Photo pricing

[rockin-photos]

I know that's a bad title for this post, and probably has some people ready to rag on me already, but life goes on.
Here's the deal, I work at an Engineering firm and everyone has come to learn that I do photography as a hobby and on the side for $. I was approached by the head of the HR dept this morning wanting me to do some group photos of different departments who were up for national recognition. She will be sending these in, and we are expecting one to make it to the cover of the magazine. She (HR head) said to just charge whatever I would charge anyone else. Well, this is not what I usually do, so I'm wondering what you all think I should charge. Maybe I'll just get them to purchase a new lens for the shoot as payment .

[bondarnes]

It will probably take a half day to do this and my half day rate is $XXX.00 (not less than $500.00) and each image selected will be $XX.00. Since this is your employer you probably don't really get into usage and rights.

You could also contact a local photographer that does this sort of work for a living and get a quote. Then go with that quote or a little less, let's say maybe 10% less.

[gmarblestone]

The interesting point is that you will probably be on the payroll while you are taking pictures. So, do you deduct for that? Also they are most likely paying benefits (insurance, 401k, 15% of your taxes approx). "normal" photographers do not receive this compensation from their clients, so i would take that into mind. Now, if you are doing this after hours, ignore everything i said.

G

[rockin-photos]

Thanks, all good advice. This will probably be "off the clock", and a seperate check will be cut, after taxes. It looks like one group will be an indoor shot utilizing our "floating" stairs, and the other will be an outdoor shot with Minute Maid park in the background (it's one of our projects).
Attached is a quick snapshot of the stairs.

What makes these stairs unique (but not shown in the photo), is that the bottom of the stairs do not attach to anything. They are held up by the cableing system built into the railing.