Why are potography lesson so expensive?

shaylou

shaylou

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I was just wondering why these guys charge so much for a lesson. In the u.s. it's not uncommon for a 1 hour lesson to cost 100 dollars and up. I don't pay my doctor that much money so how can they charge this. Truth is I never actually seen any lesson being given but that the price when you ask them. I have been in sales for well over 20 years and I have a saying, a product or service is worth what you can get someone to pay for it. Of courses like I said I haven't actually seen anyone pay this much. Is this just the sucker price they put out to catch someone who does not know better?

Thought,,,,
 
If the teacher is a working pro, they may simply be asking their usual hourly rate for their teaching and experience. I they're "just" teachers, I would expect their prices to be correspondingly lower. One to one teaching is always more expensive than teaching a room ful of students - hopefully that $100 is for individual teaching rather than en masse?

My wife (who is a properly qualified yoga teacher) charges between £6 and £7.50 per student for her classes which are an hour or 90 minutes long. From time to time, she only gets one or two students but often gets a roomful - up to 20 fit comfortably in her studio, so even with a roomfull, she hardly makes a fortune in hourly rate. Enough to keep her in shoes and clothes though and hopefully plenty to keep her not needing too much financial support from me if/when she gives up her day job to concentrate on the studio. Most weeks, she teaches 10 or so classes, so makes a reasonable whack out of what started as a hobby! She's one of the few people I know who has turned a hobby they loved into a job that they still love - several of the others are also yoga teachers - Ommmmmmm!

Namaste (IIRC, the divine in me recognises the divine in you)

Nod.
 
They may charge $100 but how much uptake is there for their services?

If people are willing to pay that they must get some value from it I guess although impossible for us to know what that is.
 
$100 is not that much really. Consider that you have to deduct taxes and pension contributions from that. In England after "stoppages" (from £100) that would leave you with around £75 for a days work multiply that by five and you take home £375 per week, round about the average wage. On top of this there is room hire and equipment maintenance to consider. Lets not forget that not every day will be that profitable either, so it is easy to see why rates are so high.
 
canonlad said:
$100 is not that much really. Consider that you have to deduct taxes and pension contributions from that. In England after "stoppages" (from £100) that would leave you with around £75 for a days work multiply that by five and you take home £375 per week, round about the average wage. On top of this there is room hire and equipment maintenance to consider. Lets not forget that not every day will be that profitable either, so it is easy to see why rates are so high.
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Surely that would assume you only teach for an hour per day :thinking:
 
canonlad said:
$100 is not that much really. Consider that you have to deduct taxes and pension contributions from that. In England after "stoppages" (from £100) that would leave you with around £75 for a days work multiply that by five and you take home £375 per week, round about the average wage. On top of this there is room hire and equipment maintenance to consider. Lets not forget that not every day will be that profitable either, so it is easy to see why rates are so high.
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Sir this is one hour of an 8 hour working day. If the teacher works half a day they will be making more than 3 times the national average income. It's a shame really because I'm at the point that I would enjoy taking some lessons to get a better understanding but there is no way I could support this.
 
probably because potography is such a rare thing to teach lol

shaylou said:
I was just wondering why these guys charge so much for a lesson. In the u.s. it's not uncommon for a 1 hour lesson to cost 100 dollars and up. I don't pay my doctor that much money so how can they charge this. Truth is I never actually seen any lesson being given but that the price when you ask them. I have been in sales for well over 20 years and I have a saying, a product or service is worth what you can get someone to pay for it. Of courses like I said I haven't actually seen anyone pay this much. Is this just the sucker price they put out to catch someone who does not know better?

Thought,,,,
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I believe he covers how to spell photography in lesson one. In fact spends the first 55 minutes on it.
 
$100 is approx. £62

I would say that's not bad if its 1-to-1 and the tog is suitably experienced
I am comparing this to music lessons which you could pay 25 quid for someone with not so much experience for an hour but easily that much for for 30 mins for someone who is
 
I charge £25, which is fine for me. I'm happy to earn that per hour.
 
What could effectively be taught in an hour :shrug:
A half day minimum to be effectively useful IMO but I wouldn't pay $400 (£250) for that - but that's just me.
 
shaylou said:
I was just wondering why these guys charge so much for a lesson. In the u.s. it's not uncommon for a 1 hour lesson to cost 100 dollars and up. I don't pay my doctor that much money so how can they charge this.
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Is your doctor a good photographer ?

Truth is I never actually seen any lesson being given but that the price when you ask them. I have been in sales for well over 20 years and I have a saying, a product or service is worth what you can get someone to pay for it. Of courses like I said I haven't actually seen anyone pay this much. Is this just the sucker price they put out to catch someone who does not know better?

Thought,,,,
Click to expand...

Well you wouldn't probably see them giving a lesson, and I'm not sure how you would judge if someone offering tuition is getting as much work from it as they would like.

You are of course right a product or service is worth what you can get someone to pay for it - which is why some wedding photographers will only be able to charge £250 for full coverage, and a disk of images, and other will be able to charge £3000 for the same.

Or alternatively why Ferrari can charge £100k+ for a car. They don't expect everyone to appreciate the value or indeed to be able to afford it - but they sell enough of them to make money and remain exclusive.

Tuition is exactly the same. Some photography tutors won't have the experience, or the skill to impart it, and might charge you £10 per hour. Others can transform your photography in a day and it will be worth a lot of money - be you an amateur or aspiring professional. There will be stack them high, charge them little - seminar type instruction where for £50 you can sit in a room for a day with 300 other people and be talked to - or 1:1 for £500 and get individual tailored support. Both are valid at different times - the speaker delivering a speech to 300 will make significantly more per hour than the 1:1 trainer.

I'm £400 a day, £250 for half a day. I don't get hundreds of clients, but I do get enough and they all walk away having got value for money. There are photographers who can charge £1000+ for a day 1:1 and for what they could do for you (I'm talking as in for a professional photographer wanting to earn more money) then it would be worth it.

I'm balancing off that time against shooting for clients where I'll charge more than that - so tuition for me has to pay well and with 25 years experience with a camera I'm not expecting to earn the same as a guy flipping burgers.
 
The best photographic lesson is go outside and take photos. After 10000 photos you will see an improvement. This is cheap and works
 
Smindo said:
The best photographic lesson is go outside and take photos. After 10000 photos you will see an improvement. This is cheap and works
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It does.

It is also extremely inefficient, and assumes that you are able to self-diagnose.

For people who are time poor, and cash rich, they will happily pay for a skilled tutor to expedite that process.
 
Yes. You are righr. Important is that you will enjoy taking photos.
 
Looking at this from both sides ..........


As a person in business you want to be paying yourself at the least £2000 per month (£500 per week) to earn a half reasonable living. In order to do this you need to earn circa £3k (£750 per week) without considering running a company car, fuel, studio fees, buying and maintaining your equipment, marketing, stationary, company accountant etc etc etc. To get that £750 per week you need £150 per day - EVERY DAY. The probability is you won't be working everyday so when you are, you need to earn more. And that £150 only pays wages, it doesn't do everything else mentioned earlier which comes with running a company.

Now let's consider doing One on One training. Someone is keen on your services. Can you afford to charge him £150 for half a day knowing he wants you from 10am to 2pm and that your day is effectively shut off because of it? No of course you can't, you need more money, much more.


And finally you're the guy looking to improve your photography. We all know how much this game costs us. It is not unusual for people to have £5k of equipment in their bag and often much much more. If you have the opportunity to learn from a recognised Pro and you know full well your skills will improve in a way they wont with a new £400 lens to sit alongside all the others you own, should you go for it? I for one will happily pay for photographic courses and I would happy pay reasonable money for them. If that is £299 for half day of One to One, or £150 in a small group, then yep, i'd go for it.

The good guys are at the very top of their game and if they can help send me in the same direction then I should be happy to pay accordingly.
 
shaylou said:
I was just wondering why these guys charge so much for a lesson. In the u.s. it's not uncommon for a 1 hour lesson to cost 100 dollars and up. I don't pay my doctor that much money so how can they charge this.
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Perhaps you need a better doctor?
 
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