DDudenbostel
Active member
Dick made up his mind before posting. He's going to do it no matter what anyone says.
Please forgive me if I sound rude, I'm not trying to be.
I have more then forty five years as a professional commercial photographer under my belt now so I speak with a great deal of experience. The majority of my business has been major corporations producing national ads, annual reports and catalogs. Budgets were often in the $20,000-100,000 range until the economy collapsed. I've made a great living, had tons of fun, great travel and worked with many great people.
I've seen hundreds of people just like you come and go. They never last long. When money comes into the equation expectations rise and demands increase. Deadlines, personalities, budgets all come into play when money enters the equation. Most want to be photographers perception of what a business plan is to buy an expensive camera and that's all it takes. The more expensive the more success.
I don't know the laws in the UK but in the US you need a business license, tax ID number for both the federal taxes, state and local. We collect sales tax and pay it to the state on a monthly basis. Records must be kept on tax exempt clients and papers must be kept on file. We collect and pay sales tax (VAT for you) both to the state and county. We pay a gross receipts tax (business income tax), personal property tax on all equipment and fixtures as well. You better have insurance on equipment and liability in case a client or person is injured on a job. Liability insurance came in handy when my assistant was injured by a large plate glass window that shattered and sent him to the emergency room with glass in his leg. Now figure in commercial insurance on a building if you rent one, telephone, car insurance, repairs on equipment, replacing equipment, printing business cards, printing portfolio, web site, design of website, accountant to take care of all the paper work and on and on and on.
Those of us charging high fees do it for a reason. It's because of the high cost of doing business. My wife is a successful fine artist. When we met she was a client and creative director for one of my clients, a retail clothing chain. After we married she was able to leave the retail world and paint full time. At that time I told her she had to decide whether she was going to do it as a hobby or a business. There's no in between, it's one or the other. She decided to make it a profession so we set her up as a business too. Not doing business as a business is flirting with disaster if you're caught.
I have never had a client that cared about what camera I shot with. it's all about delivering the goods and meeting budgets and deadlines. Photography is not only about making images it's about your ability to work designers, their clients and perform the task without hesitation. How will you perform with a couple of clients standing around pushing you and making changes faster than you can change the setup. How about pushing you on time and adding to the job you already quoted a price on. Your health isn't good either. I've had shoots run much longer than booked. I've had shoots run through the night many times. I just did two 14 hours days back to back. Can you handle this.
On further note, I've seen a once great profession bled death by 10,000 cuts by want to be pros who have no idea of what they're getting into. It looks sexy and they think charging $30 an hour is making the big bucks when in reality they're paying no taxes and not taking into account all the hidden little expenses. They're losing money and don't have the smarts to know it. My advice to all the new want to be pros, keep it a hobby and enjoy it for life. Quit cutting into the income of people that are doing it as a serious business and trying to support a family. Unfortunately I'm dreaming as this will never happen. Photography will continue to degrade till those of us old pros are retired or out of business. Fortunately I am retiring in the very near future.
Please forgive me if I sound rude, I'm not trying to be.
I have more then forty five years as a professional commercial photographer under my belt now so I speak with a great deal of experience. The majority of my business has been major corporations producing national ads, annual reports and catalogs. Budgets were often in the $20,000-100,000 range until the economy collapsed. I've made a great living, had tons of fun, great travel and worked with many great people.
I've seen hundreds of people just like you come and go. They never last long. When money comes into the equation expectations rise and demands increase. Deadlines, personalities, budgets all come into play when money enters the equation. Most want to be photographers perception of what a business plan is to buy an expensive camera and that's all it takes. The more expensive the more success.
I don't know the laws in the UK but in the US you need a business license, tax ID number for both the federal taxes, state and local. We collect sales tax and pay it to the state on a monthly basis. Records must be kept on tax exempt clients and papers must be kept on file. We collect and pay sales tax (VAT for you) both to the state and county. We pay a gross receipts tax (business income tax), personal property tax on all equipment and fixtures as well. You better have insurance on equipment and liability in case a client or person is injured on a job. Liability insurance came in handy when my assistant was injured by a large plate glass window that shattered and sent him to the emergency room with glass in his leg. Now figure in commercial insurance on a building if you rent one, telephone, car insurance, repairs on equipment, replacing equipment, printing business cards, printing portfolio, web site, design of website, accountant to take care of all the paper work and on and on and on.
Those of us charging high fees do it for a reason. It's because of the high cost of doing business. My wife is a successful fine artist. When we met she was a client and creative director for one of my clients, a retail clothing chain. After we married she was able to leave the retail world and paint full time. At that time I told her she had to decide whether she was going to do it as a hobby or a business. There's no in between, it's one or the other. She decided to make it a profession so we set her up as a business too. Not doing business as a business is flirting with disaster if you're caught.
I have never had a client that cared about what camera I shot with. it's all about delivering the goods and meeting budgets and deadlines. Photography is not only about making images it's about your ability to work designers, their clients and perform the task without hesitation. How will you perform with a couple of clients standing around pushing you and making changes faster than you can change the setup. How about pushing you on time and adding to the job you already quoted a price on. Your health isn't good either. I've had shoots run much longer than booked. I've had shoots run through the night many times. I just did two 14 hours days back to back. Can you handle this.
On further note, I've seen a once great profession bled death by 10,000 cuts by want to be pros who have no idea of what they're getting into. It looks sexy and they think charging $30 an hour is making the big bucks when in reality they're paying no taxes and not taking into account all the hidden little expenses. They're losing money and don't have the smarts to know it. My advice to all the new want to be pros, keep it a hobby and enjoy it for life. Quit cutting into the income of people that are doing it as a serious business and trying to support a family. Unfortunately I'm dreaming as this will never happen. Photography will continue to degrade till those of us old pros are retired or out of business. Fortunately I am retiring in the very near future.