Professional contexts 2 – Day rate & Cost of living
From the first session this year with Morag, we were informed the module of second year would focused into depth of photography business, including looking through how we structure the day rate as a professional photographers, working in professional kit and understanding the price we should be paid. Before that, we discussed about social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and which the way to sell ourselves, also, thinking of having separated social account which would not make your account look massive because social media is also the tool which people use them to run their business.
Apart from online technology, we also said about photography in traditional printing industry, newspapers and magazine have been changed to last 15 years to lifestyle, publication, sounds people eager to see beautiful things rather than documentary, if become an amazing editorial, you need to build your skill up on lighting, styling, communication which is practical photography students need to improve, in editorial market, all about is style. We also looked at the association which both student and professional could join in, for intense, NUJ, AOP, reasons to join in are getting support if things go wrong, secondly, it’s a forum for you to share your ideas, push yourself into next level as well as a chance to participate competition if they hold competition regularly.
Then we went to next step, talking about day rate by fulling spreadsheet. Separating into three parts which are equipment calculation, depending on which photographers you would like to be, not all the items would be used, but taking yourself as professional, you would consider to get the highest kit to work on. I am thinking doing studio photography, so I would think about renting a studio, the price of portable studio light and any props I possibly would use if client required as well as any photographic accessories. Apart from this, we also need to think how much for software like Photoshop or personal website.
And the next spreadsheet we look at is about the living cost per year, thinking about the area you would live. London definitely is my first chosen because it’s got more opportunity of jobs, however the living cost is much more terrible than other cities because it is the capital city in UK, I search the roughly living zone in London, and preferable area would zone 2, but it depends on which area in zone 2, so I take the average price of renting as well as the charge of hiring studio which I look at zone 2 as well. I think the cost of traveling would be noticeable, but I would not drive the car unless I’ve got the commission outside of London which I could consider to rent a car, anyway, the price of underground ticket is horribly increasing per year, I would think about taking bus rather than tube, due to the stable bus price and if holding Oyster card which would much more cheaper than getting the tube, so that would not be the problem. The spending of gym is not also my concerns, I prefer to put exercise into my daily things to do, such as walking, and I am afraid that if shooting four days a week excluding editing and retouching, I would not have time going to the gym (literally I am just lazy.).
The final step we looked at is the result of calculation on how much you spend per year, and it gives the idea of how much would be your full day rate. Because the living cost in London is expensive so the contingency would be put as 20%, which get the rough idea of calculating day rate and living cost as a professional photographer.
The session we start to think ourselves in professional industry. Due to seeing myself as editorial and commercial photographer, I want to work with magazines or publication, so I think NUJ might be the association for me to join in. I don’t have any social business account, but from my friends experience, they all suggest me to set up an business account when you start running your business, no matter what you would to be in future. Having separated accounts, it would not look complicated on your account, but I think it is a challenge for me, which I would spend more time looking both accounts to make sure I would not miss something. The spreadsheet giving the idea of how money goes and in, how we structure our day rate to afford extra expense and I think It would be necessary to understand that how much your day rate should be charged roughly before entering professional.
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