So Ron what is your worth? Can you give a number?
Paul Diamond wrote:
If you measure your worth in 'worldly values', what you might gain is worldly worth.
IMHO, you should aim higher, much higher. What have you achieved? What have you accomplished? What have you changed for the better? - What have you added? What have you originated? Where is your creativity? Where is your soul?
These are answers worthy of the last days of your life. I'm still working on mine. And, I expect to be working on them during the last day of my life.
Aim higher. Be bolder. Do good without the notice or recognition of others. Help without expecting glory. Encourage without appreciation. Love without receiving love in return.
If you measure your worth in 'worldly values', wha... (
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Your answer bespeaks of wisdom. Making the world a better place quietly is the best a man can do. Helping your fellow man is the most noble of projects. Helping him with worldly goods is admirable but helping him with his soul is most noble. When a man's soul is at peace he becomes whole.
CHG_CANON wrote:
The easiest way to make money as a photographer is to sell your equipment.
It only seems so but you actually lose money doing so! And your net worth is going down (of course unless you have other source of income). But it won't prove anything unless you show me your tax return.
What you are talking about is marketing, luck, skill and the interaction between them. Many Hollywood stars toiled in obscurity before they got their break, while some of their equally talented peers never made it. Did the stars deserve their break...probably. Were they the only one who had the skill, the drive, and the ability to market themselves...unlikely. There is always an element of being in the right place at the right time. Peter Lik sets a gold standard when it comes to selling photos but there are other equally talented photographer who would starve if they tried to sell their work at his prices. While those that ascend the financial Everest of their profession usually have the "right stuff", they usually forget the happenstance and opportunity that came their way, that may not have come to others.
As for Gursky, at 73" x 143", the print sure is big...to each their own.
As a photographer, I'm priceless. No one is going to pay me for the pictures I take, but I get total enjoyment from looking at them. "Priceless" - in both meanings of the word.
jerryc41 wrote:
As a photographer, I'm priceless. No one is going to pay me for the pictures I take, but I get total enjoyment from looking at them. "Priceless" - in both meanings of the word.
Itâs interesting that a fair âpriceâ may reflect what something is âworthâ while
âpricelessâ and âworthlessâ are essentially opposites.
Rongnongno wrote:
As a photographer, what is your worth?
Folks here do not seem to understand marketing and how to approach the upper end market.
It all about how much you think your time AND TALENT is worth. If you think it is average, print a price list and go for it. You will not go far and will have to work your *** off in order to make a decent living.
If on the other end you are good (you do not need to be extraordinary) and are introduced to the right folks by the right person basically two events a month makes the same amount you do shooting three/four events a weekend or a week for a month.
If you know you are in demand and highly recommended you set your price depending on your client's means and demands. In this case there is no price list, ever. The price fluctuates and usually goes up with time and 'weird demands'.
Once upon a time I was in demand by the Ross Perot entourage. These folks do not nickel and dime but have specific requirements both in time, location and more often than not have expensive demands to deal with. Not request, DEMANDS. Either you do it or you lose an opportunity. There is no price on this type of service. It all depends on how capable you are and how you come across.
So the real questions are:
WHAT IS YOUR WORTH?
Then
How do you come across?
And finally
Who do you know who can introduce you to a STILL very lucrative market?
The only ethic issue here is DELIVER. If you do not you are burned, end of it. Even smaller markets close on you. These folks will make you or break you, just like that, they have the reach.
The gravy train lasted two years and ended when we moved to Italy.
As a photographer, what is your worth? br br Folk... (
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Fortunately I don't have to worry what anyone thinks. I try to improve, but photography and custom book binding and now laser etching are my expressive outlets. I do it only for me and I am fortunate in that regard.
BebuLamar wrote:
So Ron what is your worth? Can you give a number?
Today? As I mentioned, peanuts.
It is about being introduced and knowing what you can deliver. I stopped because we moved. Each market is different, introductions are different and what works somewhere does not somewhere else.
Paul Diamond wrote:
If you measure your worth in 'worldly values', what you might gain is worldly worth.
IMHO, you should aim higher, much higher. What have you achieved? What have you accomplished? What have you changed for the better? - What have you added? What have you originated? Where is your creativity? Where is your soul?
These are answers worthy of the last days of your life. I'm still working on mine. And, I expect to be working on them during the last day of my life.
Aim higher. Be bolder. Do good without the notice or recognition of others. Help without expecting glory. Encourage without appreciation. Love without receiving love in return.
If you measure your worth in 'worldly values', wha... (
show quote)
Very nice, but waaaaaaay off topic. I have reasonable reading comprehension and have no doubt whatsoever that the question here is money.
If you wanna preach that money isnât the âmeasure of a manâ then start a thread in the chit chat forum. This thread is about money. That is the topic.
The people that seem to worth something (by contributing to others) seem to only get their credit after they die. Too bad we don't say more thanks to them while alive.
quixdraw wrote:
Congrats, you have created a new philosophy - Amoral equivalency.
Not new in the least ... and nothing immoral about the amoral.
Sounds like psychobabble to me. Iâm a photographer; not interested in becoming a philosopher.
User ID wrote:
Very nice, but waaaaaaay off topic. I have reasonable reading comprehension and have no doubt whatsoever that the question here is money.
If you wanna preach that money isnât the âmeasure of a manâ then start a thread in the chit chat forum. This thread is about money. That is the topic.
This thread is about selecting a market and being able to fulfill the expectation the client has.
This is an integral part of a photography business.
$$$ is always a subject here, what do you think the threads about gear, software are about?
What is your worth is about:
- Being confident as a photographer
- Being appreciated (or in 'favor' - different optic)
- Work being sold (by yourself) at the right price for the right market.
Way too many folks under evaluate their skill worth* and as such under sale their work.
High-end market? Hard work, skills, luck (at first) and sparse as mentioned what works somewhere does not somewhere else.
Professional photographers, like all other professions, are mercenaries not do-gooders.
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* Many over valuate it and sell fertilizer. These are bottom feeders praying on unsuspecting consumers. (Note consumers, not clients).
quixdraw wrote:
No price list, setting your prices based on your customer's wealth - ethical? Just a con game.
Sorry, this is the "real" world for survival (making money) ......you do not have to LIKE it . Otherwise, be poor but happy.
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