Freelance Photography Work

Interview with John Saade

by Forrest McDonald

The best advice someone who wants to do freelance photography work can get will come from someone who's already made a successful career of it. That's why I interviewed longtime freelance photographer (and excellent friend of mine) John Saade: to see what insights he could share.

Forrest McDonald: How long have you been doing photography?

John Saade: Eighteen years. My love of cameras started at my first job. I learned about them to sell them and became fascinated. Then I got a job processing film; I met a lot of local photographers when they dropped off their work. I timed it so I would drop their finished prints off at their studios as their assistants were leaving. I would watch the pros work and ended up working for them as an extra assistant.

FM: How long have you been a freelance?

JS: I've been working as a freelance photographer for eight years now, and full-time for almost four. It's great because of the freedom it gives me, but it still scares me when I realize every morning that I need to get up and find work.

FM: How do you find new gigs?

JS: It's word of mouth right now. That's why networking is so important. The folks I do jobs for tell their friends about my work, and that leads to more jobs. The other thing that has become important in getting referrals is immediate results; folks want their pictures now. If I shoot a wedding on Saturday, I'll have the images backed-up, retouched, on-line, and burned to disc by Monday evening. That's what people expect.

FM: What do you do to prepare for your freelance photography work?

JS: First I learn what I can about my clients – how many people they're expecting, if they have kids or folks that might have issues moving around, etc. Then I learn about the location; that's why having a few places you know really well is helpful. Once I get the event schedule, I time the shoot to take advantage of natural light and the location; if it's an afternoon wedding, I'll schedule some wedding photos at sunset, stuff like that. The day of the shoot I check all my equipment: make sure my memory cards are empty, put new batteries in my camera, test my flashes and strobes, check my camera and back-up rig to make sure they are both working, then load everything up.

FM: What resources do you turn to if you have questions or problems?”

JS: Well, first thing I do is ask my friends in the business. That's how I learned what a particular error message was on my camera and knew to take it in to get serviced. Also, a lot of the websites have forums and user groups. I'll post questions there and look to see what comments are made.

FM: How do you determine your rates?

JS: My quotes are based on the time I think it will take me to finish the job. I charge roughly $100 / hr. Folks don't realize that our rates include image editing, set up and tear down, travel time and expenses, the images themselves, etc. I bill for the time I am taking pictures, but they pay for that time and all of my back end time as well. Price is a problem – folks get a $800 or $1,500 quote for a wedding and think they can buy a camera for half of that and have cousin Joey shoot the wedding. I have to show them how my work is better than cousin Joey's and why they are paying the extra money.

FM: What tools do you use to run your business?

JS: The business end is harder for me. A lot of what I use I learned by watching and working for other photographers. When you own a small business, you wear a lot of hats – you take pictures, do the marketing, create invoices, take out the trash. So you learn to use what you can. My biggest tool has been my website, John Saade Photography . I use it for marketing, image display, and all sorts of stuff. I use flickr and pictage to store and show images. For accounting, I use Quickbooks. Doesn't everybody?

FM: What's the ONE thing you wish you knew about freelance photography work when you were starting out?

JS: That freelance photography work was about getting jobs as much as it was about taking pictures. You have to stay professional and remember to spend as much time running your business as you do shooting jobs. That's how you market to new clients, that's how you get paid.

FM: Thanks so much for talking to me today John. I really appreciate it.

JS: No problem, Bro. It was my pleasure.

A note from Faith:

If you are serious about building a full-time photography business, then you will need to invest in the right equipment.

But if you just want to "dip a toe in" and see if this is for you,there are other (less expensive) ways to get started doing freelance photography work. Easy Photo Biz explains, in detail, how hobby photographers--using ordinary point and shoot cameras--can make money doing what they love. Check it out.


Freelance Photography Opportunities
How to find and get freelance photography work.

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