getting paid

I was asked by a friend to do some product shots for a client of his. At first I was a little hesitant. This would be one of the first real photo shoots I would be in charge of. I’ve assisted several important shoots. I’ve shot stuff for the school newspaper. I’ve freelanced when I knew there were several other photographers.

This was different. I was being asked how much I charge. The client was trusting me with his money. More importantly, I had to trust myself to get the job done and get the job done right.

I borrowed a 9ft wide backdrop kit and bought a roll of white seamless paper to go with it. I borrowed a ProPhoto 2400 watt kit from UCI, which came with 3 heads, 1 power pack, 2 soft boxes, 3 lightstands, several umbrellas, and more. I had to put down my back seats in my car to get everything to fit. My car was transformed from a four seater to a one seater/portable studio.

The nice thing about this particular shoot was that they wanted all the photos to be consistent. Once I got the lights setup right, all I had to do was switch out the products. Pretty easy.

I had my laptop out and after taking test shots I would upload them and review them with the client to make sure that it was exactly what they wanted.

Even though it wasn’t sports, it was a good chance to work on something different. Plus it paid pretty well. And at this point in my career I can’t really afford to be picky.