Great guy, I have been on all those trails, some yesterday and more tonight : )

I hear you, and I understand where your coming from. But, every time someone gives photos away for free, it lowers the value of of another photographers photos. Simple economics. Now, I'm not going to say I haven't given the riders photos I have taken of them for free. You should do this, you are making money off of there hard work and talent. Example: If I buy a new V10 frame and build it up with all top shelf parts and then put it up for sale for $6000, then 5 other people buy the same V10 frame and put on the same parts and put it up for sale for $1500, $2500, $1800, $4000 and $3500. I will never get the my asking price for the bike. Can you image what would happen if they all gave their bikes away? Now, if I say that my name is Steve Peat and this was my $6000 bike for sale, yeah, someone will buy it for $6000 based on Who I am. I understand that not everyone is Ian or Sterling or Sven and don't have the notoriety yet, but that just means you might not get the same amount for your photo as they could command. It doesn't mean you give them all away for free. If your a good photographer and feel that you spend the time and effort to create a nice shot, then you shouldn't be ashamed of asking a fair price for your work. My comment to the original post was simply, how do you come up with a fair price? I know how I do it and many people have different ways to do it. As a newbie wouldn't you want to have a starting point as to how you figure out a fair price? I don't know any professional photographers that would disagree, including many on this site.

fssphotography (2 hours ago) no-one gives away the cost, because many do it for free.... Your right, and as a photographer.......that's the problem, people who give stuff up for free hurt the rest of us.

Good read. One thing that's always missing...........cost and marketing. How did you determine what to charge the client? do you have a set price for images? How much would you have charged if DMR would have asked you to shoot for 2 days? is it a daily rate and does it include travel and food? I think these are the kind of things the new guys want to know. With the technology of cameras today, almost anyone can AT SOME POINT get a great shot, but how do you market the shot and get it in front of an editor who only wants to look at the same 5 "famous" photogs? This is what the kids wanna know. Good article though.

Gwinny the poo for the win