The age old “ You’re too expensive”

When you’re asking for photographer recommendations, plumbers, hairdressers, makeup artists, bakers, designers... any and all trades that provide services, please remove “reasonable” and “that don’t cost an arm and a leg” from your vocabulary.

I can’t pay my mortgage or bills with arms and legs, so I’ve never accepted them as payment.

By “reasonable”, you actually mean “within your budget” so say what your budget is instead.

Someone’s rate isn’t unreasonable because you aren’t willing or able to pay it, and quality and experience costs money. 

Consider their ability and experience of those who costs are higher. 

You'd want to assume they're insured and that they pay taxes. 

Cheap photographers aren't always quality photographers. 

Whilst some who charge less than others may be very good the likelihood is there is a reason why they are much less than others in their area. 

Someone who's been in the industry 10 plus years is going to charge more than someone who's been in the industry 6 months. 

As a photographer grows so does their knowledge and their skill and this is one of the things you are paying for.

I have personally paid thousands of pounds, not only for my equipment but on yearly training - to ensure that my knowledge is always kept up to date and that your newborn (especially your newborn!) is safe in my hands.
 
Most of my sessions are between 1 to 3 hours long, with galleries of 80 plus images! I fully edit all of my galleries so when you view your images it's the finished product, so after your session I have spent 5-7 hours editing tirelessly to perfect each image, by hand. When you break down the cost of all my images it equates to just over £4 per image! So, whilst it may seem like a big investment, you can never really put a price on memories.

You should pick your photographer because you love their style and you click with them as a person -photography is a luxury and a memorable keepsake, you should never pick based on price.

The market is saturated with photographers, and unfortunately many of those (mainly regarding newborns here) have never had hands on training. That's a really scary thought if you ask me. The industry isn't regulated so anyone can say they're a newborn photographer and take risks with your precious baby and really hurt them. If someone is charging £50 for a full newborn shoot with images, you really need to be questioning why.

I see it over and over again, new photographers burning out very quickly because they're inundated with clients because they're very cheap, and they simply cannot sustain it - they don't have any idea what it entails to run a business. Let's be honest, its 50% photography and 50% business skills.

We all start somewhere - so I'm not being mean, if you're just starting and you are building yourself up - I've been there too, but when I get asked why I'm "more expensive" than so and so down the road please bare in mind I have been doing this for 14 years - I am extremely experienced - I am an award-winning photographer - and I have a family to support.

I promise my next blog won't be a moaning one ;) x