3 Things You should Consider About Your Event Photographer That You Probably Haven’t Thought of
Does your photographer do anything other than event photography?
I used to argue that a person that only does any one specific thing within a field is going to be better at doing
that one specific thing than another person that spreads him or herself out across a number of them. I no longer
think this way.
Way back in the day, when I first got into photography, I told myself I was going to be just a headshot
photographer - as in I’d be like one of those fancy NYC actor headshot guys that charge $1500/session. Now, if you
told me that I’d have to spend the rest of my career doing headshots and nothing but headshots, I’d probably break
down and start sobbing.
Photography is a field with massive amounts of creative latitude, and restricting yourself to any one area of it
hobbles your creativity and stifles your self-expression. I’m a fairly prolific fashion photographer in the city
(www.josephpatrick.nyc) and I can honestly say that the three years I spent trying to forge a career out of the
brutal and cutthroat crucible that is that industry has transformed my event work into some of the best that New
York City has to offer.
If you’re hiring a true creative with a real vision, I can’t see why that person would limit themselves to just
one form of expression. It’s like hiring a chef that only makes one type of food (I’m a Michelin rated chef. I
make spaghetti. And only spaghetti. Make sense? No? Fine. )
Above is a photo I took for Docusign at their annual Momentum conference and without the experience I have in
fashion and portraiture, I never would have been able to create it - and that specific image could easily be used
in the highest levels of marketing campaign work.What sort of experience does your event photographer have with lighting?
Asking about what sort of experience an event photographer has with lighting
is a bit like asking what sort of experience a scuba diver has with water.
You’ve likely heard all your life e all photography is based on lighting
(this is true, but only mostly) and that as a result assume that because a
person has chosen to call themselves a professional at something that is
(mostly) all lighting, they must be masters at it.
This, however, is not the case, and I know (and have encountered) a large
number of photographers that are terrified at the idea of having the
lighting around them be manipulated by anything other than their surrounding
environment.
A really good photographer should be versatile enough to shoot in conditions
where the lighting is supplied either naturally or, if required, by them.
I’ve been a professional event photographer for 10+ years now in New York
City and work extensively with studio lighting, natural lighting, on-camera
flash, and a myriad of other sources. There are extremely few situations
I’d have no idea how to move forward in.
Where does he/she get their photography rate from?
To the uninitiated, a photographer’s hourly rate (in NYC no less) can be a
bit daunting; and so you ask yourself, how does one go about hiring an event photographer? Even when I got into the field and learned that an entry level
rate for an event photographer is $100/hr, I was shocked. I think I hit
refresh on my web browser a small handful of times to ensure what I
reading was accurate. This being said, my rate has since then grown to
$250-$300/hr, and for good reason.
For starters, I’ve been shooting for over a decade and have a lot of
experience. I’ve shot conferences, weddings, birthday parties, mitzvahs,
wedding-proposals, and everything in between.
Secondly, I’m aware of the ROI behind my work. From a corporate standpoint,
the images I create for companies are generally going to be seen by
tens of thousands (in certain case millions) of people. If one million
look at an image and it elevates their perception of your brand, that’s
nearly priceless.
This being said, if you asked my why I currently charge $250-$300/hr, I
can easily explain my answer and tell you that, as well, while people aren’t
breaking down my door this very second, I am in a reasonable level of
demand.
What you should stay away from, however, are photographers that base their
rates off of what other photographers are charging. I once saw a guy
advertising actor headshots on craigslist for $800 and his sample images
were fairly bad fashion photos of a guy dramatically taking off his shirt
while walking through a field. Photographers like this can’t explain their
rates in any other way than ‘well, that’s what everyone else is charging.’
$800 to them for a headshot session seems like magic money and they’ve no
idea of the work and sweat that goes into it and the years of dedication to
the craft and the trade that you’ve placed into your work. They’ve no
no respect for the profession and their primary motivation is a quick buck.
0/10 - would not recommend.
