MONEY MONEY MONEY

How much do we actually make?

I received two messages this week which have prompted me to talk about money. It’s icky - I hate talking about money. It makes me feel all weird and uncomfortable. Sometimes, if I don’t understand something (normally tax related), I start to cry and have no idea why. I’m not proud of that, but in the interests of transparency, it’s the truth. I have a lot of structure around me (accountant / accountancy software / long suffering husband sitting next to me fielding constant questions) to make sure my fear of money doesn’t affect my business competency and income.

The fact is that money means different things to all of us. Our lives, our needs, our expectations and our overheads are totally different, person to person. But realistically, we all need it in some capacity to live happy and, arguably, healthy lives.

One of the messages I received went like this: ‘I had a shoot where there were multiple photographers (shooting the same day) and only afterwards realised I was paid significantly less (less than half of my colleagues, some of them with less experience.) Part of the reason for this wasn't just that the client was straightforwardly sexist - it was also connected to the fact that the other people on the shoot (all men, all 'buddies') asked each other/were open about how much they'd earned from that client in the past. With that knowledge in hand, they could negotiate far better. Basically - I really think women specifically (but all in this field) need to talk to each other about money - but I also understand that it's tough to ask and share since rates can fluctuate so much in different contexts.’

Sex/gender aside, the bit that stuck with me was ‘with that knowledge in hand, they could negotiate far better’. So, as most of you will have seen on the Chat this week, i’ve asked you to anonymously contribute your rates for one or two projects each, so we can see written clearly what some projects are earning for the photographers who are shooting. I have mixed in five of my own very varied projects as well. I think you’ll be surprised at the disparity of the results. There are payments ranging from £250 to £28,000 (this latter amount is not a project of mine, so it’s someone in this community which is largely made up of photographers who haven’t been working for years and years) - obviously the brand/project/usages are totally different but it’s good to see what is possible. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.