BOSTON CHILDREN'S PHOTOGRAPHER, BOSTON FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER, BOSTON NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER

There is a theme going here… I shoot your wedding, you have baby, I photograph you forever.  At least I hope.

Meet Corey & Jim.  I photographed their beautiful wedding on Halloween weekend.  You know, the one during the snowstorm?  It is sort of ironic that I shot their maternity session the only other day this winter when there was snow on the ground.  And it was about 20 degrees out.  Cold cold cold.  So we shot indoors, but that’s fine, we were able to accomplish some beautiful studio shots, not all of which I can share.  Suffice to say, the are dramatic, and gorgeous, because, well, so is Corey.

In addition to the studio shots, we played around with Clementine… she was awesome.  My studio is dog friendly, and I am more apt to stock dog treats than I am lollipops!  And at the end, we thought it was important to capture Jim, just the way he is… just a simple guy from KC who likes his BBQ and bourbon!  I laugh when I think of how many husband/client discussions are had around meat smokers, rubs, marinades and where the best butcher might be.

I should add that Corey is the one responsible for my awesome hair color, as she works at the FABULOUS Giraud Studio (for North Shore folks, they are beyond exceptional).  But I almost hate saying that, for their sake.  For those of you who see me on a daily basis, well, you know it’s not often pretty (dare I admit I’ve been standing in dried sweat workout clothes for a few hours now… and I haven’t actually “done” my hair in 4 days… and by “done” I really mean “brushed”).  But when I do wash, dry and “do” my hair, usually I get some form of a compliment and I sort of lob that right back over to Corey (and  Joanna… and Omar… and, well, Heidi!).

So here are the images.  I am dying to get the text that Corey is in labor.   I can’t wait for her newborn session! Actually, that’s a lie.  I am completely conflicted because my hair is ripening as we speak, but I need probably another two weeks before it’s ready… and that’s Corey’s due date.  There is a teeny tiny little part of me that is whispering “how dare she.”

Lately I have been involved with a number of discussions with other photographers about pricing and the cost of doing business. And while there certainly are a varying range of opinions about how people should and do operate their business, a recurring theme of general misunderstanding of basic business costs has come up time and time again. And while I don’t LIKE to say “$300 for a shoot and burn session isn’t good business,” in most circumstances I believe that’s a correct statement. And as you know, my motto is “Cheap is not a business strategy.” Or at least it’s not one that will withstand the test of time, unless you are catering to the thousands, and your last name is Walton. And you are OK working for free.

That said, I know a lot of photographers who are just starting out, or who are in markets where there is a lower CoL (cost of living) and/or less wealth, will disagree with me, or just not understand what I mean.

In order to illustrate my point of view, I pulled out the numbers I used to calculate my business costs, and my pricing, the year I started out in business.  I was working full time at IBM and didn’t have the pressure of needing the extra income and I had the luxury of re-investing my revenue.  These are my COSTS, but not my PRICES (I started fully in business priced appropriately for profit and for my market and for my brand).

To clarify so that we are all using the same terms:

Cost of Goods (COGs) are things that are DIRECTLY related to your sales. So no order, no COGs. They are prints, albums, canvases, DVDs (products) + some people associate shipping with COGs too (inbound to you, outbound to your client).

Average COGS in portrait photography is about 20-25%. Selling digital brings it down, however there still is a COG associated for anything other than just uploading files (screened DVDs, cases, reference prints). Prints, albums, canvases, mounts, mini accordions, etc. have a higher COGs. Let’s not forget when you place an entire order and forget an item and you are now subject to a minimum order for something that costs $2.  Or something is drastically wrong with your color and you have to reprint an entire order. Let’s not even go there with Press Card disasters. All of this speaks to pricing your products and packages appropriately to cover your costs and the time associate with producing them.

Fixed Expenses are costs that you incur if you are operating a business (or even just starting one up) that you will incur indirect from a sale — you need these things regardless if you sell anything, you need them to be in business. The degree to which you need each varies on your business model and your volume and your overall setup. It makes sense to start each year with a budget for each category, then mid-year match up to where you are and figure out if you overspent or underspent and why (and sometimes there are very good reasons).

Tax & Legal Assistance, Memberships (Clickin Moms, PPA, etc.), Gear (lenses, bodies, flashes, CF cards, etc.), Hardware (harddrive storage, laptops, etc.), Software (Photoshop, actions, templates, etc.), Hosting, Web Site & Blog upgrades, Mentoring & Workshops, Logo/Branding, Advertising (booths, prints, ads), Print Materials (inserts, brochures, price lists, thank you notes), Packaging (boxes, clearbags, ribbon, bags), Studio Sample, Props, Studio Rent, Studio Operating Expenses, Cell Phone, Internet

Salary for your time, however there are various ways to calculate that depending on how your business is structured, so I am only going to address “paying yourself” on a broad scale — but it’s important to consider as you will see.

Gross Profit is the amount of revenue you collect, before taxes and expenses

Net Revenue Before Taxes = Gross Profit – COGs – Fixed Expenses – Paid Salary –> This is the number that is the basis for figuring out income taxes. However, that also varies based on how you structure your business, pay yourself, and your general tax rate.

Now let’s put this in real terms. You are going to shoot a full session (est. 1-1.5 hours, family and/or children or newborn) give the clients a DVD in basic packaging with 30 reference prints.

Price: $300  = COGs: $25  Shipping: $5  Total Costs: $30    Net profit: $270

BUDGET

The first thing you should do, as you plan your year, is to estimate a budget with the Fixed Expenses and determine which is a monthly, quarterly or annual expense, and determine which is a MUST have and which is a NICE TO HAVE. Based on my business four years ago (home based, nominal expenses), my FIXED EXPENSES were $15,782, or $1,135/month BEFORE I EVEN SHOT A SESSION. Even with a more conservative budget, removing some “nice to have items,” the fixed budget is still about $10K or about $761/month. In this figure, I do not include an allocation for gas, cell phone, etc. and other things that I was writing off for my IBM job (or as a final tax prep step). Obviously the more you grow, the more fixed expenses you incur, but generally you increase them in line with your growth.

Based on the $300 price point, in order to meet FIXED EXPENSE needs, you need to shoot between 3-5 sessions a month, and you have NOT PAID YOURSELF OR MADE A DIME OF PROFIT.

YOUR TIME

Now let’s consider your time. When I started out, I averaged about TEN hours per client (that’s a lie, once it took me 22 hours to proof down to a 30 image gallery). I still average that, but how it’s allocated is different (more design and consultation, less editing). Luckily, when you shoot better, you edit less.  Hours per client are determined by: pre-booking/book consult time (emails, phone calls, getting payment/forms), travel to/from shoot, shoot, download/backup/organization of files, editing, blogging/FB, gallery presentation, post-session communication, order management, order preparation/edit/placement/receipt, shipping/pickup, payment, close out of client.

Let’s assume that for these $300 sessions, your time is FIVE hours per client (but I doubt it when you are starting out), maybe TEN hours on the high end.

Additionally, every business has “admin” time — time that is allocated to the business that is not directly associated with a client (posting for CC, creating FB posts, blogs, promo cards, pricing, portfolio slideshows, washing newborn blankets, driving to the post office). Let’s allocate 5-10 hours a week for that.

You are now working between 35-90 hours a month, or 9-23 hours a week, and you have NOT PAID YOURSELF OR MADE A DIME OF PROFIT.

PAYING YOURSELF

Now let’s consider that you’ve been doing this for a while and you think YOUR WORK IS GOOD. AND IT HAS VALUE. AND YOU PROVIDE SOMETHING TO OTHERS THAT IS WORTH SOMETHING. (That’s why they are hiring you, right?). And you decide, “Gosh darnit, I want to make a profit and be PAID for my time.” Or “It really would help in these tough economic times to have some extra cash on hand to pay the bills… I could consider this a job and PAY MYSELF.” You decide that you want to pay yourself $15/hour for each hour you work.  I recommend paying yourself much, much more, but again sometimes this is dictated by how your corporation or taxes are set up, your CoL, etc. so let’s use this as a hypothetical figure.

Now you have two choices. You can WORK MORE so that you earn over and above your expenses (what you earn is more $/hour and profit, but typically also increased expenses), or you can INCREASE YOUR PRICES SO THAT YOU MAKE A PROFIT.

You can choose to keep your time per client short, and your admin time brief, and tack on $135-$175 (the more you shoot, the less you mathematically have to increase it) or you can spend more time on both and tack on $270 – $350. But either way, you are now PAYING YOURSELF FOR YOUR WORK. How much you increase your price is dependent on how much work you want to do (this is the “volume” versus the “boutique” model comparison), how much you pay yourself, and where and how you want to market your services and to which segment of the population.

Check out the comparisons. You can see how changing the variables of PRICE, TIME, AND VOLUME changes not only your net profit, but also your hourly rate. It ranges from $.70/hour (yikes) to $16.40/hour.

So now that all this fun and games is complete, keep in mind a few other MINOR (wink) details:

• The Numbers Do Not Lie.  If spend money, you need to understand that what you earn as revenue, counts against that.  It’s basic P&L (profit and loss).  What you choose to do with your P&L is your own business, but if you ignore it, you are doing yourself a big disservice.

• I am NOT saying that you have to be “expensive” to be in business.  I have just described a “break even” analysis to tell you how you determine the costs you need to cover to not LOSE money.  This is so helpful because you can apply it to a number of different pricing scenarios.  For instance, I know how profitable my mini-sessions are in comparison to my other sessions + packages.   My mini-session is the LEAST expensive thing I do, and it’s very profitable, however, I do need to shoot quite a few of them to equate to what my normal average sale is — so I make a choice as to how many I offer, but I do include them as an offering because I then allow clients to work with me who have tight budgets.

• None of the above addresses how you should determine your final pricing.  Your pricing should be a combination of your expense allocation, your COGs, your time [as in time to put together specific products and services], your own value or  your work, the market you live in, and your target client base.  Many people commented to me “I wish my clients understood this.”  And to that, I say “perhaps you need to find different clients.”  I seek out clients who above all, value ME AND MY WORK and do not nickel and dime me, or expect me to be priced just like my competition.  And because of that, I will make my pricing work for people that are respectful of this.

• If you are a client reading this, one of mine, I am sure you already understand why you would not want to work with someone who DIDN’T VALUE HERSELF or HER WORK enough to pay herself. And while a bargain is a bargain, typically you get what you pay for. But this isn’t really a targeted piece to clients, and doesn’t specifically address my clients, my pricing, or my services, my brand, my work.

• Everybody starts somewhere. And $300 for “everything” while you are building your portfolio may or may not be the right thing to do.  I am not advocating that someone who is just starting out set the same prices as me, or anyone else… that is AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT CONVERSATION.  Additionally, when you first start it can take you 22 hours to proof a gallery that once you were really established and awesome, might take you 2 hours.  So maybe paying yourself by hour when you are just starting out is a little bit skewed!

• You can certainly charge $300 for your services, but offer what makes sense for that (less time and different service) so that you are not operating in the negative – make it fee based, and add on a la carte as your client wants more product and services… no harm in that (like above example of mini sessions).

• Your NET PROFIT IS SUBJECT TO A TAX RATE OF 20-40% depending on how you file your taxes and your household tax bracket (whether you file as a corporation or pass it through your personal income statement) — so if monthly net income of $1,385 felt good to you, keep in mind that it’s really closer to $970. Because that’s how Uncle Sam Rolls. And as someone who has a disaster to clean up with sales tax right now, I can tell you that my INCOME TAX PAYMENT is BEYOND PERFECT down to the dime. And not allocating correctly for it can really try a good thing (like your husband and accountant’s patience, your business credibility, etc.).

• YOU MIGHT HAVE TO CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR HOUSEHOLD. Imagine now being responsible for $1,000 worth of bills each month (or $3K in my case). It basically feels like even if you net $1K (or $3K) that you are still working for nothing. Not free, because your clients are paying you, but you still have no profit in your LIFE.

• You might be GOOD. You might be VERY VERY VERY GOOD. And it might be OK with you to NOT MAKE A DIME. But there are other photographer’s out there who value their time and their service FAR MORE than $15/hour, who have trained for years, and who have given their blood sweat and tears to build their business (and who have families to support). And because you decide that for your first few years you can “capture the market” and advocate that $300 is fair market value, their pricing of $750 or $1500 or $1800 seems GROSSLY out of whack. And so the market begins to re-set itself towards your pricing. And then, wait, a year passes and you realize YOU WANT TO GET PAID and you try to raise your prices… and WHOA, no one likes that… and you look around and WOW there is someone doing it for less than you, how dare they! So you can thank yourself for that, because undercutting the market and working for free… well, that’s all you baby!

So there is SO MUCH MORE to this. And I am writing this and risk angering people (primarily my peers who will scold me for spending 2+ hours writing this and then giving it away FOR FREE). And that last point is to be TONGUE IN CHEEK and POKING FUN and NOT DIRECTED AT ANYONE BUT RATHER TO THE ENTIRE MARKET. I just wanted to get it down “on paper” because it comes up over and over and over again and honestly I think some people defend it because they grab numbers out of the air, and some people just don’t know better… and of course, because for some people, this model actually works for them. So if it makes you pause, and perhaps bristle, please do yourself a favor and take a moment to think WHY.

For the others who actually found it valuable, awesome.

One of my very favorite things about newborn clients is that I am on the “first to know” list when a baby is born.  I actually get a little giddy when I get the email. Another beautiful baby has entered the world.  One of my next favorite things, is repeat clients, who have come back to me over the years.  This family is one.  When I was just starting out, I shot this big brother’s newborn session.  I still remember him being such a beautiful baby, and I used him for so many displays.  As he grew up, twice photographed him along with his BFF (well, their moms are BFFs, so I made a generational assumption there).  So when I heard the good news that he’d be a big brother, I did what I do best.  I immediately lost the email.  Luckily, this mom knows me well, and cuts me slack (as all my awesome clients do), and I was WELL prepared and expecting their “our baby is here!” notification.   And finally, another favorite thing is when clients come and hang out with me in my studio.  It’s honestly just like family.  I am so happy there, warm and cozy with the winter weather.  A little movie action on the big screen.  An adorable baby.  Coffee from the market.  Life is good.

So these guys did not disappoint.  Everyone who has peaked over my shoulder has agreed… they are a gorgeous family.  Thank you so much… I am so truly grateful that you are my clients…and now friends.

So you all know that I do my best not to bitch about work, and almost NEVER complain about clients. And that really has to do with the fact that I really love 98% of my clients. TO DEATH. I am fortunate, beyond fortunate, with the people who find me. But sometimes I just melt down and I rant a little. Rest assured, this is NOT that kind of post.

My work is truly an amazing gift that I have given myself. Yes, in my busy months I sleep little, work 60 hour a week, and spend 75% of my time RUNNING MY BUSINESS [not shooting]. And THAT is a story for another day [the one to clear up the myth that it's a BLAST being a professional photographer]. But right now, what I do is a gift to me [and thus my family because HAPPY MOM = HAPPY FAMILY and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise]. This year, I have been fortunate to photograph some of my VERY FAVORITE repeat clients. Clients who have been with me for years. It’s also been a chance to meet some new ones [like I think I might love my new clients tomorrow!].

It’s also a gift to me that I have STUDIO SPACE to play, to work, and to call my own. And apparently to be able to say “please come keep me company tonight at 8PM… bring wine…” Again, another story.

But the studio, it’s really opened up possibilities for me. Let’s get something straight, it is PAINFUL to write my rent check each month. That is money that could be in my pocket, paying for home repairs, buying things the kids need, going into an IRA. And should I ever decide I don’t want the expense [and perhaps would rather fund my Lululemon/Anthropologie/Frye Boot/Weekly Facials habit], it’s going to give the perception that my business isn’t doing well, when in fact, that might be the opposite. But right now, it’s my space and it allows me to meet my clients in a professional environment, show them my work, and honestly, it gave me a place to store all my crap.

But it’s kind of been under utilized and that was kind of bumming my high. I had a vision in my mind, executed, and when I was done, it just didn’t feel right. From there, I let it get messy. And I hated it more. Then I enlisted the help of a simply DIVINE design genius and she gave it one look and was like “WHOA. GREAT SPACE. BAD DESIGN.” And from that, gave me some tips using her high/low strategy and I was able to slowly execute her plan. It needs a few more details, but finally, when I get into work, I sigh and I am happy. So thank you Katie Rosenfeld… you and your daily blog inspire me.

OK, so land the plane Kristina.

I decided to try to push myself to create an indoor studio space that would do two things [1] to photograph in the lifestyle portrait style that I love, using primarily natural light, and avoid creating a typically proppy studio look {especially with newborns} and [2] to learn how to use my overabundance of natural light to create the perfect, classic, studio portrait.  And while those two things are almost on completely different ends of the spectrum, they both to me represent clean, unadorned, timeless photography.  They also each provided me with a different set of learning challenges and gave me something to get excited about. [The dork in me is FANATICAL about learning].

So yesterday I decided to go forth with a solid round of good old fashion practice [in addition to the previous day's session].  See?  This is where I can repeat “MY JOB IS A GIFT.”  Because Tuesdays and Thursdays are my days home with my kids… and the fact that I can turn them into productive working hours, while keeping my kids [and their friends] amused is AMAZING.  So I spent the day arranging and re-arranging set ups.  Trying out the light from each side of the building, and at different times of the day, pushing my gear when I had to, running to download, grabbing a fresh card, and starting over again.  And it was SO refreshing to be able to say “wow, these SUCK” and “holy cow, I am in LOVE.”  And with some, it was so great to get really constructive peer feedback on what I need to tweak and then get super excited for next week when I can set it up again and see if I can improve.  [The dork in me is also FANATICAL about getting feedback from my peers... because my mom and friends will always tell me I am awesome, even when I am not].

So here’s the result of it, with some notes. What a great deal of learning to be had. I am so excited to finish the room… to nail down the light the way I vision it… to shoot! So stay tuned for some studio tours, get together opportunities and of course session opportunities.

You may want to file these under Mommy Goggles, but honestly, I am in love with these.  They are actually SO GOOD at doing what I ask, and giving me what I need from them, and as long as I move fast, and keep it simple, they are gems.  One of the biggest things that has helped me working with kids is to greatly improve my instructions.  “Look up” doesn’t work if you need them to raise their head a bit, but instead “follow my finger” while you raise it just slightly.  “Smile” doesn’t work either… that’s a recipe for gritted teeth and scrunched smiles.  But instead, “Think about what you are getting for your birthday.”  And laugh, well, that’s easy.  Just mention farts. So being able to manage commands has really reduced the amount of stress and frustration during our shoots.

Peace.  Grace.  Thanks.  Calm.  Fortune.  Mine.

Another gift, while we are on the topic, is that these two girlies will have their friendship, almost from week one, documented and preserved.  They are truly best friends, speak in their own language, and are tremendously sad when apart.  Her mom and I are eternally grateful for their bond, and that we have them in our lives.

[quote]The past and the present and the future. Faith and Hope and Charity, the heart and the brain and the body Give you three as a magic number. [/quote]

Jen and Billy and Romar and Chloe and Leah came by for a visit. Alright, I hounded them to come by for a visit. The other day I was joking on Facebook about giving free sessions to people who wiped my kids bums and cared for them… so I wanted to clarify, Jen actually RAISED my kids for a while. So needless to say, that gets her soup-to-nuts everything in the photog world. And I love seeing how their family has grown, and is now one, and a happy forever home and family for Romar, and the twins are all sorts of crazy goodness. Awesome sauce [right girls? was that proper use?]. Church.

So here are some from their sesh. Delish.

[The rad diaper covers are from my friend Rena, who makes the Earth a better place by creating amazing cloth diapers. She is the process of changing her name to Sproutling Love... and building great things!]