I was approached by the local Department of Technology earlier today, and they are requesting that I present the district office with a proposal involving becoming the, "District Photographer". I'm not for sure, everything they are asking from me, but as of the meeting earlier they would like me to shoot them a price that would reflect me shooting sports and events throughout the district. Needless to say, I'd be shooting to then provide them with images to be used on the new district websites. As the header, as well as the new news feed. They will be looking for 4-6 images for every district website. (6, Possibly 7 Websites.) Such as highlights of the athletics, and school plays and musicals as well as fundraisers, etc. One for each building and the maybe the Activities Office website. They would like me to shoot them a flat monthly rate. What are your suggestions? Would a school district be willing to pay out $650/month for one of their students to be their official district photographer?

Originally Posted by ColeSales I was approached by the local Department of Technology earlier today, and they are requesting that I present the district office with a proposal involving becoming the, "District Photographer". I'm not for sure, everything they are asking from me, but as of the meeting earlier they would like me to shoot them a price that would reflect me shooting sports and events throughout the district. Needless to say, I'd be shooting to then provide them with images to be used on the new district websites. As the header, as well as the new news feed. They will be looking for 4-6 images for every district website. (6, Possibly 7 Websites.) Such as highlights of the athletics, and school plays and musicals as well as fundraisers, etc. One for each building and the maybe the Activities Office website. They would like me to shoot them a flat monthly rate. What are your suggestions? Would a school district be willing to pay out $650/month for one of their students to be their official district photographer?

You mentioned you are a student, I would be interested in knowing your age. Do you have trasportation? If your under 18 what are the laws with rgard to your employment, etc.

Now more to your question, A flat fee without any limitations will screw one of you for sure. You may want to break down the number of hours needed to the best of your ability. Don't forget travel time. post processing, and delivery methods and costs.

Once you have a good Idea of what you think your hours will be decide how much you need per hour. Quote them that figure and limit the number of hours, and the type of deliverable (you don't want to committed to an unknown number of prints for example) included in the monthly fee. Quote that any additional hours requested will be billed at what ever rate you come up with.

Remember the important number is what you need to do the job, not necessarily what the school district is willing to pay.

Sam

The other question is: what equipment do you have, vs. what you will need. If you're shooting varsity football under the lights, do you have equipment capable of doing that? Or gymnastics? Photography equipment for sports work is not a cheap thing.

Also, to go along with some of Sam's comments: if you're 16 or older, you have to consider this job against another job. Your commitment to shooting this could prevent you from holding another job. So, you need to consider the money you would make from another non-photography job against this one.

It may be you don't really need a job as your parents support you (not a knock at all) and it's just cool to get paid for photography. But, you should consider equipment costs as well as lost opportunity costs in your decision.