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jmax

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John Maxwell
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Ok guys I've having a bit of a dilema, and would appreciate a bit of help.

A friend of mine is having 4 of his cars shot for a motor magazine. The magazine is based in England and want to send a photographer over to shoot the car in Northern Ireland. My friend is going to propose to them that I shoot the cars for them and forward on the images when complete.

My real question is what should I be looking to charge the magazine as a rate of pay?

Many thanks,
John
 
It needs to be worth their while.

Their thinking will be along of the lines of does the convenience of having a photographer local make up for sending over a photographer who'll probably know how the art director thinks. Consistency is key in magazine production, which is why the same photographers (be they staffers or regular freelancers) are used across the board.

If you get the gig be up front with them and give them a firm price based on there shoot and not number of images used and size of image - that'll just get messy and would probably just put them off. Knowing designers, they are a law unto themselves so an image that may be classed as a main could quite easily be used as a second spread incidental.

Figure in cover costs but don't go mad. If it's an independent mag then the budgets won't be massive - find out what the mag's circulation is and if it's ABC'd then use that to determine the amount of exposure you'll get from a cover and how important their cover is.

If it's a niche Morris Minor (example) magazine then it's safe to say that it's going to sell regardless of cover. If it's Autocar then the cover has a big impact.
 
Have you photographed cars before? As you seem to specialise in portrait stuff. shooting cars is a lot more difficult than it looks.
 
jmax said:
Ok guys I've having a bit of a dilema, and would appreciate a bit of help.

A friend of mine is having 4 of his cars shot for a motor magazine. The magazine is based in England and want to send a photographer over to shoot the car in Northern Ireland. My friend is going to propose to them that I shoot the cars for them and forward on the images when complete.

My real question is what should I be looking to charge the magazine as a rate of pay?

Many thanks,
John
Click to expand...

Less than what it would cost them to send their photographer.Disclude his wage from your calculation they have to pay staff photographers anyway.If it was me I would photograph the car, email the pics and say are you interested in them.Ask them what they will pay or tell them what you want.


I always have to undercut staff photographers costs because if I don't their accounts department want to know why they are sending cheques to me when they employ photographers for the Newspaper/Mag.

If you do the photographs before asking you will remove the possibility of a refusal due to lack of confidence in what you can produce.:naughty:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Can't be that difficult, POAH can do it :naughty: :exit:
Click to expand...

Beginners luck? :P

It depends on the magazine, they will all have their regulars who they know they will get consistent results with, so for you as you seem to only do portrait work you will be an unknown entity, it's risk vs reward and the only way I could see them agreeing to have you do the photography is if it was massively cheaper than sending one of their own over.

That being said, it won't hurt for your friend to suggest you, since if he doesn't then it's a definate "NO" and you'll have lost nothing by doing so.
 
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