Getting paid

Any professional photographer will have his or her own horror stories about the business of being a photographer. Unless you're a major name in advertising photography, or whatever, getting the work can be difficult. But there's another aspect which may be less obvious to the outsider: getting paid a reasonable fee for your work.

I get many approaches from magazines for editorial shoots. The exchange usually goes something like this:

Hi, I'm from XYZ Magazine. We're planning a feature on [insert subject]. We need a photographer for a whole day.

I duly confirm that I can do the job and that I'm available, then I ask how much they are paying. This elicits one of two possible responses.

Either: Well, our budget is really limited, so we're hoping that you'll do it for free. The exposure will be really good for you.

Or: Well, our budget is really limited. We can pay X. [where X is an absurdly low number that wouldn't even cover my gasoline for the day]

Two things about this nonsense irritate me. Firstly, the fact that these magazines set unrealistically low budgets for photography (and presumably for every other professional service they'll need). Secondly, the fact that this happens repeatedly indicates that there are (so-called) professional photographers out there who are accepting these offensively low rates, or working for free.

If you're one of those photographers: shame on you!

If you're one of those magazines: shame on you!