Wow! I'm floored by how some service providers (venues in particular) charge for every little damn thing, and then some. I've just been trying to arrange an engagement shoot with a client of mine - her and her partner wanted to do the shoot at Zevenwacht in the Stellenbosch wine route. They love the farm. They go there often for picnics and lunches. So I duly phone Zevenwacht to find out if it's ok that we go and shoot there (doing the polite responsible thing here and making sure that we can do it without getting in their way) only to be told that it costs R1500 to do an E-shoot on their grounds! Holy crap! The E-shoot would take an hour at most. And my hourly rate is R650. And we weren't even asking if we could shoot inside . . .
I even went a step further and phoned Zevenwacht back to explain to them how opportunistic that charge appears. I don't think I got through to them though. And of course the saddest part is that a venue that held huge sentimental value for my clients has lost almost all of that.
I know that we're all in this to make money (myself included) but at what cost?
