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I learned today that ski photographers cost $3000 a day

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factory81
Posts: 3967 - Karma: 63
So I thought hey it would be snazzy to get some photos on the next ski vacation. Lets just ask around and see what people charge.

Ski areas have their own people and who knows how good they are, but they people that work there seemed to have a "bro-brah attitude" to them and would be open to working with me on a price just depending on the particular day and how busy it was. But they were still quoting $100-300 prices, and I am like ehhh thats a wicked amount of money.

So than I ask some individuals and I am getting like multi-fucking-thousand dollar quotes from them and here I am thinking that market for photographers was heavily saturated, and you could find them in need of work all day long.

I come to learn there is all sorts of post production work involved, and most of them have upwards of $10k invested in to cameras I guess.

I was all ignorant thinking people with $2-4k in cameras will be knocking down my door all day to shoot for $100 to a place they have a season pass to.


Whats up with this? Any of you want a job for a day?
Dec 7 2010 10:47PM
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GayWolf420
Posts: 37378 - Karma: 119,891
Half the shots that the on-hill resort photographers take look like shit too. No offense to any resort photog's.
Dec 7 2010 10:49PM
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1337
Posts: 31054 - Karma: 29,231
sounds about right, maybe a little high but around there. I'm a photog/filmer, and i have like $3-4k invested in it. If people are charging under that they are just ruining the market and undermining themselves.
Dec 7 2010 10:50PM
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BrewskiJr
Posts: 5738 - Karma: 1,478
I had my senior pictures taken 50% in studio 50% at my home mountain. He took a couple hundred shots of me. I even wiped and sprayed his whole camera set up(woops). The charge for the time skiing was around $400 (including the pictures I ordered from him).
they turned out great! sorry you're having such shitty luck

Dec 7 2010 10:51PM
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50in07
Posts: 3070 - Karma: 1,471
Individuals take a lot of pride in their work. Most of them can put in 4 hours of post production into a single photo and wouldn't want to give you the raw files. So for a full day of shooting and multiple hours of post production nobody is going to shoot photos of you for $100.
Dec 7 2010 10:52PM
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factory81
Posts: 3967 - Karma: 63
My ignorant attitude is thinking someone will be

A. in need of money
B. available that day
C. had a lift pass to one of the 4 wasatch resorts
D. once again wanted to make money instead of sit on his ass that day
E. would come out to go find pow with someone who will try and have only but the best attitude and the best times. We're here to ski for fucks sake, not do calculus or lift cinder blocks. This is fun right?




Dec 7 2010 10:54PM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
Seo and Gunderson's shots can run in the thousands.
Dec 7 2010 10:54PM
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factory81
Posts: 3967 - Karma: 63
Yeah I was honestly just looking to get the raw jpegs at the end of the day. Spend half a day with them, have lunch and exchange photos or something than. I didn't want or expect anyone to go and waste hours of time doing post production.

But I was just ignorant to the time involved that serious photographers put in to their work I guess, and how much they value their time.



Dec 7 2010 10:56PM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,272
pm mrstskier, he's a professional photographer

if you buy post processing programs as opposed to pirate them then those are expensive as fuck. lets say a protographer uses lightroom, photoshop, and nik software which are all pretty necessary that's already like $1300 on computer programs

now add all the camera gear and each photo starts to cost a lot
Dec 7 2010 10:57PM
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GayWolf420
Posts: 37378 - Karma: 119,891
I only know of probably 1 good photgrapher in SLC. Look up riley snyder. Hes pretty damn good at photography.
Dec 7 2010 10:58PM
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factory81
Posts: 3967 - Karma: 63
http://www.scottmarkewitz.com/?#

I happened to ask this guy in SLC. I didn't know he was all famous and stuff.

Dec 7 2010 11:00PM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,272
lol markewitz takes some dank ass photos. you'd want someone a little less famous
Dec 7 2010 11:15PM
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k-rob
Posts: 14217 - Karma: 2,891
this is why you make friends with pro photographers. get that shit done for FREE yo.
Dec 7 2010 11:17PM
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Deezy
Posts: 4580 - Karma: 1,004
What can they do to a photo that takes 4 hrs of post processing.
I can do 4 flawless 15+ frame sequences in that time. and eat dinner...
Dec 7 2010 11:24PM
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50in07
Posts: 3070 - Karma: 1,471
Yes but all the photographers take a lot of pride in their work. By giving you raw jpegs they would be giving you subpar work and by putting poor work out it would hurt their reputation.
Dec 7 2010 11:27PM
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iRide1080s
Posts: 660 - Karma: 411
Sort of unrelated but did anyone encounter a virus threat from Scott's website?
Dec 7 2010 11:28PM
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Snowcase
Posts: 11456 - Karma: 634
It's sad that you were expecting a pro for less than $100 a day... That's at least 6 hours ($16/hr), plus post production, travel, set up. Not to mention investment in equipment, insurance and other business costs. Where do you expect them to make any money?
Dec 7 2010 11:33PM
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1337
Posts: 31054 - Karma: 29,231
bahahahhaahaahaaahahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaaaahahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahahhahahha
Dec 8 2010 12:51AM
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rudager
Posts: 11335 - Karma: 4,624
YEEEE!!!

I've done photo shoots with photographers that get work published and do marketing and stuff like that (/claim).

It takes a lot of time to get the work done. They also have a lot of things to factor in. Such as (like stated): Equipment, travel, insurance, editing, published, other clients, etc..

When I used to ski for Kicking Horse, we did a couple marketing/ advertising shoots. That took up a lot of the day, we worked from about 2-5. Photographers like the one I worked with (www.ryancreary.com), they take a lot of pride in their job. Everything has to be right, if it's not, they might not get their pay since the company didn't choose thier work.
He (Ryan) told me that he doesn't usually get around to editing his work till about May. Aside from Kicking Horse, he also works for companies such as Patagonia, Black Diamond and so on. On top of all his clients, he has travel, national and international.

Photographers a busy guys. If you want a good one, you have to pay for them.
Dec 8 2010 1:29AM
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Jordan
Posts: 4079 - Karma: 2,122
Yeah I've found it's a huge balance.

People don't understand the amount of $$ invested.

I have to pay Liability Insurance, Gear, Gear Insurance, Travel --> it's really expensive.


Dec 8 2010 1:51AM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51617 - Karma: 162,030
Find some a friend with a decent prosumer cam and pay him 50 bucks.
Dec 8 2010 2:07AM
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KyleA
Posts: 865 - Karma: 510
Jeffrey Gordon Scott would be more than happy to take photos of you at Snowbird, PC, or The Canyons for a reasonable price.  PM JGord.  
Dec 8 2010 2:18AM
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steezemeister
Posts: 1186 - Karma: 37
ahahaha you asked scott markewitz

oh well, lesson learned

and yeah, between investments in cameras, lenses, tripods, lighting equipment, etc, most pros have easily 10k on the low end invested.

but really, probably all you need is a friend or something who is decent at photography with a 7D or whatever, just get them to take some pictures
Dec 8 2010 2:19AM
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Abc567def
Posts: 8756 - Karma: 801
Well i either shoot for my friends for free

Or i get shot for free by a buddy that works as a photographer.

Here are some shots although the quality had to get compressed

Click for larger imageClick for larger imageClick for larger imageClick for larger imageClick for larger imageClick for larger image
Dec 8 2010 2:23AM
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messplay
Posts: 4483 - Karma: 1,066
that kid is a joke. at life.
Dec 8 2010 2:35AM
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BryantPhoto
Posts: 1574 - Karma: 891
Yes you can, but that doesn't mean your quality is going to be top notch to the professional standards. I've sat at a computer for 3 days straight working on a photograph for Dior for print to get it the way I wanted it to look. And at that level of work, I wasn't getting paid $100 for that image...

In terms of investment, I run Adobe CS5, Lightroom, Canon software, and print software which is more than $2k. On top of that, my insurance for my camera, travel fees, time fees, post processing, printing equipment and fees, then the cost of all my camera equipment that will differentiate my images from the $4k camera that you could hire for about $200.

All these things add up towards your cost.
Dec 8 2010 9:12AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
I know nothing about the photography aspect of it, and minimal about the business side...

but correct me if I'm wrong, if you invest $3-4k to become a photographer, then charge $3-4k for 1 day of work...that means after 1 day, you become even, and anymore work than that becomes nothing but profit. That wouldn't at all justify charging that much per day unless your business plan consists of years of saving, purchasing all the equipment, 1 day of work, then all profit. (which would be absolutely brilliant!)

(I'm using a hypothetical model here, because of course there are other expenses such as transportation, updating equipment, and so on, but it's easier to not factor in all those variables immediately.)

Just curious about it.
Dec 8 2010 9:18AM
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Mike-O
Posts: 14593 - Karma: 1,089
I've only shot a few times with a good camera and gear, but got some okay shots. This is my favorite of my buddy Jere Toivonen:

Click for larger image

I'd still like to think that I am worse behind a still-camera lens than a video camera. Ahh, nostalgia.
Dec 8 2010 9:21AM
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Snowcase
Posts: 11456 - Karma: 634
When did this turn into a show off your photos thread?
Dec 8 2010 9:22AM
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Mike-O
Posts: 14593 - Karma: 1,089
Oh, forgot to address the issue. I worked for a media company five years ago and I was also surprised by the large overhead costs from travel, insurance, outdoor pay, use of p-production software etc.
Dec 8 2010 9:27AM
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Rachy
Posts: 4355 - Karma: 2,761
Yeah... a photographer for a day is expensive.

My mom charges $4000 - $7000 for events.


I take pictures for the mountain as the secondary photographer... I don't make that much but I'd rather be out taking pictures and what not than sitting at my desk, so it's cool.
Dec 8 2010 10:35AM
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EC-Skier
Posts: 3899 - Karma: 668
PROTOGRAPHERS*
Dec 8 2010 10:50AM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,272
a good photographer is the worst kind of perfectionist. if you're not using nik software and edit parts of your photos based off edits within selections in photoshop it takes hours and hours to get it perfect...and these guys get it PERFECT
Dec 8 2010 11:05AM
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factory81
Posts: 3967 - Karma: 63
I learned that people have really more money in lenses than anything else. Several thousand dollars worth of lenses, and they might attend seminars, workshops, and other various educational events for photographing on a yearly basis.

I get it...it's expensive, but I know without a fucking doubt that 98.2% of everyone they take photos of is not paying them 3k a day to take photos of them. So now I am just all sad that I can't get a hookup.
Dec 8 2010 3:43PM
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connory998
Posts: 1197 - Karma: 34
if you only have 3-4k invested in gear your probably not at the level where your charging 3-4k a day.
Dec 8 2010 4:20PM
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BryantPhoto
Posts: 1574 - Karma: 891
How do you know that "98.2%" of their photos they don't charge that amount. The only reason they are charging that much is due to the fact that they know they can charge it, and also have a steady income at that rate... Otherwise they would be out of business. I work with people that charge beyond that price, shooting with an H4D, full Broncolor setup, and the studio to support their work, and they never have a day off.
Dec 8 2010 4:48PM
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factory81
Posts: 3967 - Karma: 63
Its an exaggeration
Dec 8 2010 4:52PM
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Aenigma
Posts: 11256 - Karma: 424
They're still a photographer, which means it's their job to be out taking photos. If that doesn't make sense...they need to make money off the photos, not just take them for fun.

It's really no different than going to an architect and saying "oh hey, I hear you like designing buildings, so could you do this skyscraper for $200? you'll just be sitting around on your ass all the time otherwise, and you enjoy it, so here's a pittance in exchange for your work!"

Even if the photographer was out every single day working, for $100 there is absolutely no way it would be worth their time. If you expect a 'hookup', you're going to need to grab one of your friends, not a professional. There is absolutely no reason you should be this baffled that somebody needs to make a living off of their occupation.
Dec 8 2010 5:26PM
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yeahno
Posts: 4008 - Karma: 3,414
1337 is my friend
Dec 8 2010 5:29PM
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johnnypsunami
Posts: 5024 - Karma: 221
spend 3-4 Gs on a camera and take turns taking pics. Guaranteed you'll get some good shots.
Dec 8 2010 5:52PM
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