How much should I charge (if at all) for a family shoot?

[manaheim]

Ten dollars these days isn't even worth discussing. As Derrel mentioned that will get you a couple of cups of coffee at Tim's, a couple of doughnuts, with maybe enough left over to make a 'phone call, IF you can actually find a pay 'phone!

My recommendation would be to either go with the "make a donation to charity" or what I commonly recommend, do the shoot and suggest that once the deliverables are turned over (digital files, I assume) they can give you a gift certificate to a restaurant for a value they feel is commensurate with quality of the product.

Expectations change GREATLY when someome is paying for a service, and regardless of how you explain your experience/ability, there's always the chance that you could wind up with problems. The last thing you need is someone who expectd a Karsh-quality image calling Revenue Canada to say they didn't get a receipt from you, or Vancouver City Hall asking about your business license. Sure, 99.999% chance that it would get ignored, but... IMO, it's NOT worth the hassle.

As always... what John said. +1