Many thanks for all the advice and I have indeed gone back to him to ask his budget, how many images he wants, if he wants any prints done for the bar walls etc. It was a great opportunity and I loved it and am very pleased that he and the and are so pleased.

I really do appreciate the advice. It does I suppose illustrate though how difficult a market music is to make a living in unless you're dealing with large name artists and shooting for newspapers or magazines under contract.

Jonathan

I'm an airline pilot by profession but a recent ankle problem has led me to consider photography as more than just a 33 year long hobby and might be a potential back-up plan if the pilot career ends up going down the drain.

Our local successful pub runs an annual music festival with several bands and an audience of around 2000 people attending. I decided to have a chat to the landlord beforehand and asked if he had anyone photographing the event. It turned out that the guy they usually use (who is a keen amateur) was away and so he was delighted for me to do it. We didn't discuss pricing, he did agree that I could sell some of my landscape work off the walls of his pub and of course I would gain valuable experience and exposure by doing it.

I spent from 4.30pm until after midnight shooting intensively. The landlord wanted lots of candid pictures of the audience and also lots of pictures of a rather unglamorous burger van. I bought a Tamron F2.8 17-50mm especially for the event to gain a stop. I spent a further two days selecting the best images and post-processing them and I'm very pleased with some of them - especially the night-time band shots. I sent a link to the band and they were very complementary and in fact have now asked if I would be interested in shooting the cover of their forthcoming album!

The landlord of the pub has now come back to me and asked how I plan to charge for the images because he wants to use some of them on their website. Now clearly I'm realistic enough to know that I am grateful for the exposure and experience but I'm also aware that three days work really demands I should be charging at least £1000 for this to be viable. Many pro's seem to charge £1000 a day for shooting and I presume they absorb the costs of post production into that and supply a disc of images. I don't feel I can sensibly charge this much for what was an informal arrangement and I doubt he would pay it but equally I don't want to devalue my work.

I would really welcome some advice from established pro's on what would be a fair price for this? How much would you charge etc?

Images can be viewed here: http://www.jonathangorsephotography.com/millfest2014

I find myself in the unfortunate position of having had the year from hell with my ankle problem and photography has been a great blessing in keeping me sane and offering me a possible and yet precarious future...

I would welcome any help or advice you can offer.

Jonathan

The 70-200 Tammy had its first proper outing at the weekend to the gold cup polo at Cowdray and I think it's noticeably sharper than the Tokina so I'm very pleased even if I did sometimes miss the range of the latter!!

Here's some shots from the Tamron 70-200 F2.8:
link

and some from the Tokina 80-400 F4.0-5.6
link

By the way I'm not a polo freak at all but tend to get dragged along by my wife who is horse mad!! I just like standing around in the sunshine taking pictures and I'm actually starting to rather enjoy the speed and drama of it all! It's actually a rather good fun place to take photos.

Sunday was very interesting because somehow with a bit of a shove from my wife I found myself in the paparazzi pit with the pro's for the prize giving and my was there some tasty glass there. I've never seen bigger lenses in my life - the really huge stuff (and I'm talking about way bigger than a Sigma 150-500 in some cases) was all Nikon and Canon glass and must have cost a fortune!! Great fun to experience it though even if I did feel a little like HMS Hood going up against the Bismark!!

Jonathan
PS I did try attaching some uncompressed shots to this post but it didn't work so apologies for the links (what incidentally am I doing wrong?)

Everyone is different but I know that I would find 28-75mm too long as a walkabout lens. If it were me I would buy either the Tamron 17-50 F2.8 or the Pentax 17-70mm (F4) which I picked up earlier this year for £250 secondhand mint. As for full frame I am beginning to think that Pentax just don't see enough volume in the market and so won't bother. The truth is that the majority of the professional market (who are probably 70-80% of the customers in that segment) will buy an EOS5 or a Nikon D610 or D800 because of their much wider range of lens choices and perceived 'pro' reputation.

Jonathan

A truly fascinating place I would so like to visit as a fan of kitsch 60's ITC series!!

Definitely very keen to see more of your excellent pics!!

Jonathan

Thanks guys, I look forward to shooting with it at the weekend and posting some pictures. In the meantime have any of you had any success with teleconverters for this lens in case I need more range or will I be forced to either fallback on the Tokina 80-400 or think about a Sigma 120-400?

Interested in views,

Jonathan

I've been using my Tokina 80-400mm ATX F4-5.6 since 1998 and it has served me well at airshows etc with its incredible reach. I have never been entirely convinced of its clarity however which always seemed very variable and it clearly suffers from significant purple fringing on trees etc at the long end. I have thus been pondering my options for a better quality telephoto, a need which has become only more pressing due to my efforts to turn my photography hobby into a commercial business. I have found myself shooting family groups outdoors and found myself relying on the Tokina more and more and when there are paying customers involved I really want to deliver products of only the very best quality.

I thought about the Pentax 60-250mm F4 and that is clearly a very fine lens but at over £1000 rather out of my price bracket! The Sigma 70-200 F2.8 and Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 thus became my main options - the Sigma clearly has the edge on focus speed and the Tamron on image quality and price. I've had great experience with Tamron lenses in the past and a more mixed experience with Sigma. As a result I was keeping an eye on those two lenses in recent weeks and was surprised to notice on Saturday that Amazon have slashed the price of the Tamron to £437 which is a real bargain. I placed an order - secure in the knowledge that if I wasn't impressed with the lens I could easily return it within 28 days (which is probably the main thing that has driven me to make purchases of all kinds of things from Amazon over the past year or two.

Lens duly arrived this morning and my goodness it's a monster - it makes even the Tokina 80-400 which is a fairly sizeable and well built lens feel like a toy! Very impressed with the handling (though frankly it surprised me just how heavy it is), extremely impressed with the build - now can't wait to test the optical quality!!

Also paid a visit to Park Cameras for the first time on Sunday - what a great shop!! I received some excellent advice on tripods and was thrilled to finally find a store apart from SRS that carries a good range of stuff and has knowledgeable staff as well. Ended up with a manfrotto 496RC2 head and a Giottos 8261 carbon fiber tripod which seemed a reasonable compromise between stability and weight. It's been a rather expensive but enjoyable weekend!

Jon

Thanks guys,

Binscombe looks nice - I'm heading off to do the Halnaker windmill today so will keep my eyes peeled for poppyfields on the way down and back and report back!

Perfection would be poppies in a field next to the windmill!

Thanks again,

Jonathan
www.jonathangorsephotography.com

Folks,

I have the urge to get out locally and shoot some poppyfield pics and was just wondering if anyone could suggest any good sites in my area (near Liphook which is mid-way between Guildford and Portsmouth.

I seem to recall poppyfields being more common when I was younger than they are now but delighted if anyone can help.

Jonathan

Some superb stufff here - really like them and you must have the timing of Yoda himself or the luck of the Irish for the crossed pair shot!!

I've always thought shooting airshows is notoriously difficult so very well done (and I'm a bloody pilot by profession - though not in the Arrows sadly!)

Look forward to seeing more of your work.

Jonathan
www.jonathangorsephotography.com