Charging attendance fees or those were the days

Oh for the days when attendance fees were charged. In the good old days event photographers would get a deposit, a booking fee or an attendance fee before covering an event. As time moved on and competition amongst those with the kit and skills to cover events grew then clients started shopping on price. If the product and service was the same then something had to give and the first thing was giving part or all of the deposit or attendance fee back based on upon takings at the event. It was only a short step to no attendance fee and no deposit and then a little shuffle to the no deposit and we will give you a percentage of takings.

For an industry which required a large capital outlay for start ups the money up front was a very important part of staying solvent. Equipment usage had to be maximised and a cancellation or poor event cost the event photographer dearly without the cushion of at least some payment at the time of booking.

Where do we stand today? Equipment costs are generally lower. The cost of entry to this area of the market is within reach of the average photographer (and non photographer). A large number of people have entered the sector and with the minimum of equipment are competing for jobs. Nothing else can give so now they must compete on price of product. The dream is that once they are established they will be able to increase their prices to the point that they can actually live on this income. Two problems with this: the first is that their target market is those that buy on price and the second is that as soon as they increase their prices there is someone else ready to step into their shoes and supply their cost concious clients at a cheaper price.

An attendance fee would have avoided the waste of time I had at a recent event. The job came through another photographer who gave me some attendance numbers which made it worth my while to do the job. The contact for the job was an event promoter who gave me some different (lower) numbers but I still felt the job was probably worth while. An early Sunday morning start, a hour of equipment preparation, half a hour packing the van, half a hour travelling and get there and the event owner does not know we are coming! Get this sorted and myself and an assistant start to set up and then the bombshell. Expected attendance is a tenth of the numbers I had been given. I should have packed up there and then. If every person there had bought an image I would still lose money after costs. We could also only sell to the participants once the event was over. I don't like letting anybody down (I don't believe that I ever have) so I decided to stick it out and see how we would do. I called it a day when the event had overrun by a hour and there was no sign of an end in sight.

I don't believe I would have been anywhere near this event if an attendance or booking fee had been required. No-one would have put their hand in their pocket and I would not have gone. The only problem is that I cannot lead the industry and ask for booking fees or deposits whilst no-one else is doing it. It would be commercial suicide. The other option of putting prices up to cover these situations is a non-starter as well as this would have an immediate negative effect on the current sales levels which cling to a carefully balanced pricing structure. A bit of a Catch 22.

For some events I do ask for and get a deposit. In some cases this is based upon expected takings for the event. The event must generate this minimum or part of the deposit is retained to make up the difference. These events are generally different in that the print is included in the event entry price. This being the case my sales are totally dependent upon the organiser getting the people in front of me. If he is out on his figures then he takes the majority of the financial hit and not me. There is a caveat with this though, the print margins are very tight. Actually they are tighter than a ballerinas bow on a weight lifter. What is given with one hand is taken with the other.

Ideally, we would get all event organisers to put their money where their mouths are and have them stump up a deposit based upon expected revenues. At this point you might like to construct a sentence using the words 'might', 'and', 'fly' and 'pigs'.I think we would see a far more cautious approach from the organisers if we could get this. I can dream can't I? At the moment all the risk falls on the shoulders of the event photographer with no come back if the attendance figures or demographic of those attending is significantly different from those quoted when being asked to do the job.

As they used to say on Hill Street Blues, be careful out there.

Chiizu Photo File Workflow

Time to share a small application that I use quite a lot.

http://www.chiizu.com/Photo-File-Workflow.html

At $29.95 this is a must have in the application tool set for event photographers. I wont go into all it can do (follow the link for a full round up of functionality) but it is an application that I continue to find new uses for.

In essence it automatically moves and copies files for you. Ok, great, why would I want to do that? Lets give you some examples.

Myself and another photographer covered a large event last year. We networked our two systems (his running Express Digital and mine running Lightroom) such that any shots by either of us went to the Lightroom system. We used Chiizu to then put a copy of each image on the other system. This meant that whichever print station the client went to or whichever of us had taken the shot the images were available in both ED and Lightroom.

Chiizu has an option to resize an image when it moves it. Copy your full size image into your processing application and move a resized (smaller) copy to your viewing stations. All automated so as you shoot you are creating thumbnails and web sized images for viewing.

It is not something you will use all the time or on every job. Probably a bit like having a spade in the boot of the car in winter. You will go five winters without ever needing it but when you do need it you will be very pleased it was there. Whatever the event photography equivalent of snowy roads is I must get stuck a fair bit as I find myself using it regularly.

I have found it to be very stable in use. Just set up your scripts and let it run in the background. The scripts are relatively easy to define as the application prompts you with a full set of options for each 'action' you create.

The developers are based in Australia but don't let that put you off :-) They respond to emails and I have found them very open to suggestions and feedback.

Thinking of someone elses shot

Ok. I shot a Cup Final today. Not the first and probably not the last I will shoot. All went well until the local paper 'tog' turned up just in time for the awards. Each player (winner or loser) gets an award and a little plaque to show that they played in the final. These are not 'grip and grin' type shots as there is no posing for the camera. So, when taking these shots the trick is to position yourself such that you get a 3/4 to full head on shot of the recipient and accept that you are going to get a mainly back or at best side profile of the award giver. Shoot as the handshake is made and the award is handed over. Not posed and not ideal as you are only guaranteed to get one of the faces showing but it is the key face as far as the recipient is concerned.

You need to check the background and frame the shot to minimise any distractions in the background.

Righto, sounds easy? The problem is that you will only get one shot (very rarely two) of each person so every one has to be usable. Even in relatively bright sunlight I will use a bit of fill flash for these shots. It ensures that eyes are not deep in shadow and aids in the perception of separation of the subject from the background. As one recipient is walking off the next is coming into frame. You will have 2 to 4 seconds between shots. No, I'm not making that up. I checked my EXIF data and it was consistently 2 to 4 seconds between shots. This reinforces the need to get it right first time, the flash will not have recycled if you try to take another shot of the same subject and if you do manage to get a second shot there is a good chance the flash may not be ready for the next subject. At this pace you do not have time to recheck the background again. You checked it when you started and as a new subject is in front of you every 2 seconds even if there is something wrong with the background you cannot do anything about it now except perhaps move slightly to minimise it.

The other 'tog' had walked into the background after the first few shots. My flash is going off and he can see where the camera is pointing so standing in the background he is aware that he is now a feature of my shots. It was like a scene from 'Withnail and I', a photographer growing out of the presenters back. I have over the years seen some dirty tricks and spoilers so this one was not new on me but usually there will be a group of editorial photographers and some have far less tolerance for this kind of thing than I do. One day, he will do it with the wrong photographer and accidentally get a monopod between his legs when he is stepping backward.

We get to the group shot and he mumbles something to me. The gist of it seemed to be 'I'll set up the group and don't get in the way for my shot'. Yeahhh, you set em up bud and lets see how many images you can take that have my elbow in the corner :-) Difficult though it was, I was nice and did not let his ignorance throw me and I did not spoil his pictures. Once he had got a few I stepped in to get mine and then moved the group and the trophy to get some individual shots.

There is not a another photographer in the background of any of these shots but I did manage to take a key one with a lad with a leg in plaster in the background. No-one but me to blame for that one :-)

If you are shooting with other photographers you need to think not only of your own shots but be aware that they are shooting too. The best place to be is behind the active photographer and whatever you do don't shoot over his/her shoulder. There is nothing worse (other than a numpty in the background of every shot) than half the eyes looking one way and the other half looking another in a group shot.