What a Sponsored Collaboration Costs and What Shapes the Price

Starting with what you are paying for

A sponsored collaboration is an editorial project made together with a local organization, and the fee pays for the work of making it: time with a photographer, time with a writer, selection and sequencing of images, captions, and the page itself. It does not buy a verdict. We shoot and write these pieces to the same standards as our own stories, and the organization pays for our time, not for a particular conclusion.

I edit photographs here, so I tend to think of the price in hours at the desk as much as hours in the field. A day of shooting produces far more frames than any story can use. Choosing, ordering and captioning them is slow, careful work, and it is a large part of what the fee covers.

Every piece is labelled as sponsored at the top of the page, in plain words, so readers always know how it came about. That label is part of the product, not a courtesy added afterwards.

• Photography time on location
• Writing and an introduction
• Photo selection, sequencing and captions
• Clear sponsored labelling on the page

How we price a project

We do not publish one fixed figure for sponsored work, because two projects with the same name can differ by a factor of three in effort. Instead we give a written quotation after a first conversation. For orientation, small projects built around one location and one half-day of shooting have started in the low thousands of Canadian dollars, and larger multi-visit stories cost more. The exact figure is always in writing before anything begins.

The quotation lists what is included, how many revision rounds are covered, and what would change the total. You see the same breakdown we use internally, so nothing arrives as a surprise on the invoice.

Payment follows our standard process: you send an enquiry through the contact page, we confirm the scope in writing, and an invoice follows, paid by bank transfer. Our payment and refund policy covers cancellations.

• Written quotation before any work starts
• Invoice paid by bank transfer
• No payment taken on the website

What pushes the price up or down

The biggest driver is the number of days spent with people. A single afternoon at a community hall is a different project from a season following a group through rehearsals, a harvest or a restoration. Each extra visit adds shooting time, travel and a larger pile of images to edit.

The second driver is the written side. A short introduction with captions is light. A first-person account with a recorded conversation, transcription and careful editing takes noticeably longer, and Samuel's interview work is priced as part of that.

Travel matters too. Kingston and nearby towns keep costs modest; a story requiring overnight stays adds accommodation and time on the road. We list these separately in the quotation so you can see them.

• Number of visits and shooting days
• Length of the written piece and any interviews
• Travel distance and overnight stays
• Number of finished photographs

Choices that change the scope

Some decisions are yours and they move the price. Asking for a larger set of final images, a layout with more pages, or extra revision rounds increases the work. Asking us to shoot a smaller, well-defined subject reduces it.

Timing helps as well. In these autumn weeks, organizations often want a story about a harvest supper, a fall market or a volunteer drive. If the date is fixed and the light is short, we plan more carefully, but a project with flexible dates is easier to schedule and cheaper to deliver.

Be wary of any plan that lumps everything together. We would rather start with a smaller project that fits your purpose than sell a large one you will not use.

• More final images or extra layout pages
• Additional revision rounds
• Fixed dates versus flexible scheduling

What the fee does not include

The fee does not include editorial control over what the story concludes. You can correct facts, check names and ask for a caption to be reworded for accuracy. You cannot ask us to remove something true because it is unflattering, or to write praise we do not believe.

It also does not include licensing of every photograph for unlimited outside use. If you want images for printed brochures or your own site, we agree the permitted uses in writing, and that can change the quotation.

We tell people this early. It protects the readers who trust the page, and in our experience it protects the organization too, because a story that reads honestly is the only kind worth sponsoring.

Before you send an enquiry

A short, concrete description helps us quote accurately. Tell us who the organization is, what you hope the story shows, roughly when events take place, and whether you imagine photographs alone or photographs with interviews.

You do not need a budget figure to begin, though mentioning a range lets us suggest a project that fits. Daniel handles these enquiries and replies in writing, usually with a few questions of his own.

If the quotation does not suit, that is a perfectly good outcome. Nothing is owed until you confirm the scope and we issue an invoice.

• Who you are and what the story is about
• Approximate dates and locations
• Photographs only, or photographs with interviews