Why do photographers require a deposit or retainer?

“Why do I have to pay a deposit to book?” is a question I’m asked pretty regularly and I figured I’d make a post to explain why I require non-refundable retainers before I consider a session booked.

Retainers, for me, serve two purposes. They:

1) secure a session date

2) act as insurance

To expand on these purposes, I’ll use a couple of real-life examples that have happened to me over the years that I have learned from.

Why I use a retainer to hold or secure a session date:

Client 1 contacts me wanting to book me for a specific time and date. I respond with my prices and she says “perfect, I will see you then”. A few days later, client 2 contacts me asking for the same date around the same time. I tell her unfortunately, I already have someone booked for that date.

The day before the shoot, client 1 contacts me telling me that she will need to cancel the session. Meaning that all the preparation I have done for the shoot and clients I have turned down for that day were essentially, for nothing.

I now have lost money by preparing for a shoot that will never happen by buying necessary items for the shoot and putting gas in my car to get ready for the following day. I also lost the money I could’ve had by turning down clients that may have been ready to pay. Now, if I had secured a retainer, I would at least have made a little money to cover the cost of preparations and loss of clients.

Imagine turning down clients who are ready to pay with money in hand for someone who would eventually cancel or who did not have the intention to pay (which does happen). I would essentially be playing a guessing game with my money and time and asking myself “Will the client show up or won’t they?”

Why I use retainers as insurance:

The absolute worst time and what finally made me get serious about requiring a deposit was last graduation season. I was still in Athens taking classes and working my part time job. April, as always, was extremely busy for me as I was shooting graduation sessions almost daily. I was already so slammed with sessions and could hardly keep up when a kinda-friend-kinda-acquaintance messaged me asking if I could take his graduation photos. I didn’t have ANY availability and was trying to figure out how I could make it work when I suggested an early-morning sunrise session two days from the day we had spoken. He said that was perfect and that he would see me then.

The next day I sent him a confirmation message just asking if we were still on for our session. He never responded. Nonetheless, the next day, I still woke up, put makeup on, did my hair, got dressed, and left early for our session. Since it was a weekday, there was no free parking except for the deck I was assigned to which was on the complete opposite side of campus. So, I parked in the deck and took a bus to North Campus. I was messaging him periodically telling him that I was on my way and giving him ETAs. Still no response. Okay, maybe he’s rushing to get everything together and make himself look good (that tends to happen with senior shoots).

When you book a photographer, you’re paying for their time as well as their service.

I make it to North Campus and let him know I’m there when he gets there. Again, no response. He hasn’t even read a single message I had sent since last night (Instagram shows when the message is seen). So I wait 10 minutes, then 20, then 30. Finally at 45 minutes, after I had already messaged him that I was waiting for him, I tell him I’m leaving. Did he read the message? Of course not. So, I wait for the next bus, hop on, ride back to my car, get in my car, and drive back home.

A few hours later, I was back on campus for an event in one of the central buildings. As I am sitting at the event, I SEE HIM WALK BY dressed in a suit talking to his friend. So, of course, I confront him. I asked him where he was a few hours ago and told him that I stood on North Campus for 45 minutes waiting for him. His response? “I was busy”. Livid doesn’t even describe how I was feeling. And right when I asked him why he couldn’t message me that, he interrupts me and says, “I gotta go, I can’t talk”.

He got a strongly worded message from me later.

Did he respond? No.

Of course not.

How could I have avoided being taken advantage of? Asked for a retainer. If someone has to put money down, 1) they’re more likely to actually show up and 2) at least I wouldn’t have felt totally used and taken advantage of if at least I got paid a little money to wake up and have my time wasted.

SO, I say all of that to say THAT is why photographers (and other people who provide a service) require retainers or deposits. If you are a photographer and you do not require retainers, START. If you are someone that thinks they will be needing photographic services in the future and are put off by the thought of a retainer or deposit, PLEASE understand it is not because we want to take your money. It’s simply because we put a lot of effort into our craft and making people happy and don’t want to be taken advantage of.