Best Business Practices for Photographers [119]
Case Study: Portrait for University Magazine
Client type: Publication for a state-run university's school magazine.
Assignment: Portrait of a single subject, on location outdoors in Washington, DC.
Deliverables: Single image via e-mail, suitable for a full-page inside use.
Technical notes: No permits necessary, single head on battery pack strobe pack. Total time shooting: 10 minutes; total setup and breakdown: 1 hour.
This was the initial inquiry:
We responded one hour and 37 minutes later:
We followed up with a phone call and were told that he'd look over it in the next few days. More than a week later, we received this response:
The addendum contained the following proposed addendums, and we treated them as proposed. They were:
That's a pretty big difference between "one time use" and "exclusive non-commercial usage rights." A response was in order, and we replied later that same afternoon.
Note the changes to the usage and indemnification clauses.2 The resulting e-mail from the client then struck the indemnification for both parties, and I responded:
The shoot terms were agreed to, and we completed the photography as requested, having negotiated from our contract terms as a basis. The client indicated initially that they'd want to accomplish the shoot for less than $1,000. Because we were delivering only a single image, I was able to reduce my post-production charges below what we'd normally charge. The final redacted contract follows.
2 In the "publicity release" section, there is a note about not publishing or citing any comments or quotes from the staff. Because not only is the individual not identified, nor the publication, nor the school or state, and these quotes are not comments nor quotes, per se, but rather an ongoing dialogue over negotiated contract points between myself and the school, and further the disclosure of this does not breach the spirit of the proposal—to preclude the appearance of an endorsement of my services by a state-run and taxpayer-funded institution—and further, because the intent of this case study is to educate, it is the author's position that this body of text falls outside of the restriction that finally was embodied in Clause 8 of the author's contract with the school.
Case Study: In-Flight Airline Magazine
Client type:Publication for an in-flight airline magazine.
Assignment: Portrait of a single subject, on location indoors and possibly outdoors in Washington, DC.
Deliverables: Several via e-mail or FTP, suitable for a full-page inside use and cover.
Technical notes: One or two heads. Total time shooting: 30 minutes; total setup, breakdown, and waiting time: 4 hours.
The initial inquiry came via phone call and was followed up same day with an estimate. Following is our e-mail to the client accompanying our estimate:
Case Study: Major Financial Newspaper
Client type: Major financial newspaper.
How they found us: A search on the Internet resulted in us being listed #3 for their search term.
Assignment: Portrait of a Washington, DC sports team for a special section of the paper, indoors in Washington, DC.
Deliverables: Several via e-mail or FTP, suitable for a full-page special section cover use.
Technical notes: Two complete setups in a sports arena, requiring six to eight heads per setup, and two assistants. One scouting visit. Total time shooting: 15 minutes; total setup, breakdown, and waiting time: 3 hours.
The initial inquiry came via phone call and was followed with sample photos of large groups of people via e-mail attachments.
The next morning, the client responded:
The words "you can have this assignment" mean the client won't be talking to whomever else she contacted. The next e-mail included mockups from the client:
I scheduled a time to scout the location and e-mailed the client low-rez files from the scout. A truncated version of the dialogue follows:
The client responded:
With the client and me in sync, I was able to put together final paperwork. I sent along an e-mail with dates locked down. And then I sent