Best Business Practices for Photographers [120]
Later that day, I received the following e-mail, affirming the contract and additions. This is important because although we had an affirmation of the contract and additions, we'd not actually received the signed contract back. We would not be releasing high-resolution files until this occurred, but I felt that the "this should be fine" response to the contract I sent was also a contract approval, just not as final as a signature would be. She wrote:
Following the shoot, I reported in:
Later that day, an e-mail came in along with a fax of the signed contract. The response was:
We wrote back:
A few days later, the client reported the final results:
The front page of the contract follows. Since the back page is identical to the previous example, there's no need to include it.
Case Study: Consumer Magazine
Contract: Major consumer magazine.
How they found us: Internet search engine.
Assignment: They needed a portrait of a subscriber who was participating in a fitness challenge. The initial dialogue began on a Monday for an assignment the next afternoon, Tuesday. The film went to our lab Wednesday and was shipped out Thursday for Friday delivery.
Deliverable: 120mm film.
Technical notes: Two setups at a gym: one on client-specified color seamless and a secondary image as an alternate of the subject using a piece of exercise equipment. Location was entirely in a gym, and it was two setups with a total of three lights for each.
We proposed a fee of $925, they countered with $450, and we settled on $675. The client was specific about a backdrop color, and we included that in the estimate. Further, in the end, we purchased a second backdrop after the contract was signed, which was included on the invoice. Although the photo editor signed the contract, after we had received the signed contract from the PE, her assistant sent us the magazine's standard contract, which was highly objectionable. After the fact, we also were confronted by the client's demand for the receipts—we responded, and our issue was resolved.
The following correspondence includes:
Our contract's first two pages, which includes the dollar figures
Their counter contract
Our e-mail traffic regarding the negotiation over the photographer's fees
Our e-mail to the client with the attached invoice and their receipts problem
Our e-mail response to the client regarding their problem and their acceptance
Our "receipt" for the expenses
* * *
NOTE
If we had agreed to their contract, we would not have been able to facilitate the best film processing, nor could we have made our copies for copyright registration, because they would have held the film for six months.
* * *
While this concluded our negotiations, I think it's helpful for you to read the text of the proposal they sent over. In addition, note that we did the follow-up shoot for them two months later, without further objection as to pricing or receipts policy.
Chapter 14 Contracts for Corporate and Commercial Clients
Corporate and commercial photography are phrases that are often used interchangeably. Sub-types within those types of photography, including annual reports, PR, advertising, catalogues and brochures, executive portraiture, and internal communications materials, are among the numerous derivations of these two "parent" types of photography. One key thing to understand is that these types of photography are not editorial—someone has quantified a benefit to the bottom line, either in the short term or the long term, by engaging photographic services. An editorial shoot ultimately has to benefit the bottom line of a publication by contributing to retaining existing subscribers or influencing new readers to subscribe, which will increase the eyeballs looking at the publication, which in turn will validate or increase ad sales. The cause and effect in editorial is not as distantly related (for the most part) as that of corporate or commercial types of photography.
What's the Difference between Corporate and Commercial?
Corporate photography