een goedkoop fotograaf?

- wat heb je voor je bruidsfotograaf betaald?
- 800 euro's
- dit is erg duur !!



IS HET?

Looking around on the internet you can have offers from people ready to take the pictures at your wedding for 300 euros and give you a DVD with all pictures on them.  Click and deliver, no VAT to be paid, no taxes/belasting to be paid.... How can a professional photographer compete? Pictures talk for themselves...

Is a professional photographer really that expensive?

Let's say you pay 800 euros for your wedding photographer, do take into account the following in terms of working hours, on the base of 1000 pictures taken and a traditional album delivered:

- 1 hour:  introduction with the bride and groom to-be, contract signature
- 8 hours (average) photoshoot on your Wedding day including transport time
- 1,5 hour picture download and back-up
- 6 hours: selecting and sorting pictures
- 12 hours: processing and making montages/effects
- 4 hours: making the album
- 1,5 hours: deliver album/pictures
total hours worked: 34 hours
(excluding other time spent, for example: visit photoshoot location with the couple, etc.)

The photographer receives 800 euros, out of which he/she has to pay:

- VAT 19%: 240 euros
- traveling costs, album costs & photo prints: 250 euros
800-240-250 = 310 euro's earned (brutto)

Other costs still have to be counted, such as:  photographic equipment depreciation, insurance, administration, pension, marketing and advertising, holiday money (as freelancers, we do not get an annual 8% and when we go on holiday, our salary during holidays is.. zero....)
Without even counting those, the photographer you hire for 800 euro's will earn: 310/34= 9.12 euros/hour...

How much do you earn per hour at work? the 'minimumloon' in the Netherlands is > 8 euros  per hour (before taxes) including build up of vacation days and + 8% holiday allowance...

Is een fotograaf nog zo duur?

Photography is an art. Remember that it is not the camera that makes the photographer. It is all about passion, not profit (that sounds nice, though).  2 days ago I had a couple in my photostudio, they paid for a short shoot that should last 45 minutes, I shot for double the time: 1,5 hours. I don't ask money for that. It was fun, I made them happy (and myself too), and that's what counts.  When you love, you don't count.

A real photographer will invest his/her time into you, will listen to you, without counting hours, and will do his/her upmost to exceed your needs.

Personally, I would financially be better off working in an office.
Though, my greatest reward after photographying a wedding is to see the smile of the couple when I deliver their wedding album. This is worth everything to me and it reminds me that I made the right choice living my passion, no matter what, and this is what it is about: feeling happy with what we do and making people happy.

So, the internet "photographer" will give you 1000 pictures on DVD? for 300 euros? well.. I raise my income by keeping the printing rights of the pictures and not giving the original pictures on a DVD. Without this, I would never be able to deliver quality work for that price, still offering a start price affordable to smaller budgets. I understand people want to have digital pictures, so I do give them, for free, in smaller quality for their own use...

YOU want quality, not quantity... especially for such a special day as your Wedding day, a once in a lifetime event that should be immortalized the proper way...