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Author Topic: Cost of doing business  (Read 33904 times)

David Eichler

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Re: Cost of doing business
« Reply #40 on: August 28, 2013, 05:18:17 pm »

We would do a simpler thing - so we would usually just let them know what the per image fee would be, which would naturally be based on a pre determine amount of use, e.g. £400 per image for 1 years use in Multiple Media throughout the UK plus on the Internet.

So that way, the only real thing that they need to figure out beforehand, is how many images can they afford to stay within their current yearly budget.

In Andrew Latreille's case, it seems that his clients are experienced and have a general sense of the amount of time it takes to photograph their projects. Nevertheless, photographers who have a different style or use different techniques than they are used to might take more or less time than they are used to. In some cases, there may be unusual situations that would require more time than normal, either due to logistical considerations or as a result of needing more time to achieve a specific look to the images, which situations would warrant a higher fee than normal. In such cases, it would seem useful to me to let the client know that part of the fee calculation is due to additional time involved, whether or not one tries to be very specific about that time.
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Rob C

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Re: Cost of doing business
« Reply #41 on: August 29, 2013, 04:20:56 am »

Moving slightly off topic here - Needing time to learn one's craft is certainly true. The 10,000 Hours rule is a pet peeve of mine as it is well.....utter bollocks.  :P  Even the guy who did the study that gave rise to the term does not use the word 'rule' with regard to his findings.
This is basically the nature Vs nuture debate. And in my view, to use a British colloquialism "you can't polish a turd".

A cyclist who lives near me once said about skill, "If it was just a matter of practice everyone could be as good as me."
I just read this week, a magazine article about the 10k hour 'rule' with regard to  sport and it seems the current top female triathlete, Chrissie Wellington, is leaving everyone trailing way behind her. Including many men and she only took up competitive sport in her late 20s and right from the start she was beating others waaaay more experienced than her.



Yes, it's talent coupled with self-belief. Time spent is simply the honing process, but the raw material has to be there in the first place.

Sad for those without, but nonetheless true.

Rob C

Hulyss

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Re: Cost of doing business
« Reply #42 on: August 31, 2013, 07:03:52 am »

Interesting discussion !!

I follow Yelhsa on his analysis, in + we have almost the same licence paper !

« Last Edit: September 10, 2013, 05:50:40 pm by Hulyss »
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Kind Regards -  Hulyss Bowman | hulyssbowman.com |

barryfitzgerald

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Re: Cost of doing business
« Reply #43 on: November 01, 2013, 08:03:25 am »

The costs look unrealistic to me.
With any business you have some overheads and costs, but you also have control over expenses too.

I very much doubt people are spending a big wad of cash on new bodies and lenses every year, you can trim costs with s/h equipment and I would not expect a serious outlay on lenses if you've been around for a while. Other areas such as computers well again you've no need to dump $4k on  computer either. And I'm pretty puzzled how you would spend $1500 a year on hard drives.

Some of the cost listed are IMO excessive for a photographer, maybe he's super busy so I can get part of that. But you control costs and there are many ways of doing that. One reason many work from home that kills any cost of a studio (but it also will bring in revenue so that has to be balanced) gear purchases can be curbed significantly too by being a bit more selective. Expenses such as phone, car/maintenance etc have always been deductible business expenses.

The important part here is to make sure you don't exceed your income with expenses ie make a loss. If that means you have to cut down your gear lust buying then that's life.
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Colorado David

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Re: Cost of doing business
« Reply #44 on: November 01, 2013, 08:13:54 am »

I agree that cost control is an important part of running any business.  I can't argue with the $1500 per year for Hard Drives.  At almost $200 each for the 1 TB drives I buy, that's 7 or 8 of them.  So if you never throw any images away and you send some drives to the safe deposit box for off-site safe storage, that's not an unreasonable number.  Add uncompressed HD video to your business and that number might be a little light.

David Eichler

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Re: Cost of doing business
« Reply #45 on: November 01, 2013, 07:44:57 pm »

The costs look unrealistic to me.
With any business you have some overheads and costs, but you also have control over expenses too.

I very much doubt people are spending a big wad of cash on new bodies and lenses every year, you can trim costs with s/h equipment and I would not expect a serious outlay on lenses if you've been around for a while. Other areas such as computers well again you've no need to dump $4k on  computer either. And I'm pretty puzzled how you would spend $1500 a year on hard drives.

Some of the cost listed are IMO excessive for a photographer, maybe he's super busy so I can get part of that. But you control costs and there are many ways of doing that. One reason many work from home that kills any cost of a studio (but it also will bring in revenue so that has to be balanced) gear purchases can be curbed significantly too by being a bit more selective. Expenses such as phone, car/maintenance etc have always been deductible business expenses.

The important part here is to make sure you don't exceed your income with expenses ie make a loss. If that means you have to cut down your gear lust buying then that's life.


It is just an example to show all the different line items that need to be considered. Line item amounts may vary considerably from one photographer to another. Maybe this example represents someone who needs top notch equipment in top notch condition, and it is getting used heavily in very difficult conditions.
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