers he was surprised by my day rate.

“What are you doing!? Smoking crack!?” he said when I answered. “We can’t afford that much! I am offering you x amount of shoots and you want to charge us that much? No way!”

He wasn’t really protesting what I charge but how he thought I charged it. When I met with his art director a little over a week ago I quoted her my hourly rate and my day rate. When she talked to my friend on the phone she told him that I charge X per day, which I might add is correct. However my friend thought that was for every shoot. That part was not right.

I am going to say “units” rather than dollars, pounds, euros or whatever denomination just to keep this internationally friendly. Let me say here and now that these are not my actual rates and they are only made up to better explain how rates work, and to keep the math easy.

Let’s say my rate is 250 units an hour. I might offer a day rate of say 1600 to 1800 depending on travel, needs for assistants etc. for 8 (or more) hours on site. In reality that is actually a 10% – 20% discount over the hourly rate. Discounts a good!  Good for the client, good for me because the client likes to come back for the discount.

However my friend was upset because some of the projects he needs shot may only be a single state of the art room or a part of a new building. These things can be shot in as little as an hour. He was under the impression that the day rate was for any job or project. If that were the case I could live really well!

When I explained to him that smaller jobs didn’t mean a full day rate he was able to understand that in fact I did not have a crack pipe in my hand. I better explained to him that my day rate was for 8 or more hours (per day) of shooting on his bigger projects. The smaller projects would be  charged only by the hourly rate.

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Now in this case my friend was offering me a large number of projects that will in fact keep me fairly busy this year. Because he is a friend, but more so because he will guarantee me (in writing) all of these projects I offered him the discounted rate of 200 units per hour on all the projects not just the ones that take a full day. As long as he was getting his 20% off he seemed happy.

Historically photographers are not good at communicating verbally about business stuff. Many of us are more artistically oriented. What this (true) story tells me is that I and many of my colleagues need to spend more time communicating to our clients so they better understand things like rates. Although my friend was jumping to conclusions and that I had taken up crack smoking, it is my job to better explain how my rates work, why I do things in a certain way and most importantly, why doing them is a huge benefit to him and his business.

Next time I go into how rates break down, what you are actually paying per image, and how much a photographer really makes.

 

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Year in Review

2012 is over and the new year has begun. I am more than confident that this new year is going to be more than last year. More what you say? More everything! More photography, more business, more work, more creating, more success, more of everything good! How exactly do I know this? I am predicting more. I feel it in my bones that your year is going to take off and so is mine.

I close friend of mine launched a new branch of her business last month, showing her art in a new way. Sonya Sanchez Arias opened a new website (SonyaSanchezArias.com) showcasing her amazing Reclaimed Beauty Jewelry and if you have even half a moment I think you should take a look. Her work is amazing! When you look at her stunning designs you will see artistry at its finest and yet all of her work is made with recyclable materials. I’ll let you figure out what is made of what.

At the very end of the year she became ill for the first time in a very long time. She is doing well now and recovering. I believe it was her body casting off the year of 2012 and launching her into a new life as a creative. Time will tell but once you see her new work I think you will agree that her jewelry is amazing, much like everything she does.

Her positive attitude through it all got me thinking. Sonya is an amazing person and she has helped me in so many ways. She and I actually met via LinkedIn and I have visited her in Florida. Almost every time I speak with her she is positive, strong and creative in all that she does. She has kept me thinking and at times helped me stay excited about my photography when I started to wane even the tiniest bit.

In honor of her positive motivation in my work I decided to put together a bit of the best of my photography from 2012. Below is a gallery of my favorites form the last year. Some have been posted on the blog before, some not.

Farewell 2012. It is time for me to make this next year shine even brighter.

Here is to a fantastic New Year!

 

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Blight or Beauty – Part 2

I was discussing my post from last week “Urban Blight or Beauty“ on LinkedIn and a fellow photographer mentioned that in his city the urban blight is a severe issue. It has even attracted people from outside his area to come in and shoot these buildings, almost making it an attraction. I understand he feels that by making it an attraction it is doing a disservice to his city and showing the area in a negative light. Although some people feel this brings the issue into focus and makes it a public issue, he is of the opinion that it presents things in the negative, and therefore perpetuates the bad connotation of the city and the area.

I agree that when you show these areas from different cities in such a state of disrepair you can easily put forth a negative view of a particular city or neighborhood. However I don’t believe that is the only way they should be shown.  I wrote in the thread about my opinion and I am posting that below. I am blanking out the specific city for anonymity.

“I think it depends on how you do it. In my case I am shooting in a “recently acquired for restoration” abandoned building. That tells a different story. I rarely shoot abandoned buildings that have no hope or future and believe me when I tell you there are plenty here in Philly.

I also feel that these buildings are our modern day equivalent of ancient ruins. I would love to shoot Machu Picchu but the travel expenses are out of my reach. The point is that every building has a story and a history, what is the story of any particular structure?

Face it, [his city] has a ton of abandoned buildings and lost businesses. The issue isn’t that they are there, the issue is how [his city] is looking to grow the city and bring some of these building back to life again. At the same time to tell the history of an area or building you have to know where it came from.

I live in a building that was built in 1926 and there is no photographic history available. It’s a shame too because at one time this building had a ballroom, a pharmacy, hair salon, news stand and more. Now I can’t even gain access to those areas of the building because they are in disrepair and the owners feel it is too risky even though I have enough insurance to buy the place if anything happened.

History is being lost all over this country and that is a major issue for me. The fact that people are misrepresenting [his city] is the problem, not the blight or the temporary dip in the economic structure there. So rather than say it is sending the wrong message, use that soapbox to alter that message and correct it. Start documenting the history now, in a few years imagine the wonderful story of rebirth you will be able to present to your neighbors, your community, [his city] and this country.

Take the opportunity to rewrite the narrative and make what may seem ugly, into a beautiful future.”

How do you feel about abandoned spaces and buildings?

Feel free to tweet, post, or pin this post and invite others to join the conversation. Links are below.

Urban Blight or Beauty

This week I had the opportunity to shoot an abandoned building in Philadelphia for a company that is trying to rebuild parts of the city that have been forgotten and almost discarded completely. This group led by Ken Weinstein, has the goal of bringing life back to some of the areas in the city that are in decay and seem to be fading away. I spoke with Ken a couple of weeks ago at Moonlight Movies (sponsored by http://gomtairy.com and mentioned in my post last week) in my neighborhood and he mentioned that he had another building that he just acquired. The following Monday I was on the phone talking to his assistant Noah to find out when I could get in and photograph the location. We set a date for this past Monday and the wheels were in motion.

Whenever I am shooting for www.phillyofficeretail.com I don’t know what I am walking into but this time Noah was saying that the space has many interesting spaces and odd corners, rooms and interesting spaces. Was he ever right!  This space has so many different layers I could have stayed for a week and never stopped discovering interesting angles and textures. My main goal in this building was to document the space so that when Philly Office Retail looks at the images it can show them where they need to do work and how they can maximize the use of the space for any businesses moving in once the space is restored.

In addition to documenting the space I wanted to bring in a model so that I could take this opportunity to create some images that I have long been imagining, a dirty, run down space with wires exposed and rooms in disarray but in the middle of it all, a well-dressed woman. In my mind the contrast would be wonderful. What do you think? Does it work?

The images you see here are only 2 of almost 1500 images I created. These were both taken in the same space on the second floor of the main building. These images were created as you see them, no Photoshop and the only manipulation of the images is the conversion to black and white. This is the type of space that is made for this photographer’s idea of a studio. Huge natural light pouring in from one side yet dark on the other made this a perfect space to shoot. Between the space, the model and the wonderful light I was able to create in a way I have dreamed of for a while.

As I was reviewing this images I got an email notification that a new topic of discussion was posted on my LinkedIn group Photography: Clients and Professionals Networking Group, “Urban Beauty.” In this article Jon DeVaul discusses how in Photoshop he adds some skies to his images to make his images of some fairly stark power lines more interesting (you can see the images on his blog here: Jon’s Blog) and in fact they are really great looking images. However I think I found an easier way; just add a model and see how that perks up the urban environment.

Jon, feel free to pipe in here. 😉

People First

It never ceases to amaze me the wonderful people I meet in this career of mine. Every type of person, business, charity, everything needs images of something and I am the lucky person that gets to meet the people seeking those images. Another example of great people doing great things is Anatomical Designs (AD) in Uniontown PA just southeast of Pittsburgh. I went there to create images for their brochures and marketing pieces but what I found was a fantastic group of people that really care about their patients and their families.

I arrived in Uniontown late Sunday and checked into a hotel that was pre-booked for my assistant and me, a room for each. The town itself is much like most small towns throughout Pennsylvania but this one is special. Not far from where we were staying was the AD offices, a subdued little house like office but within is a place where wonderful work is happening.

We met the office manager and the owner then received the nickel tour to give us an idea of what and where we would be shooting. We saw the kitchen area, waiting area, the medical offices and therapy rooms; as we moved downstairs we came upon the workshop where the real magic happens. This is where they make the prosthetics join to the person in need of them. In this small lab skilled craftsmen labor over hot plastics and plaster molds to form a union between the person and the man-made. The work they do is not at all production line; everything is custom made and built to meet the needs of the individual. The work they do has to be seen to be appreciated.

Setting up lights and talking to the staff I learned about the advances in the technology and how each person can have completely separate needs even with the same type of amputation. I took great interest in what they told me because this was personal in a way. I still have all my limbs, at least for now, I don’t need a prosthetic. However my grandfather lost his leg in the early part of the 1900’s due to infection after a train accident. I never saw my grandfather use his prosthetic leg because he said it was heavy and uncomfortable. In fact I never saw the actual leg until years after he passed away and we were cleaning out his house after my grandmother had also passed.

I remember going up into the room on the top floor for the first time (I wasn’t allowed up there as a child) and in the corner was the wooden leg just standing there. I went over and picked it up and it was very heavy, probably 30 pounds or more. It was bent slightly at the knee but had no hinge or anything; it was one solid piece of wood carved to the height my grandfather needed. No wonder he never wore it. That thing had to exhaust him and I it had to be uncomfortable.

At Anatomical Designs the prosthetics were completely different. Some looked like a piece left behind by the robot in the movie Terminator, thin, and the skeletal structure exposed, but depending on the need of the patient they can be modified to do so many things. Each person is different and so is each prosthetic.

Of course photographing the lab would tell an incomplete story so the people at AD had arranged for a few patients to come in and act as models. Finding one legged models that also happened to be local to Uniontown would be darn near impossible. These were everyday people who for some reason had lost a limb at some point. One of them had a special electronic sensor in his leg to assist him with walking and another had a complicated spring and pressure design type of limb and the third, well the third was a young woman who at first I didn’t even notice that she had a false limb!

As Jessica and her mother walked into the office I looked down to see which person was the patient and the first thing I saw was 4 feet in sandals, all with perfectly painted matching toenails. Jessica also had some type of material over her thigh so it looked like, well, it looked like her. After a moment of thinking they were there for some other reason I notice the leg. There was no hint of it in her walk or her pace, in fact if she had jeans or a long skirt on I never would have been able to tell.

The youngest of the three patients, her accident (I believe) was the most recent; but there was no way to tell that though. The staff at AD had taken her into their care and they taught her how to not only walk in the new leg but she told me later she can dance in it too!

The work these people do is nothing short of amazing. As I needed to photograph all aspects of a patients care in only one day, I got to see the many stages of learning and more importantly, coaching that is needed.  From the fitting of the device, to the training, to the emotional and physical support, what these people offer is truly special. They aren’t there to just push patients through some system; these are craftsmen and healthcare workers that truly care about the wellbeing of the individual. They went so far as to help a young woman have a foot where she could paint her toenails!

Later in the day when I was packing up after the shoot one of the patients was still there and I mentioned to him how far the technology has come since my grandfather lost his leg. I also mentioned to him that if I ever lost a limb that I would make the 5 and a half hour drive to Uniontown just to have the people at Anatomical Designs take care of me. His comment was, “Do it! Having all your limbs isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.”

My hats off to all the folks at Anatomical Designs; bravo for putting the people first and delivering so much wonderful care.

Back to School?

 

First let me apologize to anyone who tried to visit the site on Monday. My server crashed and it crashed hard. I didn’t lose much data, only a day’s worth or so but it did bring down the site for over 12 hours. If you tried to post on the blog or contact me, please try again, everything seems to be working now but I may have missed your question or comment. A situation like that shows you how much, and how little, you really know!

 

 

Overall though I did OK, maybe that is because late last week I went back to school. Sudlersville Middle School in Maryland to be exact. One of my clients, Nason Construction, just finished a new LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), AKA green school and needed some images to show the completed project.  With the wonderful natural light from windows that span from floor to ceiling, a huge stage that can play to the cafeteria or the gymnasium, the Sudlersville Thunderbirds have a new school they can be proud of. Seeing that the school was just completed Friday and the students started attending classes on Monday, I am sure the students were a bit overwhelmed. Read more

Photographers Getting Arrested

 

I just got an email about another photographer that was arrested in Milwaukee. This is the second photographer in Milwaukee to be arrested for doing their job. You can see video and read the full story here: http://www.wisn.com/news/29677440/detail.html. OK two incidents that happen in one city, a poorly trained pocket of police, no big deal right? Wrong. It looks like it may be becoming a pattern.

 

Other journalists and photographers have been arrested, beaten, and even shot (with “less lethal” rounds such as beanbags and/or rubber bullets) in Oakland. This has happened in Oakland, NY, Chicago, pick a city and it has probably happened. Police are increasingly aggressive towards those with cameras. You may be thinking that well journalists try to cross police lines, they get int he way, they violate this or that when trying to get “the shot.” Well perhaps but then why is a mother of 3 arrested for photographing a tourist attraction?

 

When did I move to a war zone?

Even I have been stopped and asked “who are you shooting for?”, “What are you doing with that camera?” I had a police officer ask to see all my images one when I was photographing a city skyline. At the time I was shooting from the South Street Bridge which, at the time was well traveled and known for the view of the city .

But that isn’t the only time either. Back in 2005 the city of Philadelphia paid a rather large sum of money to have City Hall lit up for the holidays. They hired some European company to measure the building, create a special lighting projector and cast pastel colored lights across City Hall (left image). Hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to attract tourists and set this all up and when I go to photograph it, I am questioned by not one, not two, not even three, but five separate officers as to what and I doing and why am I photographing City Hall. Really? You do all this, you project it up there and you expect no one to photograph it? Whatever you are on I want some.

 

The fact is that now that there is the Occupy movement in many cities across our country our police are overreacting and in doing so they just make everyone feel a bit on edge. Whether you agree with the occupy movement or not the tactics of arresting, beating and shooting photographers is something I thought I would only see on the news or if I became a war photographer. These are things I saw early this year at the protests in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. Then we heard newscasters, politicians and other officials screaming about how wrong it was and they need freedom of speech! Now they are just a bunch of “jobless hippies.” That is far from the truth. These are working photojournalists and they are being stopped from being able to do their jobs.

 

What is this world coming to when we can’t take an image without being threatened, arrested or worse! It is almost impossible for me to do a photo shoot outside anymore. Will it be a crime when I want to photograph the autumn leaves and all those colors? Or will I just need a special “leaf” permit?

 

 

Virtual vs. Digital

For a while now there has been the discussion that digital photography is cheaper than film and therefore prices that photographers charge should be decreasing and not increasing. In fact the truth of the matter is that the cost for photography has declined dramatically but that has nothing to do with digital vs. film. The major cause of that is that many unknowledgeable people entering the market and not charging properly for their services. These new photographers will learn in time that they are in fact cutting themselves short and they are driving the market down to their own demise. I won’t get into a discussion of what to charge in this article. I will however go into a bit of the cost of digital photography.

 

In the film days there was the visible cost of film, developing, processing, chemicals, paper/media, enlargers, and various other equipment. Today much of that has been replaced by computers, software, multiple hard drives, internet connections, and we still have the cost of media and printers. Cameras have increased in price dramatically for professional level equipment. In fact if you actually do the math it is more expensive today than it was 15 years ago and that is taking inflation into consideration. Again the cost is not a topic for this article. If you want to compare the costs of digital to the cost of film Google it; there are thousands of articles out there.

 

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Are Your Customers The 99%?

For the last week or so I have been following the Occupy Philadelphia protest. It is a fellow movement to Occupy Wall Street that I am sure, or at least hope, you have heard of. The basic premise is that the people occupying Wall Street (self-proclaimed “The 99%”) have had enough of how banks have gotten bailouts and special treatment but still manage to take advantage of the average, middle class person in this country.  This is not all they are protesting but this is a part of their core message. To learn more I would suggest that you look at their website www.occupywallst.org as I don’t want to say something that is not accurate.

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Teamwork

As some of you know I spent last week in New England, mostly Vermont but also New Hampshire and Maine. Many more of you know that the Green Mountains of southern Vermont suffered drastically from Hurricane Irene. The devastation was epic.

 

One thing that I noticed when my wife and I were there was the speed in which these people rebuilt roads, homes and businesses. The outreach to their neighbors was as swift as the waters that swept away bridges, roads and buildings. In our travels we passed one business of some kind that was no longer recognizable; most of the barn like warehouse was gone. On one side the entire first floor was washed down river and the walls of the second floor were torn away to show supplies still stacked neatly on the shelves once attached to those same walls.

 

In Woodstock Vermont the farmers market didn’t even resemble the store that still stands but is covered in river mud and silt. As you drive along the creeks and streams bridges that were once there look as if they are just in the planning stages and roads lead to these empty spaces. In other creeks you may see what remains of a bridge smashed and mangled yet there isn’t a road leading to the creek within sight. Guide rails sit across the streams on the opposite side from the road. In almost every stream huge rocks and boulders replace what was once green with trees and fields. On one mountain road you could see snowboards that were brand new and yet stuck in trees 30-50 feet above where the stream now runs calm again as if nothing had ever happened.

 

Among all this devastation the attitude of the residents is amazing. Smiles on almost every face and calm but reserved words tell the stories of each who experienced the storms and raging waters. Most of the people of Vermont haven’t seen this type of storm in their lifetimes and yet it doesn’t seem to faze them much past a story to tell and some chores to do.

 

The speed with which they recovered is astounding. In three short weeks they have reopened many of the businesses and repaired a majority of the roads. They didn’t sit and wait for the government to rescue them or rebuild their towns. Anyone with equipment started right away on repairing whatever needed repair. In Londonderry a woman who lost her home just weeks before Irene to fire was hard at work cooking for anyone who came in to Stoddord’s café diner. Be prepared to wait though because she has only a small grill to cook on and only enough forks and knives for 3 or 4 of the 5 booths in this small eatery. They still don’t have a fryer or even a prep table to work on and each meal is made one or two at a time. But I have to say it is the best food I have eaten in a long time.

 

My wife and I go to Londonderry every year for vacation and until this year I thought it was the beautiful mountains, the quaint little churches and villages that draw us in each year. The church on the home page of this is not too far north of the Green Mountains and the character in that building doesn’t compare to the character in the people who live in that part of the world.  I have learned again what the human spirit is capable of and how teaming up with your friends and neighbors can help you, and them, overcome almost anything this world can throw at you.

 

These people understand what to means to work together to solve a problem and how to keep their chin high while under pressure. Even the local bar was teaming with stories not about Irene but about how enemies come together and shake hands to put differences aside “because [they] have to live in this town together and want to apologize for any troubles they have caused.” They understand that a community relies on Teamwork and that they need to work together to create great things and to overcome anything that comes their way.

 

I want to take these lessons with me and to work towards building better a better team between my clients and myself. I want to work with my clients like Vermonters work with each other. I know that with teamwork any goal is possible.