[Cole Sales]

Hey, I'm looking for some input and advice regarding a current proposal I've been asked to put together. My high schools's department of technology contacted me regarding a request for photos for their new websites they are currently designing. 6-7 Websites. They've asked me to generate a monthly quote to propose to the superintendent on Thursday. They are essentially looking for a district photographer, if you will. They've specifically asked me to factor in my providing them with two sets of 30-35 images per moth of the school's sports, and activities for all of the schools in the district. How would you suggest going about pricing something like this? I'm currently thinking $650 per month.

Thank You!

[triedntru]

There might be quite a bit of travel invovled. Just make sure you're taking that into account.

[Cole Sales]

triedntru, on 20 June 2012 - 10:13 AM, said:

There might be quite a bit of travel invovled. Just make sure you're taking that into account.

Right,

For the last year and ahalf, I've been contracted by the ________ School District to provide sports action, and event photography for events surrounding the high school and those attending. On average, the district has been paying me $201.78/month to provide The AD and the activities office with weekly photos that were an asset to AD's weekly newsletter, Tiger News. The ___________ School District is now requesting that I provide them with a proposal to become their official district photographer.

**The above pricing structure was based on $10/per hour. 2-3 hours a night, 2-3 nights a week.**

I was considering ending the above agreement with The AD and creating a new agreement with the district that would include the below information.




The ____________ School District is now requesting that I provide them with a proposal to become their official district photographer. Which would include me:

Attending 95% of all district activities including, but not limited to: School Board Meetings, Sports, Musicals, Plays, Fundraisers, Field Days, Enrollments, Assemblies, etc. (Both home and away) When there isn't any home activities but there are away activities I will travel to take pictures of sports and events while our teams are, "on the road".

Then providing professional quality images to the district no later than four hours after each event. Images to be used on all district websites, as well as in newsletters, etc. As well as providing the district with bi-weekly archival Cd's with all images from each event for the district to have record of.


Providing two sets of 6-10 images each month for the following websites:
The District Website
3 Elementary Schools
The Middle School
The High School
The Area Career Center
**The District Activities Office** (Pending)

In addition to the sports, and event photos that will be taken for the district, I will also provide the district with: Professional images of all buildings (Seasonal, ex. fall, winter, spring), new banner images for all district websites (when requested), professional stock images of staff, students, and teachers, within the district.

Along with this agreement, the ____________ School District will be able to order all prints, and products from the events and activities within this agreement from Cole Sales, "at cost"

Cole Sales will also provide all employees of the ___________ School District with a 50% discount on all photography sessions.


In return, I am requesting:

Credit on all district websites stating which photos were provided by me. (A small watermark in the bottom corner of each image provided to the district simply with my name, "Cole Sales")
The ability to hang banners at all event and sports games stating where photos may be purchased after each event.
An annual salary of $_____per month. (This would is a salary considering that the current agreement with The AD will be terminated and replaced with a new agreement)

I understand that not every single month I'm going to be doing the same amount of work. During the months when there is a lot of sports going on, I'll shoot sports and during the off-season I will more of shoot clubs and organizations within the district as stated above.

[summers.enemy]

I'm just popping in to say that sounds like A LOT of work. Have you graduated yet? If not, will you be able to do all of that without hurting your academic performance? Really think about that. Our high school teams will often travel 2-3 hours away for games, so you're going to incur a huge expense just in travel costs, not to mention the time the travel will consume weekly. Do you have reliable transportation to each game knowing that many of them will require extensive travel?

Also, be sure you are taking into consideration how many schools and functions you'll be required to cover in an entire district. Our local district contains 19 individual schools including two high schools and we are a small community. Would you be able to cover functions for separate activities that occur on the same night? There's a lot of factors to consider for sure.

I have zero experience with school anything (beyond hating my life while attending ) so if I were to have to pull a number out of the air taking all of these factors into consideration it'd probably be around $2500/month. Which I doubt any school district would have money for in their budget.

[Dave W]

As a business owner I've seen figures of $50 to $75 an hour as a minimum you want to charge for employees to do stuff. That takes into account taxes, equipment costs, general wear and tear and you know, making a profit.

I certainly wouldn't do it for less than $25 to $30 an hour in your position.

[Cole Sales]

Dave W, on 22 June 2012 - 03:13 PM, said:

As a business owner I've seen figures of $50 to $75 an hour as a minimum you want to charge for employees to do stuff. That takes into account taxes, equipment costs, general wear and tear and you know, making a profit.

I certainly wouldn't do it for less than $25 to $30 an hour in your position.

Okay, I'll keep that in mind.

[cloudnine]

Yes , it sounds like you are under pricing yourself. What you are describing is a lot of work. The part about delivering photos 4 hours after the event..did you mean 4 days?

Also , why should they get prints from you for cost? I understand you will be giving them the digital images for use , that is what they are paying for..but why throw in prints for cost ? After session products like prints are where a lot of photographers make the bulk of their money.

It sounds like a great opportunity , just make sure you are earning what you should be earning for that amount of work. Also , as others said , make sure you can DO the work. I don't know how large or busy your school district is , but in a typical town the coverage you are proposing is going to be very time consuming. I would stay away from flat rates.

Good luck!

[Cole Sales]

cloudnine, on 25 June 2012 - 03:15 PM, said:

Yes , it sounds like you are under pricing yourself. What you are describing is a lot of work. The part about delivering photos 4 hours after the event..did you mean 4 days?

Also , why should they get prints from you for cost? I understand you will be giving them the digital images for use , that is what they are paying for..but why throw in prints for cost ? After session products like prints are where a lot of photographers make the bulk of their money.

It sounds like a great opportunity , just make sure you are earning what you should be earning for that amount of work. Also , as others said , make sure you can DO the work. I don't know how large or busy your school district is , but in a typical town the coverage you are proposing is going to be very time consuming. I would stay away from flat rates.

Good luck!

The district will be offering me a deal and I will then have the option to accept or decline. I'll post back when I find out all the details.

[Annhigg]

Any updates on this?