ortega said:
in my eye, I am selling them a service, my time, equipment rental and skill in using it. everything else I leave it up to them to DIY. If their eye and my eye cannot meet thenboth of us better look somewhere else.
I do not accept jobs that only ask for price and does not care what I can offer. In the end you will not enjoy the shoot and spoil someone's wedding and your reputation.
Always enjoy the shoot.
Well it depends, in an ideal world, your view would be most respectable! but unfortunately alot of potential clients do that. first email, ask me how much.
i would think the most important question to ask is whether i'm available on the date, but some fail to gimme the date, just ask how much.
all this is REGARDLESS of whether they've seen my work or not.
maybe speaking from the point of view of a couple, and many of them/us (as couples) have to work within a certain budget for not only photography, but for the rest of the day. so if they allocate say 800 for AD photography, they will round up all photogs that fall in their budget and choose the best from that shortlist, hence the initial question of "how much?". not many pple have the luxury of shortlisting thru calibre of the photog, which could cost much more (4 figures at least for pros). of course if the shortlist a photog that they LOVE so much, and CHEAP.. well good for them!
fortunately for me, my rates fall within the budget of quite a large number of people that enquire for my services. of course there are also many that complain too expensive and/or bargain, but i guess from there it's just negatiations and stuff.
no perfect world here, but we make do lar. at least i do. i mean if we're doing it for passion, then we can afford to reject shoots, as you do, but if it's your ricebowl, sometimes, well, real world decisions have to be made.
personally, my story is that it's half passion half ricebowl. the income i make from freelancing is quite mandatory to my financial needs.