Wondering If Anyone Would Be Interested

I think it's awesome and worth plenty of money, but I wouldn't allocate any money to photos for just a bday party. Even if I was really rich I wouldn't because I'd just buy a nicer camera and keep doing them myself. For a wedding or more expensive event where I already plan on spending a lot I wouldn't mind. (such as graduation party, parents 50th wedding anniversary, etc.)

I feel that if you love it you need to do it. Start off part-time to give it a chance to grow and then move into full-time if it keeps working. If it works realy well you can get full time pay with part time work.

As far as the charging goes it depends on how well you photograph and catch the "moment". At first I would start out in a meduim range of what other people charge and then as you improve and get better you can work your way up.

Good Luck

If you love it, do it!
There's a lady here in rural Montana who does pics for $50. She'll snap away all you want for two hours, and then give you a CD. You choose which pics you want printed and take them to Costco, WalMart, or wherever. As the photographer, she's giving up two hours of her time for shooting and however long it takes to edit the pictures and get them on a CD, and then she's done. People really appreciate her service because they know it'll only cost $50, plus the cost of what they print themselves. They don't have to worry about inflated printing costs or hidden charges.

I can personally say if it was very reasonable it would be awesome and something I would use it! As a single mom, when bday parties or special occassions are going on it is so tough to juggle picture taking, video cameras, and then have to run the show too! I think it is a great idea.
Think of what your costs are, overhead, like supplies, developing and so on, then figure a rate of what your time is worth hourly. That way you always cover your expenses and make some profit as well.
Economic times right now may be iffy on starting something like this up now, but who knows.
Capturing baby's first moments or helping out a family during celebrations with pictures may just be something that would work! Good luck!

T.,
That is a great idea, as long as tbe cost is not too high.
At my kids parties my parents are there and do the photo taking. I know those mothers who don't have help would love that! Blessings on you and your business adventure.

Hi T.,

I am a photographer so I wanted to jump in and give you some advise from my experience.
The most important thing is to make sure you have a business plan in place and all of the legal stuff covered before you start charging. And make sure that you charge enough to cover your time and talent. If you go to an event and shoot for 4 hours and then spend another 4 hours processing images... a $100.00 print order is not going to be enough to cover all of your costs plus get you paid for the 8 hours of work that you did.
Photography is a really hard business to get running... especially during rough economic times because it's not something that people have to have. KWIM? So you almost have to be a fantastic photographer plus a wonderful business woman just to make it all work so that you come out on top.
That being said... if you've got the desire to give it a try and the talent to do it then go for it! Atleast then, no matter what happens, you know you tried. Right?
A few pointers from someone who's been there:
-Word of mouth is the best advertising and it's free!
-Print up business cards and leave them everywhere.
-If you're shooting events it's a good idea to have 2 of everything (I was shooting a Wedding once and my camera froze up right in the middle of the Ceremony- luckily I had a backup with me).
-Stick to your guns- certain people will always try to push you into giving them something for nothing. And once you give an inch they'll try to take a mile. Have your business policies and prices lined up and stick to them.
-Decide what discounts you'll offer family and friends a head of time and don't make exceptions. My blanket policy is a specific percentage off... but every now and then I get that one friend that I haven't spoken to since High School who finds out I'm a photographer and wants me to shoot her Wedding for free since "we were such good friends".
-Be ready to branch off into different areas of photography to make ends meet. When I started out I swore that I would never shoot a Wedding because it was just too scary... I wanted to be a Children's Photographer and that was it. Last year I shot 18 Weddings and I've got 6 booked for next year... see how well that worked out? ;)
-If you have any questions at all... don't be afraid to ask for help. Some photographers will give it happily and some won't but don't let that discourage you. And if I can help with anything at all you can message me here or contact me through my website. www.photographybymeghanwildgoose.com.
Good Luck!

Be sure to have a business plan in place before you start anything. My MIL has a photography business and they spend more than they make. People just aren't willing to pay a lot for a photographer these days. If you want to do it because it's your passion and making money isn't that important to you, go for it!

I think that is a great idea~ I often can't enjoy my kids' parties because I am so preoccupied with getting good pictures! Either that, or I am so busy with the party that I get no pictures at all. I think you could charge a package price rather than hourly. Maybe 50$ a party? Or is that too low? I don't live in your area, so I am not sure how the economy is down there. Regardless, you should charge your fee and give the customers a disk with all the shots on it, and let them do their own printing. That way, it wouldn't cost you much more than your time.

It could possibly be a good business to start, however the timing might not be very good. With the economy the way it is, and so many jobs threatened, I don't know who would want to put out the extra money for something they can do themselves right now. I work part time, and my husband works full time, and even though we are still both employed right now, we don't know what the future will hold, so I know myself that I wouldn't put out any money for that.
If it's something you really want to try, just dabble in it a bit with your family and friends and get some referrals from there?

Keeping costs down would definately be a huge asset. I have 4 kids, and they all play sports and we have this guy (Charlie O with Charlie O's photography) and he takes lots of awesome pictures at the highschool football games, however, his prices are sooooo high, I just can't afford to buy them! If he lowered his prices, he'd have so many more people buying the pictures. I didn't even go through him for my sons senior pictures, he wanted to charge something like $400! So I found this lady who is a art Teacher at Silver hills middle school and she does it on the side, she made up her own business cards and everything, she charged $125 for senior pics, took a whole bunch and gave us the rights to the CD for us to print the pics. I got her some business of about 8 other people to do the same, so word of mouth workds great, and she was so reasonable and good, it wasn't necessary to pay some huge fee that these other crazy people charge.
So just a little info there. Good luck!

I think any idea who have is worth pursuing. I am self-employed Massage therapist, but I see your idea and think if you take great pictures then try part time. The idea of a recession is to get people making their own jobs. As we all try new things and not depend on global markets that we all put ourselves in a better place. Marketting maybe hard, but word of mouth is a great way. Get a good Quickbooks person to go over your estimated expenses and set up a business plan. Most Small business development centers offer classes on bussiness planning some have retired executives who can mentor you. If you want more info please feel free to email back and we can talk.
M.
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Ok. When my husband was stationed in England, a friend of ours started a quasi photography business. I have included her website and email address. http://www.tlbrownphotography.com/

She took pictures at a birthday party for my daughter and it was the greatest thing ever! I was able to enjoy the party and didn't have to worry about whether I was getting good pics.

If you live in my area and get started, I would love to talk to you about this. My daughter's birthday is coming up.

Contact my friend Tammy Brown (she lives in Dayton, Ohio now) and ask her how she got started, etc. She would be more than happy to talk to you!!! Seriously!

Good Luck! I think it's a great idea for children's birthday parties.

Hi T.,

I do this sort of thing. The hardest thing is advertising and getting your name out there. I would join the Momphotographrs group at yahoo groups. There are a lot of moms that are part of this group that have great advice about everything! You can visit my website too. It is www.photosonlocationco.com Good Luck! ~Lanna

I was wondering were you are located and how much you are charging? I would like to get some Christmas pictures done outside somewhere with my family for Christmas cards if its not too late. I am married with 2 kids and live in Riverton. Please call if you are interested.

Thank you,

A.
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I think it would be a great business to offer and if you kept your prices modest and service good, you'd find plenty of takers. Professional photographers who have been in business long enough to have an established reputation charge big money for their services - as much as $2,000 for a wedding photo shoot in the area where I lived before moving here. I paid the photographer who shot my daughter's wedding $750 and he gave me a discount because he was a close friend.

Certainly, check out what others in this area charge - I'm certainly in the dark on that - and set your price to start with lower than average so you can get people to give you a try. Is there a friend with a child's party coming up that you can go and shoot pictures - as your gift - and use those photos to show others the quality of your work?

Keep in mind that the follow-through is as important as the quality of the pictures. Horror stories told by customers about not being able to get photos at all or months of waiting for the pictures they ordered are business-killers.

Hi T.,
I love the idea of photos for parties. It really depends on where you live and the disposable income of the area. I am a professional photographer and know photography is one of the first items not considered essential. I am by no means trying to discourage you.

There are a variety of ways to do this, you can charge for just your time and a flat fee for the photos, download them on a cd for the family and give it to them, this would be the least expensive for them and you are done and not spending more time printing and putting albums together. That is the other option, where you charge for the prints, your time for photoshopping any of the photos, album.... If you have people that can afford this it is a wonderful service and a lot of fun for you. I would just make sure you are charging enough for the time you have invested, people don't realize how time consuming it is and assume after the photo is taken that is it.

A couple of other hints, make sure you have several memory cards, don't do an entire party on one card. There was a photographer a couple of years ago that took wedding photos, all the photos were on one 2gb card. Something was wrong with that card and he lost every photo, the family sued. Better to have several cards you switch out through out the party so if something happens to one you are covered with another card. Also make sure you make a cd or have a seperate storage other than just your computer for the photos, your computer crashes you want a back up. Don't delete your cards until you have another copy.

I wish you the best of luck,
have fun,
SarahMM

I think it is a great idea. I think you would have to really keep your prices modest. Since everyone has a digital camera and it is so easy to upload your own pictures and have them printed. I know for a fact that with your business the quality of pictures would definately be better and you would get a lot more pictures.

My daughter is turning 1 in February so if you do start your businees contact me with your prices and maybe I will have you come take pictures for her birthday. Then at least I wouldn't have to worry about that. :)

I think you have a really great idea there! If you want to build a website, I can refer you to my cousin who built my website for my small business. She is way more reasonable in price than anyone I found elsewhere! The cool thing about a website is that you can set up your Google Ads to run locally so you can keep your cost very low and get your name out there! Advertising is harder than we thought in starting a business and we found this the be the most economical way in getting started. Let me know if you would like her name and number (and check out my website at www.offtherecord-online.com to see if you like her style).