Word gets out quickly about offering affordable photoshoots. A family was coming for vacation and wanted to get some for a Christmas card while they were here, and offered to pay me (ME? Me, a hobbyist photographer?) to grab some pictures of them. I charged them $150 for ~1.5 hours of photography on the beach and some editing. I figured that that’s reasonable for a rookie? I’m kinda winging it here.
I always ask people before I post their pictures on this blog. She kindly requested no faces of the kids, so you’ll miss out on some of the really fun ones, but I loved this session. (I have no idea what we’ll do about the picture and social media and kid thing… thankfully we’re not there yet) The boys were a ton of fun to interact with and the mom came with some specific posing requests, which was helpful.
The general flow was some casual walking down the beach to a quieter spot. Taking care of some specific poses in front of the Mokes, next to a boat, etc. Then we let the boys get a little dirty and play in the sand. Some things I learned this session:
- Having the kids look into the sun can be tough, so counting down to eyes opening is helpful
- Trying to encourage everyone to smile and look at the same time (it’s not as obvious as I’d expect!) I felt like there were a lot of missed shots because one person wasn’t smiling or looking at me.
- Learn names earlier (Face palm! So obvious)
There were a lot of the blue jellies washed up, I think because of the wind and storm heading our way. One of the boys had been stung earlier, so they were super conscious about it and made it a bit tougher for relaxed beach walking.
I think the best part is I have a ton of fun doing it. I’m definitely a little nervous leading up to it, but keeping the price so low makes it feel really low pressure.
I ended up with ~600 pictures and edited ~94. I think that’s worth $150, right?
Hope so! I have another paid gig on Friday.