School Communion

showit

Hi

Anyone Shot a Communion for a school before - local school are looking for a photographer for this years communion because usual guy cant make it.

On speaking to the Principal she tells me that - the current photographer takes the Portraits on the Day of the communion in the school hall and then supplys the prints to the kids - the Parents then pay if the like the prints and return if they dont.

Now there are major negatives in Supplying a Customer the print before getting payment - one is that you will never see any cash ! - never mind prints being scanned, etc

Is this the norm, supplying the prints without payment/deposit - anyone had any experience of such with schools.

cheers

Thecageyone

I wouldn't supply prints before being paid personally. They're paying for the shoot inclusive, not just the print. They either want it done or not.

Imagine being asked to shoot some family portraits, and spending hours processing them, only to be told "sorry, we don't want them now, thanks anyway"!

smelltheglove

Theres 3 ways it can be done, the way you mentioned which is the older way, by preorder, i.e. the school send hom details you have supplied them with along with an enveope, outer containing name and class of child and package options and prices, the parent who wants one will fill it in and pay in advance, the 3rd way is passport style sample sent home after shoot with envelope for payment.

I think the 3rd way is best, option 1 you have more costs, option 2 you dont get the guilt sales (as bad as that sounds) but option 3, you take all the kids pics, you have minimal cost with passport size samples and you get the extras who might not have ordered in advance but fall inlove with the picture.

oshead

showit wrote: »

local school are looking for a photographer for this years communion because usual guy cant make it.

On speaking to the Principal she tells me that - the current photographer takes the Portraits on the Day of the communion in the school hall and then supplys the prints to the kids - the Parents then pay if the like the prints and return if they dont.

With terms and conditions like that, it sounds to me like the usual guy can't make it cos he's been stung before.

PCPhoto

the only way to make any money in that situation is to ask the school to pay a fee to cover your basic expenses and tell them you will offer 25% off the cost of the prints..... and will give them a large (12x8) group photo of all those who make their communion for the school to put up in its corridor.

This way the school "feels" they are getting a discount - they don't know what your original price for a print is !!....so 25% off an unknown quantity is not really a bargain.

you get someone from the school to organise a huge group pic (which most parents/kids will want as part of the discount "package deal")

Getting pics of the individual kids will take great/excellent organisational abilities.... maybe a flyer drop by the school to each of the kids involved to let the parents know there will be a professional photographer available and give a list of prices, give them options to pay up front or pay on the day ...or pay on receipt of images (more expensive option).... offer payment plans if required....if you have the facility get a simple website done up where you can display the images with options to sell prints.

its easy to do if you know how - my problem is I work in another area and always refuse these type of jobs because I feel like I'd be ripping them off (the public) ... because I try not to treat work as a job.....its more of a hobby that I get paid to do !!!

stunt_penguin

Either give them prints with obvious watermarks, or use a service like Zenfolio (which'll watermark the previews and do your whole ordering/checkout system) to sell the prints from.

Squidgy Black

Pre-order is the best way to do it for yourself. Otherwise you're wasting your own time and money.

stunt_penguin

stunt_penguin wrote: »

use a service like Zenfolio (which'll watermark the previews and do your whole ordering/checkout system) to sell the prints from.

I wouldn't go mad with the internet for things like this, to be honest. Strange as it may seem, a vast majority of people still haven't a clue about it and don't trust it.

I'd try to keep all my dealings with parents offline, but probably use mywebsite to display a small number of photos as samples, with contact information so they can order off you in person.


OP; I certainly wouldn't be going printing images out of my own pocket in the hope that maybe some people will buy.

deelite

smelltheglove wrote: »

the 3rd way is passport style sample sent home after shoot with envelope for payment.

I think the 3rd way is best, option 1 you have more costs, option 2 you dont get the guilt sales (as bad as that sounds) but option 3, you take all the kids pics, you have minimal cost with passport size samples and you get the extras who might not have ordered in advance but fall inlove with the picture.

My son's school did this recently with school photos and would agree that the "passport" style is the best way - no pressure to buy and stopped all that copying that goes on.