How Much Am I Worth?

Well following on from my last post I've been doing dome maths (which I hate!) to come up with a result.

Basically I added together the figures people voted for and then divided it by the number of people who voted. Turns out that on average, you people out there think I'm worth £621.42 per day. So how does this equate to the real world? Well it does and it doesn't... Different jobs are charged out at different rates depending on what the images are for, how long they're going to be used for and where they're planning on using them. Then you add on all the extras like assistants, make up artists, stylists, travel, food, studio costs etc etc and you'll soon see that a photographers time accounts for a very small portion of the overall fee. What people are actually paying for is the photographers expertise, experience and creativity. These are the things that differ from person to person... we all have time, but we all use it differently! Having said that, I have many clients that just want to pay a day rate and obviously I cater for them. Some are less than that figure, and some are more. Again, that depends on the purpose of the images, and the licensing fees.

For any photographers out there I can't recommend this book highly enough! It's got some seriously useful stuff in it! It's an American book, so there are some bits that are irrelevant in the UK, but the amount of relevant stuff is reason enough to part with £16!

Portfolio 2009 Book

My 2009 Portfolio arrived today replacing my 2008 book. As I've mentioned before, I produce a book of all my best work from each year. This is purely for myself to enable me to look back and see how my work has evolved and hopefully progressed.

Portfolio

I'm always trying to improve my work. One thing I've found really helpful is to look back at my previous work to see how I have evolved as a photographer. I made myself a portfolio book of all my 2007 work last year, and as it was getting near to the end of the year I thought to myself that I should start thinking about 2009's book.... when I realised I hadn't done 2008's!

Well it arrived today, and going through it compared to 2007, I can see massive improvements in my work. I'm still not happy though. Someone told me I shouldn't be so negative about my work. I told them that negativity isn't always a bad thing. It's how you respond to it that determines whether it's good or bad. I see my negative attitude towards my own work as a good thing. It makes me want to get better and improve my skill and creativity as a photographer, and to better myself.... which is hardly negative???

Annie Leibovitz - At Work

I don't read books... in fact, the last time I read a book from cover to cover was when I was 12.... many many many years ago!!!!

The reason for me not reading books is not down to being illiterate or not having an interest in the written word. It's actually because as a "visual" person, in that I am interested in the aesthetic, I find books, especially fiction, take me far too long to read. I find myself picturing in my head, all the different visual aspects of a character or scene before I can get on with the story. If I try and speed read like many of my friends do, I can't remember much of what's gone on half way up the page, let alone in the last chapter because I haven't had time to see what's going on inside my mind.

Well this Christmas, a family member bought me Annie Leibovitz's latest book, "At Work". I've only just started to read it this afternoon and am only around 30 pages into it, but I can already tell that this will end a long drought of book reading. It gives a unique insight into the career of one of the most famous photographers in the world and some of the photos she has taken.

If you get the chance, I suggest you go and pick up a copy, as I'm finding mine very hard to put down.