The NEVER ending battle and question within my work and the industry I operate in is Payment.
Your either wrangling usage fees, chasing a 5 day late payment you have already been waiting a month for. or even just trying to find out if your getting paid at all??
For me it's taken a fair few fucking years to get a grip on payment and navigating that between friends, clients, people I don't know and brands. And ultimately it's VERY CIRCUMSTANCIAL. As someone who spent a lot of there 'unofficial' / early career just shooting and not really thinking about the prospect of making money or photography being a job (First 6 years probably 25-21 years old) But after my first job where I got paid over £150 in a day and was done in less than 8 hours, the penny dropped.
If I was to give any advice to my younger self it would be USAGE USAGE USAGE. The amount of photos and work where licensing wasn't discussed or agreed and I see artists using them on billboards, artworks for albums and singles, reworking them for posters etc it goes on. To put it in plain terms THERE MAKING BREAD OF U AND U CANT DO NISH ABOUT IT. It's something i've had to grow to learn to stand my ground on and set boundaries within contracts etc as well. If you can do this fairly early on and understand some key terms (PERPETUITY = FUCKING DOSH) your gonna be making a fair bit more but also have more control over your imagery and where its being shown and to what level.
Next we move onto the art and benefit of working for FREE (wish I could add star emojis or something). It may seem a bit counter intuitive to be doing a segment on payment and be talking about free, but let me land your boy is blabbering about it for a reason. Firstly i've done shoots before that the imagery afterwards has been licensed or used in a promotional capacity and got me paid, in which in turn I consider 'getting paid from a job'. Secondly doing TFPs (AKA agency and professional term for a test shoot where no one gets paid) you can showcase skills but also try stuff and have the creative freedom to showcase and post and potentially get you work and or access to other places. And finally sometimes going somewhere for free and not having the pressure of it being a 'job' you tend to perform better but also when in those scenarios you have EVERYTHING to gain. I regularly look at some jobs as: who am I going to meet? who's going to be there that might hire me? Is there anyone worth photographing to build my portfolio or just use to aura farm on instagram? Hate it or love it, It works.
Finally - Adaptability. This for me is the real skill knowing when to drop your rate or raise it, I'll keep it simple.
- People who shout you consistently and pay quickly and are transparent / lay it all out from the outset - Keep lower and adjustable rates but they also tend to respect you and want to pay you well so its a good one to notice and focus on. Relationships & Trust = MORE DOSH & OPPORTUNITY.
- Big brands : Always go in High and I tend to offer them multiple rates with different deliverables for example option 1 : Digital Option 2: Digital and Film - you get the jist and make sure to ask where the photos are being used after - advertising and paid usage = MORE DOSH.
- Agencies / PR : flip of a coin on this one as they get you into good rooms but sometimes the budgets just are tight but again go high and work your way down.
- Artists & Labels: These are usually either the easiest or the worst unsigned artists its usually a walk in the park do the shoot, once shots are delivered - you get paid. Now labels there bastards they will try and license everything and then might pay you within 90 days, if they remember. Contracts and communication are very very important. Stay on em there sly dogs.
Finally learning to say no and or respect boundaries, something I struggle with a lot with 'RUSH's' put on jobs and fast turnarounds, ultimately no ones going to die and also if they don't pay for the RUSH service nowadays and we shoot on a Friday your getting it next Monday. Learn to rest, set boundaries and in turn respect your peace but also your integrity.
Big one today felt like it might help a few of you if you do read it.
D x
