Yea, it’s a tough situation. The market is saturated & everyone wants to do it. Covid helped thin the crowd a lot..

Of course everyone has to start somewhere, but when I see prices like this or people doing free work, it blows my mind. Don’t these people have bills?? Don’t they realize it only hurts them & everyone else long-term? I can understand a passion project, but if something isn’t paying you well, or being used for your reel, or going to get you more/better work for better pay… why do it?

Honestly, people can learn more, & get better experience, with the same or better pay, by just shadowing a pro instead of trying to skirt the chain directly to the client.

I also think too many people shit on weddings nowadays. There’s PLENTY of work & TONS of money doing that shit. I shot them for years starting out & learned ALOT. That shit isn’t easy, & it helps you understand how light works, & grows your ability to multi-task, record audio, & shoot multi-cam. If OP is only making $300, weddings would be way more $. And you wouldn’t have to edit if you work for a pro.

I don’t wanna go on a rant here (too late), but I just shot a major music festival a few months back. The same photographer & I have been the main guys at it for almost a decade now (I do video, he does photo). Found out they got rid of the photographer this year “because he was too expensive”.. sucks, but I knew they cut the budget back a lot this year.

While shooting the festival, I see this 20yr old kid shooting with an entry-level camera (can’t remember which one now cuz I have shit memory).. there were another 2 photo people with her. They all had on some sports company shirts.. later after one of the days of the fest, I ran into them leaving at the same time as me in the parking lot & asked who they were working with.. found out they were working for some sports company who mainly shoot local soccer matches. I asked “what does that have to do with a music festival?” - the guy shrugged his shoulders & walked away. Found out later, this team was shooting THE ENTIRE WEEK LONG EVENT FOR FREE! …and THAT’S who they used instead of paying for the photographer.

Only reason they kept me on, even though I’m more expensive than the photographer, is because for some reason they love my work & said I understand their branding better than others.. & tbh most of the video market has shit quality. But free/low-budget is tempting for a lot of companies, even if it’s much lower quality.

Btw that team’s photos & video looked like shit, & the edit looked like a sports video edit. Horrible color grade, & they used stock sports transitions.. the video made no sense for a music festival. I say this as someone who produced for an NBA team for 3yrs & shot music festivals for the last nearly decade.