What is a photo actually worth?
Recently a thought-provoking conversation with an exceptionally talented pro-photographer during the delayed prep for a Sunday morning trot-up got me thinking long after our conversation was cut short by the arrival of the first horse. What is my worth?
The pro-‘tog was saying they charged for every photo, even if only a small nominal fee say for a charity, with the thought process that ‘we’ all need educating that every photo costs a photographer to produce and therefore a contribution is absolutely necessary.
Which got me thinking about my own work....
Medal Winners - Team GBR - Oliver Townend, Tina Cook, Pippa Funnell & Piggy French
FEI European Eventing Championships, Luhmuhlen, Germany, August 2019
My worth has had me in a query - was my work good enough to charge, when does it get to a point where it is worth something. How do you work out what it is worth?
Before I thought about my worth, there was a sobering lesson learnt with an event rider who had one of my images of them competing as their profile picture - my first thought was great, what fabulous exposure/endorsement this will provide. But how? The rider had seemingly innocently cropped my watermark off and made no mention of me or my work when uploading it to the site. So what exposure did this gain me or my brand? Harmless you’d think. The cropped image then found its way to their sponsors who have tried to use it commercially. Lesson well and truly learned on my part.
But what is a photo actually worth? On face value, with the advent of digital, it costs nothing right to produce a photo right? We don’t print them, so there’s no print cost?
The next time a photographer asks a few ££ for a photo, would you know what makes up that £price?
Not all about the £money - The photo that has done so much for me, yet actually earned me nothing
Oliver Townend & Armada, Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials September 2014
The stark reality for anyone trying to venture into the commercial world of photography is that there are indeed seemingly endless costs associated with producing that image.
Firstly how did I get to that event to take the photo? Fuel, travel, entry fees, parking? For longer trips there’s hotels (and pet sitters!) to add in.
To get the image - camera equipment, memory cards, lens, trusty waterproofs (an absolute must on the British Eventing circuit!), insurance to protect my precious equipment. Sadly none of it was free.
Then I need to process the image - computer, additional hard drive, memory cards, editing software, website, social media adverts etc. etc.
Oh and time, I do have to eat (and more importantly so does my cat), so a few pence for my time would be appreciated. And for all those hours spent learning my craft, the courses, the learning, the thousands of not so great photos that carried me along the necessary path to the better photos.
And then there’s what is it worth to you? Is it a special moment with your beloved stead? A special round? A longed-for achievement? A special memory? Does it feature your brand?
Capturing the action at Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials
Whilst I try to venture into the commercial world, I am often left wondering. Wondering are my photos good enough to charge for. Wondering what to charge. Wondering if a freebie will lead to opportunity. Wondering if charging sets a vital precedent with potential clients.
This isn’t a ‘woe-is-me’ kind of post, I just find it interesting that we happily spend £3.50 on a latte without a second thought on the morning commute but paying £10 for a high quality photo is an unthinkable extravagant expense?
The advent of digital has been seen as a great technological advance, access to endless images online is a revolution, but has it made us all somewhat de-value the photographic production process along the way?
The next time you ask about a photo, ask yourself ‘what is it worth’ to you?