Pricing your own creative work is one of the hardest lessons for new artists to learn.

When a young photographer tried to balance fairness with friendship, they ended up losing both the client and their patience.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

AITA for not lowering my photography prices for a friend?

I just graduated high school and started my freelance photography business.

A friend asked me to shoot grad photos for her and 4 others. I quoted $200 (a low rate in my area), but she said it was too high, so I gave her a discount.

But it soon became clear this “friend” was prepared to squeeze as much work out of this photographer as possible.

Later, she asked to add an entire family to the session. I said we’d need to split time and charge accordingly since family and grad sessions are different. She agreed.

I got stressed with all the changes she was making to the original plan, especially since I’m newer to the idea of managing a client.

After putting in more thought, the photographer felt like the rate needed to be adjusted. But when they told the client, they freaked out.

I then reevaluated my pricing to better reflect time, editing, gas, gear, etc., and sent her the update.

She called me unprofessional for changing the price.

She complained to me that she makes only minimum wage.

They try to reason with her, to no avail.

I explained that my rates are based on the value of my work, not someone’s budget, and that I had already been flexible.

She canceled and said she wouldn’t work with me again.

Although I’m newer to business, I still know my worth as an artist.

But… AITA?

This entitled client is the one acting unprofessional.

What did Reddit think?

Someone’s in the wrong here, but it’s not the photographer.

She can’t expect the price to stay the same when she’s asking for a completely different service.

This commenter has a helpful business hint for future client interactions.

This customer likely would have been more trouble than she was worth.

They may have lost a client, but they gained a clearer sense of her own worth.

And that’s something that should never be sacrificed.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.