Session pricing?

[Sonny]

I shot a car(55 Chevy Belair) on Wednesday at the Autorama. My uncle wants to pay me for my time and prints. I know what I'll charge him for prints, but I do not know what to charge him for my time. I was there a total of two hours.

Can you guys gimme some ideas?

Thanks,
Sonny

Here's the 55 Chevy

[Sonny]

28 views and no suggestions?

[Daniel Bates]

Wedding shooters' time is usually worth around $125 an hour... not sure if that helps any though.

[*Mike*]

Thing is, it's for family - which may change things... Our session fee is $275, but I'll waive it for family. Others will tell you to never treat family any differently from a normal client.

Also, what are you charging for prints? Your normal rate? How high is that? If you're being incredibly generous with your print prices, make sure your get enough of a session fee to make it worth while. If your charging a repectable amount for prints, then maybe you just want to charge a token amount so that your Uncle doesn't feel like he's taking advantage of you...

Sorry, a lot of considerations. And a lot of it has to do with you and how you want to handle it. We're doing a wedding for an uncle next year - we're charging our actual travel expenses, a modest amount for our time, and providing most products at cost. Of course, I blew up his van once (no kidding ) and would have done it for free - but he insisted on paying.

[LoungeLizard]

If that's his car, I'd charge him for the prints and ask to use the car for some model shoots (he can drive it!)

What is the two hours worth to you vs. your uncle? Daniel gave you one figure. I don't (any more) give family & friends discounts - they always backfire.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Now did you spemd the full two hours shooting him and or his car? If you were shooting other vehicles there and he was able to get you into the show for free you may consider that in your fee. Were you planning to go to the show anyway?

I would say figure out how much time you actually spent shooting him and or his car and base your rate on that or a minimum of 1 hr if your shoot time was less. Since he is family and I would guess reasonabley close family then give him a slight discounted rate for your time. You can see that he does have a few extra dollars based on how tricked out that ride is.

[Dokk]

For a chance to shoot a model in that car, I'd trade time for another shoot!

[babybluetx23]

Ohhhhh thats an idea! Trade prints for Time with the Car! heheheh That REALLY isnt a half bad idea!

[Sonny]

Let me give you a little back story.

The guy in the photo (Gerald) is the owner of the 55 Chevy and not my uncle. My uncle Frank asked me to shoot Gerald's car. This was not considered a "serious" or "professional shoot". Frank just wanted to do this as a favor for Gerald. They are very good friends and Gerald has been storing Frank's car in his garage. Frank is not expecting a "family discount". He is also a small business owner and wants to pay me for my time and prints.

In my conversations with my uncle Frank we talked about creating a poster. A 16x20 is $75.00 and a 20x30 is $150. Not sure if he'll want smaller prints.

I did spend a full two hours shooting only Gerald's car. Gerald got me access in the George R. Brown. Tuesday and Wednesday only the owners were allowed to be there in order to setup and prepare their cars for show. I was able to shoot his car on Wednesday, one day before the Autorama was open to the public. That way there would not be any people, ropes, or distractions during the shoot. But wouldn't you know it...other owners that finished early were walking around and some still managed to get in a few of my shots.