Almost Famous
I’m not exactly a celebrity photographer. Not that I wouldn’t want to photograph celebrities, but I just don’t seem to get many calls for celebrity shoots. They say if you want to shoot celebrities you need to already have celebrities in your portfolio. Quite the catch-22. However, the few times I have received a call to photograph a celebrity it seemed to be the same story: “we can’t pay much…. But hey, you’re going to get to photograph <insert b-list celebrity here> and you’ll get photo credit!”
I’m not sure why they think I would accept less money just because I’d be photographing a celebrity. I always want to ask, “would you do your job for 50% less pay just because Janeane Garofalo was in the cube next to you?” Probably not.
I’m always usually willing to work with clients to meet their budgets, but if it comes down to getting a good rate and photographing a nerd in Los Angeles (Seriously, I just did a shoot for Psychology Today… they called and told me they wanted me to photograph a nerd) or a low rate and photographing Brad Pitt, I’ll take the nerd every time.
This week Photoshelter began testing a new print service for limited edition prints. One of my photos was chosen to be in the trial run of the service which will be going on through October 1st.
-------------------------Visit my portfolio website here, buy custom prints here, and follow even more of my blathering on Twitter here.
Related posts:
- The Soon To Be World Famous Emily Merrill
- I Feel Naked
- Always On The Lookout
- Blinded By The Light
- Roz Savage: Rowing the Pacific
5 Responses to “Almost Famous”
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The photo of the nerd might have been a little more today, but the Brad Pitt pix could have made you alot of $$$$ in syndication. I’m sure you would have made up the difference…..
I’ve recently been approached by a famous band who’s been around for 10 yrs to do publicity photos for their upcoming album. They offered me a fraction of what I quoted them and they still refused to let me keep copyright.
I agree with Jeff, sometimes you just have to let some shoots go, just because it would leave you a bitter taste in your mouth and it’s not about the money.
Hey Jeff, I just found this. It’s been a while since I saw your site. You took the words right out of my mouth though. I do only portrait work and get calls once in a while from celebs. They seem to think they are gracing me by allowing me to photograph them. They want the digital negs which I never sell and they want it for free. I ask myself the same question. had to comment on it.
Hope you are well!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE
I’ve had to pass on a lot more shoots over the past year or so do to price. There are a lot of photographers available for certain types of shoots. I try to avoid being one of those. I’d rather shoot for something less exciting and get paid well.
I can, and do shoot what I want. When someone hires me though, money really does matter.