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#8987
IHF
Participant

It’s a tough situation when there are so many people undervaluing portrait photography, but not impossible.   This is why I shoot for me and my learning process and I don’t shoot for others.  I get encouraged all the time to start charging and go for it, but as soon as I tell them how much I would have to charge per session to leave my part time minimum wage job, the room goes awkwardly silent.
Lets say I charged $100 just to start.  That leaves me with $75 after taxes, but I have to also figure in my other expenses.  I want to provide an album along with digital files for sharing with every session (this is very important to me, that people receive both print and are able to share freely, so there’s no cutting costs there for me).  That leaves me with $35.  I also have to pay for web hosting and file storage, and miscellaneous things, like software, props, backdrops, (the fun stuff) gas, insurance for my equipment, maintenance etc.  Now I’m down to $25 (and thats being really conservative) A session is an hour of shooting and aprox 3 hours of preparing the files for both web and for print, and backing them up, and spending time with my client both sharing the images and helping them decide on prints.  Oops!  I only made $6.25 an hour, and this doesn’t even include the time I spend marketing, blogging, and emailing and learning.  Minimum wage here in my state is $8.25.
Thing is, I don’t want to leave out time spent marketing my business, It’s time that takes me away from my family, just like any job does.  I also need to make enough so that I can afford equipment upgrades, and software upgrades, continuing education, and whatever else might arise.  So I’d have to charge closer to $200 per to make my minimum, be prepared for growth, and be financially able to leave my part time job.
Awkward silence
“How could that be when so and so only charges $50 for a session, and shes really good?!”  and there lies the problem.

To me, it’s kind of black and white.  You either do this for the pure love of it, or you do it for the money.  If the latter, price for profit.  I can’t afford to shoot for others without making money, like so many others seem to be able to do, not that I’m interested.  I’ve already got a lot invested in this hobby of mine, I can’t even imagine how stressed out and in the dumps I would be in your shoes.

right now, as things stand… You are competing with yourself.  You say someday you want to be pro and make a living, but you are teaching your clients not to value what you do.  It will be an uphill battle I’m afraid, especially with so very many others who do and feel the same