photosarah Loc: East Sussex, UK

That's not "a little steep". That's daylight robbery and totally out of all reason. I could fly to the USA, do the shoot, make three A1 canvas prints, and return back here, and still have LOTS of change for $11,400. What a con.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's what I think, but it's still ridiculous. $300 per print? That's a bit steep.

mikeg492 Loc: WIlmington, NC

Were does he have to fly to do the shoot?

Morry Loc: Palm Springs, CA

As always "Let the buyer beware" saying is alive and well. I was in the photography business for 17 years. I learned my craft so that I could do "good work" and charge the "better" prices. I never wanted to cheat customers and never did I want them to feel cheated. So I always had printed price lists for everything that I did. My prices were an open book. And to this day (I'm 80 now) I will not hire anybody for anything without knowing what it will cost in advance. I'm sorry for these people that get taken advantage of. But at least part of the problem when that happens is that they are perhaps naive and too trusting.
Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if everyone was honest!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

File this one under Shameless Self Promoter. :)

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

I have seen all kinds of prices all over the US for portraits. Both established photographers and wannabes. But, this sounds outrageous. I think I would have donated the "gift card" to a charity and taken the deduction off of my taxes and hired someone else to do the shoot. Having said this, I have seen people on Facebook and other internet media, who's photos often look like they were taken with a Coolpix, offering 8x10 and 16x20 photos for outrageous prices. Of course offering and getting are two different things. I will typically do a portrait shoot in my studio (at home) for $50-$100 for a 1/2 hour. This depends on how many people involved the $100 is 3 and, of course the price goes up for more. Prints depend on size, number, finish, frames etc. A CD with chosen prints is also available for extra cost. I think my prices are fairly inexpensive for the Tampa / Clearwater area. If I have to go to a site for the shoot, of coarse I charge more. Having said this, maybe the photographer they got is the one that just sold the print of the cave for 6 million dollars (was a set of 3 for 10 million I think) so his value is higher.. I don't know what someone like Scott Kelby, Joe McNally or guys of that caliber charge but I would be shocked if it was that much and Joe is in the NY/Connecticut area and Scott is in Tampa (or where ever their customers have them go).

NoSocks Loc: quonochontaug, rhode island

I've always felt kind of guilty about charging $400 for an odd-sized print, 20x42 or something like that, on canvas, stretched on a frame, printed by Millers in the Midwest. Including freight, the print cost me $190. The photograph was from my collection and had been used on a calendar. Was I out of line? According to this Wolfe guy, I gave it away. Of course, I don't have his creds.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Have you looked at his stuff?

http://jonwolf.net

I am not sure that he has his creds either.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

I think that "within reason" the price you can charge is what the market will pay. I don't want to rip off anyone either, but conversely, my time is money and I don't want to give anything away. Basically, we have a pretty good photo group here in the Tampa Clearwater ST Petersburg area and they have a couple of members that have processing (Canvas and Print) shops, not to mention, professional framers. These people put on pricing clinics for the members which gives everyone a chance to get a feel of the going rate. This is part of Meet Up and very reasonable in our area... So membership is pretty inexpensive (free in our area for this club)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This reminds me of what stores often do with deals for purchases of $25 or more. Everything is $24.99, so the offer doesn't apply unless you spend lots more.

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Since Morry posted this a bunch of you have weighed in on the self-promotion shtick. I end up with very mixed feelings about this. I also was in the business for more than 30 years, with my own studio for the last 16. Like Morry, my prices were an open book, and they were too low. I never had the pretensions (or the confidence) of the Jon Wolfs of the photographic world. I did solid, craftsmanlike work and made a living. I was well trained. I hold an associate degree in photography. I was a PPA (Professional Photographers of America) and WPA (Wedding Photographers of America) member. I attended conventions and seminars to keep honing my craft, but I simply could never square myself with the Top Tier guys who honestly seemed to believe that they walked on water and therefore were worth ever nickel they charged, and that's also probably why we ultimately lost the business: we never charged what we were worth because we were afraid to; quite frankly not arrogant enough.

I've looked at this guy's work and I sincerely think it's very, very good, but is it worth what he charges? It is if he can sell it. I remember years ago a studio owner I respected told me that if were hiring, he would never hire a photographer who could not sell, regardless of the photographer's talent. The real skill, he said, was not the photography so much as the selling of it. We always got resistance to our prices so we hesitated to raise them. The upshot of that, over 16 years, was that when there was an unforeseen crisis we could not sustain the business and it sank beneath us, taking everything with it. I did not pick up a camera again for more than a dozen years, and I never took another picture for money.

This guy (and others like him) is very high end and a shameless self-promoter: "Do you have a Jon Wolf in your home?" "Discover the Jon Wolf experience!" The guy caters to the 1% crowd. He believes his own hype because he has to. I took numerous seminars from guys just like him. One Master Craftsman of my acquaintance was fond of saying, "I want to take your dollar and put it in my pocket where it belongs." To this day when I hear stuff like that it makes me want to hurl, but to get their clients to believe it, they have to believe it. It's not a "naked emperor" thing most of the time; the work they do is superlative, but to make it worth THAT much, they have to sell you on the idea that it really is worth THAT much. I never could so I ended up working at Home Depot. :oops: :|

SonyBug

I for one looked him up. He does portraiture, but reading the hype shows me that he is really in love... with himself. His work is not better by any means than at least a dozen artists here in Nashville, and not anywhere as good as several that I know myself. But his prices are just sinful. I have a conscience and can not justify breaking my moral code and ripping off people for anything. Does not seem so for him. Beauty and value are in the eye of the beholder!

krl48 Loc: NY, PA now SC

Chuck, I think you nailed it.


:thumbup: :thumbup:

abscess Loc: Marblehead, Ma. And winter in Naples, Fl

found mr wolf at " jonwolfphotography.blogspot.com". I am doing photography as a passionate hobby so I have no knowledge of fees but would really be interested if the pros, who I have learned so much by reading there advice on this forum,would check out his site and then give their opinions

PRodacy Loc: New Mexico

For a charity event, he should have taken the cedrtificate, done the shoot, and provided a couple of prints at no additional cost. At the minimum, the $1400 he already charge should include the three 20 x 30 prints. Mr. Wolf would be out of business in a heartbeat if he were in our area. What a ripoff artist!