[caption id="attachment_17731" align="alignnone" width="500"] © James Yeats-Brown[/caption] James Yeats-Brown is a leading UK social photographer specialising in children's portraiture and the creation of family albums. He asks why shooting for a fee or commission shouldn't work in the social sector, since it's common in other areas of photography, and thinks a sales model based purely on speculative product upselling is dangerous these days - mainly thanks to new consumer-oriented products from Apple, Blurb, Photobox etc. This began as a comment on Ian's post suggesting the Shoot and Share model is bad for your business... As ever, an impassioned and thought provoking argument. I have been trying to get my head round putting more emphasis on charging for time as opposed to leveraging product for a while now so I have followed this debate with interest. After all, most photography outside the social sector is conducted on a fee or commission basis where the photographer is paid for his or her time (and skill) to produce images appropriate for a particular use. This is a tried and tested model, it’s how the provision of most services happens, why not embrace it more in the social market? So, while not being a big wedding photographer and doing a fair bit of commissioned work, I can definitely see the attraction David Jay’s proposition has for all sorts of people. The big caveat of course is that the upfront fee must be sufficiently worthwhile and on this, unsurprisingly, proponents of Shoot & Share seem to be a little coy. Nevertheless I think it’s a bit unfair to shoot down the concept of making money upfront as “simply not believable”. It’s the only way I get to cover some of the events I do and get paid well for it - and books and albums still remain an option. It is suggested that Shoot & Sharers are making it difficult for other photographers to justify massive markups on prints and products. Well, yes and no. There has always been a market for the dollar print and those in it are welcome to it. And as far as I can see this is where the whole PASS system falls flat on its face compared to more professional offerings such as Workspace and SmugMug, which allow photographers to conduct their businesses with a degree of autonomy, particularly in the all important pricing. No, the real game changers who are putting pressure on product prices in the social market are the likes of Apple, Blurb and here in the UK, Photobox. They and others like them all have in common the ability to reach large numbers of informed, aspirational, often very creative people (ie our clients) and empower them sufficiently to challenge photographers’ offerings. And the public gets ever more discerning, a point not lost on Queensberry, as Queensberry Print itself opens its doors and products to the consumer market. So where to go? Image creators, editors, story-tellers, designers, communicators - these are what photographers of all kinds have to be now and we need to charge for it. Tempting as it may look, this is where the Shoot & Share philosophy for me suddenly falls down because if our clients are sophisticated enough to place real value on these virtues in the first place they’re going to expect something more meaningful at the end of the day than a free download and a $1 Dollar print. That’s below the standard they’ve come to expect even from Apple, Blurb, Photobox et al. Looking ahead I wouldn't want to have my income entirely dependent on product sales after the event. In particular I think the concept of the speculative upsale is a dangerous model to follow now. I don't shoot many weddings and I don't have a high street studio so I am sure that there are many who might disagree with me. Then again, the relatively affluent city of Winchester where I live can't support a quality photo studio anymore - the local Venture studio went bust a couple of years ago and another outfit came and went practically overnight. My view for what it's worth, is that the cycle that started with the advent of professional "lifestyle" photography in the 90's is coming to its natural end - everyone is a lifestyle photographer now on their iPhone. It's a frustrating place to be for photographers trying to make a living - the irony is that the market for images (in terms of production and consumption) has never been bigger. So I think there are big opportunities for people who can keep their heads - the real skills as ever lie in high production values, ruthless editing, great story-telling and face to face engagement, not just virtual. In other words to be authentic. Those values are best produced and delivered in the form of something beautiful and lasting…. The trick is to try and have the client desire that too and have them appreciate the cost implications before the event and I confess I don't always find that an easy task. You can see more of James' work here.