Picasso and pricing your work
Posted by Tim Gruber Tags: business, pricing | Filed under business
Keep this in mind the next time you’re pricing your work.
Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.
“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.
“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”
“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.
“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”
To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”
Read more on charging by the project or the hour.
November 16th, 2009 at 10:13 am
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November 16th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Picasso was a very clever man.
I recently read in an interview about snowboarding and the sponsor-me kids, that made me think that a lot can be translated to what’s going on online with photography. So many blogs, Chase Jarvises, Zariases and what not. Everything is mapped out, people believe they should be at the destination only by understanding the route.
Picasso knew you’ve got to take the entire route to get there.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Thanks for taking the time to comment Christian.
I like what you’re saying. There are no shortcuts in photography. Sometimes I forget that myself in this online age where everything happens and evolves so quickly.
Tim
November 24th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
That’s why its never wise to charge by the hour, but by the job. John Harrington said in his book “Best Business Practices for Photographers, that charging by the hour punishes experience. Five years ago, it might have taken me an hour to think through, set up, and shoot a certain kind of portrait. Now it might take me half that time, but it took me five years to get there.
Nice post.
Eric
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Definitely agree with everything said here. Thanks for sharing Tim. Reminiscent of this story too:
There’s an old joke about physicist Niels Bohr that illustrate this principle.
A company’s machine breaks down. The company’s owner, an old school chum of Niels Bohr, calls in the physicist for help in fixing it.
Bohr examines the machine. He draws an X on the side and says, “Hit it right here with a hammer.”
The company’s mechanic hits the machine with a hammer. It springs into action. The company’s owner thanks Niels Bohr profusely and sends him on his way.
A few days later, the owner receives an invoice from Bohr for $10,000. Shocked, the owner phones Bohr!
“Niels! What’s this $10,000 invoice? You were only here for 10 minutes! Send me a detailed invoice.”
Bohr agrees to send the invoice. A few days later, the company’s owner opens a new invoice.
INVOICE
Drawing X on the side of your machine $ 1
Knowing where to put the X $ 9,999
———————————————————————————————–
Total $10,000