You 100 % need a contract . You also 100 % should charge someone . Not full price , necessarily . But regardless of whether you ' re new to the game or not , your time is worth something . Don ' t set yourself up to be worth nothing in people ' s minds . It sets a bad precedent for yourself and also for others . I suggest shooting as a secondarytertiary form of income . Be selective . Let people know that you ' re new , but also that you ' re not taking every Tom , Dick , and Harry from the streets . Offer a portfoliobuilding discount rather than free services . I checked out other local photographers that had a similar style to minewhat I aspire to have , and averaged out their prices to create my own package prices . I then offered a 40 % portfolio building discount for the first year , a 30 % for the second year , a 20 % for the third year , etc . This way people are not paying full price for someone that is new , but they are still paying for your time and product . Again , I can ' t stress this enough . CONTRACT . I looked up contract templates , looked at other local photographers templates , and then created my own based off the things that I saw and liked . Not only is it good for you to have one , but it makes you seem more legit than just being a guy with a camera . At the very least , it ' ll give some additional assurance to your clients that you ' ll show up , because you also signed this contract which should hopefully say that you ' re going to come , and what you ' ll do if for some reason you cannot make it .