New Rates Effective August 1st
Effective August 1st, I will be making some changes to my rates and price structure. I’ve made several changes over the months, and as I approach my 1 year anniversary of being in the business, I’m working to align my pricing model and practices better with others in the industry with a similar photography approach and style. Just starting out, building my portfolio, I practically gave the photos away. This was a way to help me gain practice and clients while building my skills, experience level, and business model. I’ve changes prices since then but am at a point where I need to raise them again.
While I won’t go into all the fun little details surrounding cost of sale, overhead, profititablity, marketing, equipment, professional memberships, training, insurance, and software - I hope my clients will understand that this move is one I have been thinking about for a very long time, and while I love shooting photos, and sometimes feel guilty getting paid to do something I enjoy, there is a reality of running a business and I need to make financial decisions in the best interest of my business. I know I probably shouldn’t feel the need to justify or explain this, but I want people to understand that this is a decision that was not made easily, and the new prices are being determined based on a lot of market research, industry best practices formulas, and by consulting other peers & respected photographers.
One of the things I am still trying to decide is if I’m going to keep a base session fee with all prints and products ala carte, or if I should move to “package” model. One where you pay a larger fee up front, but then get prints, products, and things for that set amount. I’d be interested in your thoughts on as a customer, which approach do you prefer? I’m also considering a combination of the two - and allowing options for customers to choose an ala carte pricing or a package savings plan. These are the final details I’m nailing out, but would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.
As a final note, I’m already booked for weekends in August and only have weekday evenings available, so if you are planning on a fall session, I’d recommend scheduling it as soon as possible.