Family Expects Free

[Serenity]

Since becoming more involved with my photography business, my family expects more stuff for free. I just recently took engagement photos of my brother and his soon to be wife, and my grandma expects photos for free. I said Grandma I have to order these prints from a lab. The point in this case is she expects me to always use my money to pay for her photos.

What would you suggest doing? I can never build my business as long as people expect this. And it's not like I would make money off of it anyway, I would only charge family base price.

~Serenity

[srwatters]

Are you talking about a few 8x10s or a bunch of 16x20 canvas prints?

I pay less than $2 for 8x10 prints and often give those to my immediate family but if we're talking about $20 or more per image, then they pay my cost. At least that's the way I handle it. I guess it depends on how much you can afford...

[carrbowl]

Grandma gets free photos....SHES GRANDMA!!!!! With in reason of course...but most grandparents (notice I said most!!) don't want much anyway...so a few 8 x 10's are cheap...brothers, sisters, etc are a whole nother ball game....

[DeLeon]

I'm pretty much the same as the above..and I never charge family a session fee.

[ngoduyviet]

Just make sure you make the distinction between family & business. To me, family is free, regardless of what they want if I can afford the time & money, and of course granny is always free. Friends, acquaintances are business even with a discount.

[Dobick]

I'm just the opposite -- my family knows that things cost money, and try to pay even when I want to do things for them.

Of course I have always been the broke one in the family.

You could set-up on something like zenfolio for your family stuff, with the shopping cart and ordering options (if you see this being a continuing issue) and let them order their own photos.

But I am curious -- did you make any money off of the couple, for the session? Probably a very complicated question. If you had to pass on non-family customer, because you booked this couple, then you could be looking at potentially losing money, but in any case, it will depend on what you are out of pocket already as to how much I would be willing to continue to give away for free.

[Rson]

Family should be free, especially G-ma and Parents. As for your brother make him pay material costs(prints at cost), I am sure that they would accommodate and throw in a case of beer for your trouble Let them know that you are hooking them up and keep quiet. You never know that they might be a catalyst to get you more jobs in the future.

Your family will always be your greatest asset. Treat them accordingly.

[d2creative]

If my grandmas were still with us, they would get free prints.

[epoh]

Ditto the others. My family is always free. If it's a whole lot of pictures, they usually offer to pay, but I haven't brought myself to take their money just yet. :)

[JenJohnson79]

I would give them to grandma. . . the brother would pay my cost to print for whatever prints he wants. . . especially since you could be losing money as mentioned from a paying client when you were taking his pictures.

I have a very similiar situation. My very best friend in the whole world's (I've known him since I was 2 and he was born) sister is getting married. She's like a sister to me. I helped raise her, their parents divorced and dad recieved custody of all four kids. I was the one to have the womanly talks with her and so forth. . . anyway she's getting married next year. As a present to her, I gave her my largest package. . . with the agreement that she's paying for prints. Such as her save the date cards, she wants me to design her invites, her bridal, and her album.

[eRoc]

I just did engagement photos of my sister and her fiance. My only complaint with my family (my brothers and sister) is they say they'll be there at a certain time then 2 hours later they show up. I can't stand that, but they're getting better since I stopped showing up altogether.

But I don't like to take money from my family. My mom tried to pay me once and she pretty much had to beat me to force me into taking it (go figure, mexican moms solve all issues with beatings, lol). So i used it and bought her something.

My services are free, but if they want anything extra like prints, they know they have to pay for it themselves.

[bondarnes]

If this is a hobby then everyone gets free prints. If it is a business then you need a business policy such as: Family never pays for my time (session fee, wedding time, post processing, etc.). My children (grown) get free prints. The rest of the family get 50% off of normal print prices. I give them my price list and tell them they get half off. I give the Bride and groom their album as a wedding gift, but I charge them half off the page prices.

[Wes]

Family pays cost. I do the shoot, upload the images onto my ExposureManager site, and send my family members to a private gallery where everything is at cost. A large part of this is because I live 700 miles away from them. If we lived in the same city I might give away more stuff, but for the most part my family knows that prints cost money and would probably still want to pony up the dough.

[adirty1]

Half off just like Don stated.

[Serenity]

My brother did hire me for the wedding he insisted in paying whatever my fees were, and he can afford it so I did just that. He wanted to help me get est. and help me get the equipment I needed so I can tak more jobs and have what I needed. I have to be careful who I give things to I guess, because I have to report taxes on everything business and so forth, so I made a plan, that I'll just charge family on photos just base price whatever it cost to have them printed from my lab and whatever tax is involved and leave it at that I won't make a dime off of anything. I guess it's just a fine line and I wanted to handle it the right way. I did give them free engagement session just being nice. Everything else is included in the package they put together.

Thanks for everyone's input!