photographers don’t get paid what you think… numbers are silly like that…
Snappr, a not very good idea coming out of the tech world that lets you rent photographers, has some pretty strange prices. I have already complained a bit here… but I thought it might be good to just highlight some of the math.
1 Hour Photographer Rental
Below you’ll find two scenarios… the first one has 30 minutes of travel time to get to the location and 5 minutes to set up. The second scenario only gives the photographer 10 minutes of travel time and absolutely no setup time. I feel my scenarios are very generous to Snappr… which I’m sure you’ll notice…
| Activity | Time Required (long assumption / shorter assumption) | |
| Travel to event | 30 min / 10 min | |
| Setup time | 5 min / 0 min | |
| Snappr Event | 60 min | |
| Travel from event | 30 min / 10 min | |
| Picture Editing | 75 min | Assume 30 seconds per photo for editing, only 150 photos per hour |
| Total time: | 200 min / 135 min | |
| 6 Photos, 1 hour Snappr Service | $89 | Photographer gets $20.80 per hour ($26 – 20% Snappr fee) / $31.2 ($39 – 20% fee)* |
| Unlimited Photos, 1 hour Snappr Service | $149 | Photographer gets $35.20 per hour ($44 – 20% Snappr fee) / $52.8 ($66 – 20% fee)* |
*numbers are rounded
So in theory… if you’re really really quick you can earn yourself between $20 per hour to $35 per hour. Which sounds good… but in reality it’s not good at all.
Why?
Because not only are the time estimates above very generous to Snappr they also don’t include all of the time used by indirect activities that are required to be a photographer. Equipment takes up time, editing takes up time, software takes up time, creative services take up time, a million and one indirect things that take up time have to be accounted for in the direct charge to customers.
Time is not free. It has value. And all of those indirect activities have to be passed on in photographers prices. As you can see, Snappr’s prices do not account for these things.
2 Hour Photographer Rental
Another scenario, this time using the prices for Snappr’s 2 hour service. The time allotted is just as generous to Snappr as it was above.
| Activity… | Time Required… | |
| Travel to event | 30 min | assumption |
| Setup time | 5 min | lol okay |
| Snappr Event | 120 min | |
| Travel from event | 30 min | |
| Picture Editing | 150 min | Assume 30 seconds per photo for editing, only 150 photos per hour. |
| Total time: | 335 min | |
| 12 Photos, 2 hours Snappr Service | Price $149 | Photographer gets $20.80 per hour ($26 – 20% Snappr fee)* |
| Unlimited Photos, 2 hours Snappr Service | Price $249 | Photographer gets $35.20 per hour ($44 – 20% Snappr fee)* |
*numbers are rounded
Again, the price paid per hour is deceptive. It only accounts for direct costs and makes no account of indirect costs. As a photographer you need to understand this. Just because some numbers look big… that doesn’t mean they really are that big…
Snappr’s pricing is highly suspect and I’d urge anybody who wants to offer their services on it to think twice.