Photographers on your farm

Grey · Jan 21, 2016

In the past few years, we have begun growing Christmas Trees on our farm in addition to our other crops. This past December, we opened to sell trees for the first time. I have worked hard to make our place look nice including restoring our old gambrel roof barn to be our sales area because we really believe that agritourism will be a profitable addition to our farm income in the future. So far, we had a successful first year. I was inundated with photographers who wanted to come out and use our trees and barn as a set for photo shoots for their clients. Some thought I should let them do it for free, others said they were willing to pay, but never offered up an amount. We ended up letting two different photographers come, one being a friend of my wifes and they traded off church nursery duty which was fine. The other was a friend of a friend who said she would do our family pictures as well as some professional pictures for my website. She took a lot pf pictures. I got an email today and we got a grand total of 6 pictures. She said she may be willing to give me 6 more. And she sent them by email. I have to take them to be printed and pay for that myself.
In exchange, I allowed her to bring over 30 families on my farm to do portraits. She charged each family $40 for a 15 minute session. None of those families purchased a tree from me and only a couple purchased odds and ends in the store for maybe $50 total. So basically I spent a lot of time and energy preparing for her and exposed my farm to extra liability for only 6 pictures that I could have taken myself. My question is, do any of you allow photographers onto your farm to do this and if so, what do you charge? Don't want to get taken again next year.

big fred · Jan 21, 2016

You obviously have a setting that people want. If it was me, I'd be charging for access to it, especially for professional photographers.

Hank ABAB · Jan 21, 2016

I allow photographers to come out to my farm to take pictures of birds and wild animals.
I enjoy having them come out there any time for free.

I don't have to do anything extra for them, and I am not selling anything as you are.
Your situation is different, of course, so I really can't comment on what would be right for you.

Tiger Joe · Jan 21, 2016

We don't have a farm, but I allowed a photographer use of my classic pickup, and also of the garage for different photoshoots.

It was the same scenario as you described, we let them shoot for free, with the promise we would get something equal in trade. Well all I got was 2 lousy pictures of my own truck.

After that I said nope to any photographers.

oc-18guy · Jan 21, 2016

I would charge. I don't know what, but I don't think she was only charging $40 for photos if she is a professional...

Bob · Jan 21, 2016

Every notice that many professional photographers tend to be and arrogant breed, figuring their services are WAY more valuable than those of yours or mine.

Yeah, I think you HAVE noticed!

Mike M · Jan 21, 2016

Next year charge them based on how many people they get ? Maybe you could work out a promotional package deal with them. Pictures and a tree for X amount ?
Also around here in Ohio it is not unusual to see live cut trees for sale right after Thanksgiving. You may want to try a black Friday special ?

Hotflashjr · Jan 21, 2016

The orchard I run is on a hill top with views on a clear day of 3 states. We also have some pick your own apples near the top of the hill. I had 5 families from the PYO this year ask to take pictures on top of the hill and asked to set up special times with a photographer. I declined on all accounts as, like you said, your time is worth something and to open up your property to them takes time. Next year we are going to put up some hay bales, corn stalks and make a picture spot. This year we did not charge per carload of people to enter the PYO, just for bags to pick into & apples. When we create the "picture area" we will start charging $5 flat fee per carload of people and continue to charge per bushel/peck.

37chief · Jan 21, 2016

Every now and then a painting class comes to paint our rusted junk. There is never a charge. I think that would open up another problem. I figure what can happen to a few painters. You never know. I guess that's what liability insurance is for. Stan

JMOR · Jan 21, 2016

Grey, sorry things didn't work out to your satisfaction. You likely learned that if you go in with a 'not well defined' agreement/deal, you come out with 'not well defined' results. If there is a next time, pin it down with specifics.

INCase · Jan 21, 2016

ya,

maybe $40 for the "sitting fee".

we do have one around us that depending on the time you get X hours/$ and all the pictures you can resonably pose for and you get all the pictures, no copyright attached to do as you please.

way cheaper way to get nice high school grad pictures.

we have a couple NICE parks (one with old grist mill

glennster · Jan 21, 2016

i'd tell em 200/hr 3 hour minimum in advance and send them down the road. seems the older i get the less tolerance i have for people that want something for nothing so they can make a profit and you get stuck holding the bag. my last dumb move was to let a friend park a 24 ft sail boat at the farm. he was going to fix it up and use it. well, its been there 10 years, he has no interest in it and lost the title. so i cant donate it to get rid of it. gonna have a dumpster dropped and bust it up with the backhoe. another 600 dollar lesson i learned......

Ferd · Jan 21, 2016

You open yourself up to potential liability and other problems especially if you charge. It's also possible (and I don't know your farm layout or equipment) that theft may follow. It it were me, I'd let them take all the photos they want as long as they are on public property when they do it. What little you could charge simply isn't worth the potential risk / problems.

Grey · Jan 21, 2016

In NC we have an Agritourism protection law that prevents visitors to an official Agritourism farm from filing suit against the farm owner unless he is intentionally negligent. I also have an extra layer of protection in a very large specific insurance policy. The whole point of opening farm to visitors is to make money. I just want to figure out how much to charge these photographers

OH Boy · Jan 21, 2016

I would ask for a cut of the photographers action, maybe 10 or 20 percent something like that. The idea about a package deal for pictures and a tree is a good one and I am sure you could work that out easily with the photographer.

J.Wondergem · Jan 21, 2016

If they are professional photographers, charging for the photos, I'd be charging them something.

coshoo · Jan 21, 2016

Don't bust it up, Glennster! I've always wanted a sailboat! I'll come over and get it next week, or next month at the latest, or, or, .....

JerryS · Jan 21, 2016

In my town there is a privately-owned, foundation-funded art museum situated on about 15 acres. The grounds feature numerous tall pines, with hundreds or thousands of azalea bushes, as well as other flora. The site is meticulously kept, and a network of broad sidewalks allows easy access for visitors. In the spring the azaleas with their various hues, along with other spring flowers, afford a feast of beauty. The grounds are open to the public free of charge, and thousands of visitors come each year to see the site.

About a year ago the foundation announced that it would no longer allow cameras of any sort on the grounds. It seems that over the years professional photographers regularly used the facility to set up photo shoots for brides-to-be, and they had come to regard the place as their own. They hauled in elaborate sets, rearranged existing moveables, tromped through flower beds and monopolized areas of the garden for hours as they did their work. They even ordered other visitors to move along so as to not be caught in the photos. The Museum was not compensated in any way.

The commercial photographers eventually became such a nuisance, and the object of so many complaints, that the foundation board decided to ban photography entirely. That edict included casual visitors, as it would be easier to enforce a total ban than a partial one.

Gary from Muleshoe · Jan 21, 2016

From this point on tell them a set price. Say $25.00 or $30.00 per family or so much per hour. What ever you decide set a minnimum. If it were mine it would be at least a $75.00 minimum. And they use it as is, no special props. Look at it this way, your not being compensated now so if you get no takers your not out a thing.

Dave H (MI) · Jan 21, 2016

On very rare occasions I have let people take wedding shots on an old Farmall. I tell them where it will be and when and they decide if they want to do it. I don't ask for anything.

Last summer I bought an old house that is on property contiguous to the farm. I bought it sight unseen but required a walk thru before closing. When I visited the house the first thing I noticed was all the beautiful large professionally done photos of the people's kids...all taken with my farm used as the backdrop. Still curious how that worked.

Spudm · Jan 21, 2016

10% sounds fair to me. Look what auctioneers charge for their commission.....

fixerupper · Jan 21, 2016

In my view she was using you. You have the considerable expense and labor in restoring the barn plus the expense and labor involved in growing the trees and she is reaping the fruits of that labor and expense for her financial gain. You need cold hard cash to support your business. Free pictures don't pay the bills.

Greg1959 · Jan 21, 2016

V- I know someone that rents their barn out for photo shoots(Wedding). They charge a flat rate of $250.00. It is rented out quite often.

Not a fancy barn. Just grayed wood and has a loft.

JD Seller · Jan 21, 2016

Well you got USED!!!!! You will need to watch out for that type of thing if your going to try to make money in non traditional ways with your farm. She KNEW the value of your "setting" and you did not. Plus she put the value of her "pictures" way above your farm setting. Making money out of people using your farm is hard to do. Unless you have just the right setting/location it is HIGH investment and low return type of thing. It takes an entirely different skill set than most farmers have. You have to LOVE people and know how to cater to them while making a buck. Most farmers are too much of a loner/individual personality to be good at the public relations type of things.

Kind of a side bar about photographers. Was at a funeral of a young man killed in an accident at the young age of 20-21. Well liked, respected family. I was unfortunate enough to be in line next to a fellow that takes "professional" photos. The young man's, that died, family had portraits taken every year of this young man's life. Not the usually school stuff but true portraits. The family had made copies of the pictures and had many of them blown up for large size pictures. Showing his progress through life at HIS funeral!!! The "photographer" complained the entire time he was in line that the family had violated "his" copy rights to the photos by making the copies.

I have told everyone that I know about this and instructed my family to skip doing any business with this fellow, if they every did.

dlbuck · Jan 21, 2016

So she got $1200 hundred dollars, and they bought $50.00 of merchandise. How much of the $50.00 was profit? Next year she will be there and act like she owns the place.

Janicholson · Jan 21, 2016

Insurance is a difficult (but not deal killing) issue. If the photographer rents the location make sure they have liability insurance or bond. If they stop doing shoots at your farm you only gain. Check out the cost of similar sites, and charge appropriately. Jim

SweetFeet · Jan 22, 2016

Seems like the liability risk would outweigh any financial gains.

We would not do it unless we could buy an insurance umbrella/rider that specifically covers it.

SAD, but that's the way it is now days... it seems like so many are litigious to the point of ridiculousness. Everybody wants to get something for nothing and suing seems to be their preferred method.

oldtanker · Jan 22, 2016

One of my nieces is a photographer. What she says is that they charge something like 40 dollar for a setting then X amount per printed photo done on a professional quality printer and X amount for a CD with the pictures on them.

Because they don't know beforehand what the customer is going to buy in the way of photos and CDs they really are not making much unless the customer buys a decent amount of printed pictures.

So I would charge say 5 dollars a setting plus 1 photo session with an agreed number of printed photos plus the photos on CD that you have rights to use on a web site plus ads. That keeps it reasonable for the photographer and should be enough to make it reasonable for you. As a plus you can sell time in your "settings" for the family who want's to shoot their own pictures.

Rick

Dan Richardson · Jan 22, 2016

Bull crap! First the drones, then the photographers, now the legal beagles step up to the story. My old 870 says to hell with all of them. They are bothering the cows!

greenlovinsynnie · Jan 23, 2016

As a photographer myself, while not professional, I would feel obligated to pay the same as a studio.... I mean, it's a similar idea since they want to use your farm as their "studio" for these people?

That's total BS on their part, though. You shouldn't have to feel obligated to do extra work at their call for pretty much nothing in return. I love to take shots of just about everything (and recreational is different since I'm not making anything for taking the photos except maybe a fair premium) but I'm always conscious of others' property before I enter them

Photographers on your farm

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