Pricing Your Photography and The Importance of Portfolio Building

As I mentioned last week, I started charging nothing for my photography services. Nothing. That lasted for maybe full two shoots before I realized…wait, this is taking time away from Brian, and my family, and costing me money. (I think that is a big mistake people make when they are determining the value of a photographer. The money it costs them to operate. But that’s a different topic for a different day.)

That brings me to this week’s blog:

What should you charge when you are just starting out?

When I was planning for my photography business, I did a lot of research. I found out what the big names in my area were charging. That gave me an idea of what I could aspire to be making. I had a rough range, and made my goal to be on the low end of it and set the time frame that I wanted to be able to start charging that.

My first wedding ever was for $800. My goal at the end of my first year, I wanted to be at $2,000. I sat down and said, “if I book a wedding in these 4 months, I will charge $800. For weddings in the next 4 months, I will charge $1,200. For the 4 months after that, I will be charging $1,600.” Once I reached $2,000, I had experience, I had learned the flow of a wedding day, and began offering different packages, starting at $2,200. Up until that point, I had been explaining that I was portfolio building.

One of the best pieces of advice I got was someone explaining to me the importance of the phrase “portfolio building”.

Using the phrase “portfolio building” when entering a new market is incredible for branding. In careful wording, you can tell your client exactly what you are worth, give them a deal, and secure your future clients.

That conversation could look something like this: “Eventually, I’m going to be charging $X,XXX Right now, I will only charge $XXX because I am hoping to get my name out there, and to build my portfolio.”

In telling them your worth, you are letting you client in on your vision for your business. You are letting them know that they cannot expect your prices to be the same a year later, and you are preemptively avoiding some seriously awkward conversations later. It also secures your word of mouth referrals.

If your client thinks your service is, say, $800, and you are planning to eventually raise them to $2,000, everyone that your client refers you to is going to be disappointed and confused when their friend got you for $800 and now you are charging them $2,200. See where I am going with this?

I know this is just scratching the surface, but I really hope you found some nuggets of information in here useful! As always, if you have any questions about this or any other things, be sure to comment or send me a message!