Food Photography Question?

[danial]

Exactly, its 100% greed.

No, it's not greed. It's simply a matter of him looking at it from the wrong budget.

He's a business man. Don't fault him for recognizing that he won't be able to sell a ten dollar sandwich. That's his business. That's how he earns a living. I don't know a single small business owner who isn't concerned about every last nickel coming in and going out. Calling it "greed" is remarkably short-sighted on your part.

Your job is to make him understand that it's worth the $2.00 investment. You won't ever be able to do that if you don't have an appreciation for the fact that a business owner needs to be mindful of everything, including his inability to sell a ten dollar sandwich. That sandwich represents $8.00 profit for him. That eight bucks goes to his overhead; paying employees, buying supplies and food, paying the electric bill, etc. That $8.00 profit helps him stay in business.

Dismissing it as greed suggests that you may not be the person to help him understand that it's not the loss of $8.00 but, rather, the investment of $2.00...

And prior to asking me to take the images he said that he asked a friend with a good quality camera on his phone to take some pictures but he didn't like them and obviously there not gonna be the same quality.

Um... So what?

That's absolutely meaningless, simply because it doesn't pertain to you at all. Don't be concerned with what someone else did. Do what you do. Let the restaurant owner worry about what somone else did...

It is greed. As you say he's a business man he knows why he wants the images to get more business to advertise his restaurant promote his food.. Its not a question of convincing him that he is not losing out, he knows the images are going to promote his business. So being more concerned of the fact that he lost the 10 euro for the sandwhich rather than promoting his business is greed. And he isn't even paying me I'm doing it for free to build my portfolio so he hasn't even got the expence of paying for me to do the work so it is 100% greed. And he's not struggling in his business by any means.

 

[vintagesnaps]

You said you've never done food photography, so it seems you don't know what would be involved in doing this to be able to explain it or to be able to do it. I'm an experienced photographer but not in food photography, I'd decline and/or possibly refer him elsewhere.

 

[danial]

You said you've never done food photography, so it seems you don't know what would be involved in doing this to be able to explain it or to be able to do it. I'm an experienced photographer but not in food photography, I'd decline and/or possibly refer him elsewhere.

Ya never done food photography before but have looked into it and would be pretty confident in getting a good result.. Like I said I was going to do it for free to build my portfolio but don't think he would be intresed in paying a professional. I'm just gonna leave it though I did explain to him why I needed the time to take the images with lighting composition but to be honest it felt like it was falling on deaf ears.

 

[Steve5D]

It is greed. As you say he's a business man he knows why he wants the images to get more business to advertise his restaurant promote his food.. Its not a question of convincing him that he is not losing out, he knows the images are going to promote his business. So being more concerned of the fact that he lost the 10 euro for the sandwhich rather than promoting his business is greed. And he isn't even paying me I'm doing it for free to build my portfolio so he hasn't even got the expence of paying for me to do the work so it is 100% greed. And he's not struggling in his business by any means.

I'm a little confused why you started this thread.

Did you want people to only agree with you; that he was being unreasonable and greedy? Well, if you weren't wrong, that might happen. But you are wrong. Sure, he may be unreasonable, but he's not greedy. He's concerned about the health of his business. Clearly, you don't have an appreciation for what it takes to operate a small business. You've gotten sound suggestions here but, apparently, you want to ignore them because they're not lock-step with what you think you know.

Good luck, Chief. You're gonna' need it...

 

[hotdrop]

Everybody wants something for nothing, and you didn't explain to him that there is no free lunch and that even for a free photoshoot he needs to invest some materials to get the job done. You should have probably framed it more as an exchange - he provides articles for photography, you take pictures and provide photos. He gets something of value for reduced cost but its not free.

That being said food for photos and food for eating are not the same thing. My understanding is that you need to undercook the food in order to get color and shape to be better and more vivid. The food needs to be specially prepared for the purpose of the shoot with extensive attention to detail, you cant use just any old meal you might serve a customer. Also shooting hot steaming food is going to cause havoc with your lighting. Failing that you are going to get a sub par result with food looking unappealing.

 

[danial]

It is greed. As you say he's a business man he knows why he wants the images to get more business to advertise his restaurant promote his food.. Its not a question of convincing him that he is not losing out, he knows the images are going to promote his business. So being more concerned of the fact that he lost the 10 euro for the sandwhich rather than promoting his business is greed. And he isn't even paying me I'm doing it for free to build my portfolio so he hasn't even got the expence of paying for me to do the work so it is 100% greed. And he's not struggling in his business by any means.

I'm a little confused why you started this thread.

Did you want people to only agree with you; that he was being unreasonable and greedy? Well, if you weren't wrong, that might happen. But you are wrong. Sure, he may be unreasonable, but he's not greedy. He's concerned about the health of his business. Clearly, you don't have an appreciation for what it takes to operate a small business. You've gotten sound suggestions here but, apparently, you want to ignore them because they're not lock-step with what you think you know.

Good luck, Chief. You're gonna' need it...

How can you say what he's concerned about ? And assuming its a small business when its not. Your assuming all these things from no where.. Portraying that's he's trying to get by and just earn a living and he's not being greedy.. Where in actual fact he has more than 1 restaurant and they are thriving. So don't know where your getting your poor business man concerned about the health of his business.. And at the end of the day you don't know the conversation I had with him what he said or how he came accross.. I think I have a better judgement of if he's greedy or not after the conversation I had with him.. You shouldn't assume

 

[Steve5D]

It is greed. As you say he's a business man he knows why he wants the images to get more business to advertise his restaurant promote his food.. Its not a question of convincing him that he is not losing out, he knows the images are going to promote his business. So being more concerned of the fact that he lost the 10 euro for the sandwhich rather than promoting his business is greed. And he isn't even paying me I'm doing it for free to build my portfolio so he hasn't even got the expence of paying for me to do the work so it is 100% greed. And he's not struggling in his business by any means.

I'm a little confused why you started this thread.

Did you want people to only agree with you; that he was being unreasonable and greedy? Well, if you weren't wrong, that might happen. But you are wrong. Sure, he may be unreasonable, but he's not greedy. He's concerned about the health of his business. Clearly, you don't have an appreciation for what it takes to operate a small business. You've gotten sound suggestions here but, apparently, you want to ignore them because they're not lock-step with what you think you know.

Good luck, Chief. You're gonna' need it...

How can you say what he's concerned about ? And assuming its a small business when its not. Your assuming all these things from no where.. Portraying that's he's trying to get by and just earn a living and he's not being greedy.. Where in actual fact he has more than 1 restaurant and they are thriving. So don't know where your getting your poor business man concerned about the health of his business.. And at the end of the day you don't know the conversation I had with him what he said or how he came accross.. I think I have a better judgement of if he's greedy or not after the conversation I had with him.. You shouldn't assume

Yeah, because I've never done this before.

In the same post in which you tell me that I shouldn't assume, you present your assumption that he's well off. You seem to believe that having more than one restaurant equates to wild success. It doesn't, and I know more than one restaurant owner, with more than one restaurant, who would vehemently disagree with you.

You're not the guy for this job. You can't approach a job with the mindset that the client is wealthy and greedy, but it's pretty clear that's the conclusion you've reached. The bottom line is that you're not prepared to show him that there's a value in what you can provide. If you don't do that, there's no reason for him to agree with you, and certainly no reason for him to ever hire you.

You take issue with his being "greedy", yet you were willing to do the gig for free if he gave you more time to do the shoot, thereby further enabling the very greed you say you have such a problem with.

And how can I say what he's concerned with? Well, I own a small business. I have many friends who own small businesses, including restaurants. I know what our concerns are. I've also worked for small businesses, both as an employee and a contractor. I've watched the money come in and the money go out. I've made the decisions for what to buy for my business and what not to buy. I've worked with small business owners as a vendor, watching them struggle with choosing what items to stock and what not to stock. I've worked with them to show them that it was smart to stock what I was selling, while being mindful of the fact that even my biggest, multi-million dollar clients didn't have bottomless pockets. Along with being a pretty good photographer and having some business smarts, I've learned to read people and be proactive to getting them to see things my way, instead of having to react to them wanting me to see things their way.

In short, I have what you may be lucky enough to have one day: Experience...

 

[HitenNainaney]

All I can say is that from a financial and economic standpoint, any business ranging from 50-500 employees would be considered as a small business.


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[HitenNainaney]

And with regards to what you should do, my suggestion is: walk away.

You can't get a good picture without preparation and without spending time.

I was lucky enough to be a part of an ice cream company's shoot and I can tell you this.

They send us 25 gallons of strawberry ice cream for 2 photographs.

That would give you an idea as to how much preparation is put into food photography.



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[NjStacker22]

Lots of opinions around here.... :er:

 

[pjaye]

I worked at a restaurant many years ago and my cheesecake (that I made, not photographed) was featured in print and tv ads. Holy crap a lot of work went into it. Especially when some noob left it under a hot light. It's cheesecake....it melted.

I can't remember how many cheesecake plates I made but it took a few hours for them to get the shots they wanted.

 

[Dagwood56]

My husband is a chef and the wait staff take cell phone shots of the food plates just before the food goes out to the table, for their menus or flyers etc. Perhaps that's all your guy really wants done. Now if he wants photos for print ads in quality magazines then I'd say he needs to step back and agree to let you take the time to set up the shots properly....I'm thinking he probably wants the former, unless he has a 5 star award winning establishment.

 

[Derrel]

There is a guy that owns a cafe/restaurant and he wants me to take some images for him.. I've never done food photography before but I said I can give it a go.. But he wants me to take the images just before they get served to the customer. And I said no that he has to cook the food and I'll take the images I said that I can't just get the photo that quick, I need to get the right composition and everything else he said he can't waste the food I said its not wasting the food if your going to end up with a good image that you can use and will last for a long time rather than a quick snapshop just before its served. Am I right with that ?

The guy's a flipping idiot. Ten bucks says working for him/with him will be a pain in the ass like you cannot BELIEVE!

"Wasting food"...??? What a moron. Penny-wise and pound foolish, he has no idea which end is up.

 

[danial]

I'm a little confused why you started this thread.

Did you want people to only agree with you; that he was being unreasonable and greedy? Well, if you weren't wrong, that might happen. But you are wrong. Sure, he may be unreasonable, but he's not greedy. He's concerned about the health of his business. Clearly, you don't have an appreciation for what it takes to operate a small business. You've gotten sound suggestions here but, apparently, you want to ignore them because they're not lock-step with what you think you know.

Good luck, Chief. You're gonna' need it...

How can you say what he's concerned about ? And assuming its a small business when its not. Your assuming all these things from no where.. Portraying that's he's trying to get by and just earn a living and he's not being greedy.. Where in actual fact he has more than 1 restaurant and they are thriving. So don't know where your getting your poor business man concerned about the health of his business.. And at the end of the day you don't know the conversation I had with him what he said or how he came accross.. I think I have a better judgement of if he's greedy or not after the conversation I had with him.. You shouldn't assume

Yeah, because I've never done this before.

In the same post in which you tell me that I shouldn't assume, you present your assumption that he's well off. You seem to believe that having more than one restaurant equates to wild success. It doesn't, and I know more than one restaurant owner, with more than one restaurant, who would vehemently disagree with you.

You're not the guy for this job. You can't approach a job with the mindset that the client is wealthy and greedy, but it's pretty clear that's the conclusion you've reached. The bottom line is that you're not prepared to show him that there's a value in what you can provide. If you don't do that, there's no reason for him to agree with you, and certainly no reason for him to ever hire you.

You take issue with his being "greedy", yet you were willing to do the gig for free if he gave you more time to do the shoot, thereby further enabling the very greed you say you have such a problem with.

And how can I say what he's concerned with? Well, I own a small business. I have many friends who own small businesses, including restaurants. I know what our concerns are. I've also worked for small businesses, both as an employee and a contractor. I've watched the money come in and the money go out. I've made the decisions for what to buy for my business and what not to buy. I've worked with small business owners as a vendor, watching them struggle with choosing what items to stock and what not to stock. I've worked with them to show them that it was smart to stock what I was selling, while being mindful of the fact that even my biggest, multi-million dollar clients didn't have bottomless pockets. Along with being a pretty good photographer and having some business smarts, I've learned to read people and be proactive to getting them to see things my way, instead of having to react to them wanting me to see things their way.

In short, I have what you may be lucky enough to have one day: Experience...

No I was doing it for free from the beginning not if he gave me more time.. And I'm not assuming he is wealthy, I know he is. I live in a small enough town everyone knows everyone and he's known for being rich with his huge house and wealthy family let alone his business being jam packed.. And I did explain to him why I needed more time and like I said before he already knows why he wants the images to attract more business and to hang in the restaurant.. And with the experience thing its not to do with luck everyone gains experience.. Through trial and error. And as for you saying that I approaches the job with the mindset of him being wealthy and greedy firstly I know he is wealthy and second I didn't think he was greedy until it got to the point when he started saying about wasting food.

 

[danial]

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