How long is a working day? All photographs ©Al Macphee/MiraclePR
How long is a working day for a pro photographer?
If somebody rings you up and asks you how much you charge for a day’s work, don’t automatically base your answer on an eight hour day. Your next question should be, “How long is a day? How long do you expect the event to be?” You can then charge accordingly based on your hourly rate.
An event is always longer than you expect it to be. If somebody asks you to cover a football match, don’t just charge them for an hour and a half’s work. It’s not 90 minutes on the pitch. It’s 90 minutes, plus 15 or 20 minutes at half time, plus time getting in and back, plus filing time. You’re looking at three hours to finish a job.
All day events can be a lot longer than eight hours. The actual time you’re expected to be there will depend on the organiser. Do they want to cut costs by minimising your hours or are they happy to pay you for complete coverage?
Take this brief, for example: Riders start between four and five in the morning. They cycle 200 miles around Dartmoor, going through Princetown three times. They are against the pace clock, and on each occasion, any adult who has fallen behind the minimum pace to finish by midnight are required to retire from the event.
So, you could spend eight hours just catching the riders through Princetown. Or you could be there until midnight to photograph the riders finishing the race. If I’m covering this event, to get there by three, I have to get up at half past twelve. So that’s almost a 24 hour job.
So, a working day for a photographer could be up to 24 hours. Here are my tips for managing an extra long working day:
Get support
Think about bringing someone along to help you. I sometimes have someone turn up half way through the day so that I can have a couple of hours of respite. Once you’re experienced, it is a great opportunity to offer someone some work experience. Get them to shoot some pictures for a couple of hours during the day. It’s probably not ideal for them to do the back shift, because you’re then into teaching them how to shoot cycling in the dark. Teaching a student when you’re tired yourself is not easy.
How long is a working day? Always agree a cut off time
I always agree a cut-off time with Sportiva. Because if I’m sat there at ten o’ clock, and every rider has finished bar one or two, is it right for me to continue sitting there for two hours charging the organiser? Is he realistically going to be happy to give those riders a free photograph that’s cost him £40? He’s not. Those riders will have been recorded during the day anyway, so it’s just that finishing shot. It’s a nice memory shot for them to cross that line, but no organiser is going to pay a photographer another hour or hour and a half.
If a regular event photography client all of a sudden puts in a 24 hour event, you have to be assertive with them. Tell them, “I’m not going to be safe on the roads after 24 hours. You will have to either pay me for some accommodation or pay me extra so I can bring in somebody else to give me a break.” It’s got to be done.
Take care of your physical needs
You’ve got to take into account your physical needs. You’ve got to think about food, drink, rest and loo breaks. This can best be described as a logistical nightmare. As I’ve explained in my article on how to shoot in the rain, the moment you walk away from that finish line, someone will come through. Employees are entitled to an uninterrupted 20 minute break after six hours’ work, so you should insist on the same. Time your breaks sensibly. You have to be awake for every rider coming through that tape, but there’s no way you should be driving home after 20 hours focusing; you will be absolutely shattered.
Think about the effect on your other work
You will have to work this event with your other bookings. You might have to lose a couple of days of work before and a couple of days afterwards, so make sure you’re charging something that’s worth your while.
The main point I want you to take from this article, is that if somebody asks you how much you charge for a day’s work, ask them, “How long is a day? How long do you want me for?” Because if you tell them you charge £200 a day, working for 24 hours will earn you less than the minimum wage.
Have a burning photography question you would like Al to write about in his next blog post? Email info@miraclepr.com with your request.