Is business down?

We closed the 2 studios, now work out of the houses, and business is surely down as far as weddings go. Yet other

forms of photography have kicked up, such as golfing events. Outside portraits has also increased. I actually don't

mind because I don't get too sore anymore from weddings.

 

Anyway, it's early, but I think we will be OK this year.

 

Hows everyone else going?

<p>Weddings are slow Bob. Since I refuse to shift my standards and level of service to meet a declining price point average, and the influx of more shooters willing to shoot at what amounts to a loss, I've lost a number of prospects due to price. </p>

<p>However, what weddings I have booked so far are all top drawer and nifty venues and locations. Take home will be as much or more than if I shot twice the amount of weddings at the lower pricing.</p>

<p>I'm doing more pregnancy, baby and family portraits work then in past. But the real savings grace has been an increased combination of advertising design/writing and the photographic work for it ... which pays better and is less work than weddings and portraits anyway.</p>

<p>If you diversify, when one door closes, another one always seems to open. For which I am thankful.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>We have a significant increase in wedding bookings for this year and for next, partly due to increase in prices, partly due to more bookings. Other wedding photographers we were chatting to recently are also fully booked up for this year and also for much of next. So it's not all doom and gloom.</p>

 

<p>Yes, I do fewer weddings than in the recent past. It's partially by design as I will turn 63 in June and I want to spend more time with our adult children and grand children.</p>

<p>I do admit though, the market has changed from even as recently as 2006-07 time frame. Maybe after that the ATM machine many used with their home went under water.</p>

<p>Every time Best Buy sells another DSLR, another wedding goes un-booked.</p>

<p>Last year was terrible, got lots of calls from the yellow pages that were price shopping,even though the website and prices were listed.<br>

As Gary said, in our area there are a lot of colleges and "Graig's Lister" who will "do" your wedding for $300 and burn you a cd. That is usually along with a post on "how much should I charge" or "this guy messed up my wedding photos".<br>

I'm located In PA near the capitol and have seen three studios close last year. Our area has seen a lot of business close.<br>

I have been doing more on location and private family shoots.</p>

<p>For me the writing was on the wall a couple of years ago. I made a pretty good go with full-time photography but realized that I was putting in long hours and making much less than the average truck driver. So I went back to my original career in social services & teaching. I still do the occasional wedding and portrait work but very, very part-time.</p>

<p>The new mantra in the industry is/was "cheaper, faster, and better". However, I think that the consuming public was quite happy with just cheaper and faster. Professional results and quality, IMO is down...... A newcomer with a prosumer dSLR can get a website, biz cards and call himself a pro. He/she can get online and get opinions about what to charge and how to market, after of course he/she has posted several questions about equipment. The new mantra seems to be "cheaper, faster, and just good enough". No doubt the newbs will call me a bitter, old you know what.....while they hold on to the belief that over exposed, poorly composed images are a style choice as are blown highlights and under-lit shadows. Of course there is plenty of room of uber-talented youngsters entering the industry and making a big splash (David Jay comes to mind) and there is always a place for growth/success in approximately 10% of the market.....but the distance between the top tier and the middle seems to be getting wider IMO.</p>

<p>I am noticing a lack of new bookings for weddings - but portrait, event and family shoots are up. </p>

<p>There's a lot to be said for the $300.00 photographer taking some of the business as couples look to not start their future together thousands in debt. And unfortunately photographers seem to be the one area that they consistently cut. </p>

<p>Also I've noticed a great increase in the non-$300 - level photographer - those in that middle tier - not the top tier $1,500 + or the bottom feeders - and the couples in this price point seem to be wanting the world for $1,000 - including 8 + hours, multiple photographers, edited dvds' etc... The sad thing is that there are multiple photographers who will give them exactly what they want without blinking an eye. </p>

<p>Also - you have the group of younger couples that want they photos to be "edgier and more trendy" than their parent's photos or even the photos of their friends taken two years ago. What this means is that there is an abundance of overexposured, over photoshopped, bad photos out there. And photographers who don't know better - producing it. </p>

<p>But - it is what the client wants. I know of one portrait photographer who has a cult like following - William C may be aware of her too - that applies the same actions to every shot - but has bookings 2 - 3 years out simply because she is "hot" at the moment. </p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

<p>I taught a class with community ed here in Minnetonka a couple years ago on classical portraiture. It is what I learned from Monte Zucker. People saw photographs that I made and said, "Yes, I want to be able to make photographs like that!" I found out they wanted to make photographs like that as long as it's easy or I can have my camera on a setting to make them.</p>

<p>I believe there still is a market for good classical photography, especially if a rapport can be established with the subject(s) so as to get them to relax and look comfortable. Many "posed" photographs look so stiff and I work at not getting that with my camera.<br />Last fall, I made headshot photos of some Mary Kay ladies and when they arrived at my studio, I heard one say, "I hope mine doesn't look like the '80's." I used a posing stool, window light, one reflector and classical posing techniques. They loved them all! I didn't let them know that the posing techniques the Greeks had this figured out several thousand years ago! They liked what I did and I've got another group to photograph tomorrow.<br /> Some people still like a well crafted classical style photograph.</p>

<p>In my market, (NE Ohio) ther are so many "Wedding Photographers" on Craigs list that are offering services for 300.00-500.00, it's is really hurting. THe economy is down, and even though people know you get what you pay for, they are willing risk it. THey STILL pay a ton for flowers, cating and the DJ, but they want a deal on the only memory they will have.<br>

I just had someone tell me they had a 100.00 budget for pictures, and what could they get. Almost told them " dinner for for at a decent restaurant", but I just told them that my pricing was out of their target.<br>

Sad...REALLY sad</p>

<p>Weddings aren't slow or down, there are just many, many more opportunities for the bride and groom. It's always best to set yourself apart from the majority of the competition rather than trying to beat them. See Simon's post above that his bookings have increased since he raised his prices. But it takes more than that. You can't keep everything the same and just raise the prices, so perhaps Simon will share more.<br>

We all like to think that if we didn't book a wedding that the couple found someone cheaper. You really need to find out why they chose someone else. Swallow your pride and ask. The answer may hurt, but it will point you in the right direction.</p>

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<p>In my market, (NE Ohio) ther are so many "Wedding Photographers" on Craigs list that are offering services for 300.00-500.00, it's is really hurting</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Hi Ted, I'll give my perspective. I think that it's a mistake to see these Craig Listers as competition. There are brides and grooms who have zero $$$'s for their wedding budget. When I got married, our budget was zero. So we didn't have a wedding photographer, as simple as that. My parents didn't have wedding photographers. Nor did my wife's parents. If you go back twenty years, an awful lot of couples wouldn't have had photographers at their wedding. These Craig Listers are catering to those kinds of couples, giving them the opportunity to have at least some kind of photography at their weddings for a minimal cost.</p>

<p>So I think it's a mistake to see photographers who compete on price as competition. As you go up the market and rise above the people with point and shoot cameras in programme mode, there are still roughly the same numbers of couples getting married with some kind of budget (more actually, with population increases), and still roughly speaking the same numbers of photographers who really have some creativity and really know how to take a picture. That is the competition, and the advent of digital hasn't fundamentally changed that. Ever since the popularisation of 35mm, photography has been wide open to the masses. Digital has made life a little easier for the competition and for Uncle Bob's, but it's also made life easier for you. So the target is to up the quality, and take pictures better than the competition. In that way, price becomes, not quite irrelevant, but at least a secondary consideration.</p>

<p>Last night I had an email from a potential client, who said that we were 'slightly above' her budget, and said that our competition were including an album with the price. My immediate thought was <em>well, if 'the competition' are offering that, then why not go to 'the competition'</em>. I knew that the competition she had in mind wouldn't produce the same style of images, and that she was trying to negotiate the price down. Life is too short, instead of negotiating, I referred her to other photographers who should be in her budget. We would not want to shoot the wedding in any case, because she doesn't <em>really</em> want us to, and that's not a recipe for a great relationship. Best to work with clients who are really into what you are doing, who will work with you, and who will appreciate it. We actually had two couples trying to change their wedding date because we were booked on their day - <em>that</em> is the kind of client to bend over backwards for.</p>

<p>We know wedding photographers who are filtering clients based on venue. They are booked out for this year and much of next, and can pick and choose customers, they find that certain venues are trickier than others to photograph, so they pick and choose their clients based on whether they like the venue or not (probably on other factors eg. whether they get on well with them or not too). A bad venue makes it harder to get the spectacular pictures. Spectacular pictures mean more people clammering to book you. It's a vicious circle. The fact that brides really have to go through hoops to get these guys to photograph their wedding means that the demand for their services is phenomenal. And rightly so, the whole starting point for it is that they have a beautiful, unique style that people can't get elsewhere.</p>

<p>So in short, I think that getting more bookings at higher prices is about having faith in your own creativity. What do you think your creativity is worth, make sure that the clients can see it, then you yourself must have faith in it. It doesn't matter at all what other photographers or pseudo-photographers are offering and at what price, your creativity is unique, and that is what you are selling. Many brides don't just want 'some photos' of their wedding, they want something special. The task is to give it to them, and show that you are giving it to them, then the whole bookings up/down, the state of the economy, thing becomes irrelevant.</p>

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<p>I think that it's a mistake to see these Craig Listers as competition</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That's why I chose my words carefully and referred to them as other opportunities. But honestly, if the Bride's Mother takes the photos, she really IS competition because it's a wedding that a professional didn't book.</p>

<p>Well said Simon!</p>

<p>Business is down tremendously for us. Last year was great, we even expanded into families, maternity and babies. This year, people are not booking us based on price (we did raise our prices in order to actually make money this year). But even inquiries are down. I am headed to the poorhouse. i just wish I knew why in has gone down so dramatically this year.</p>

<p>Business is down for many reasons. I had the sister of a bride I did in 2002 ask me to do her wedding April 2011---and that her parents would probably want to do for her what they did for her sister. Not so! They needed to scale back the wedding plans and I was too expensive (I had not raised my prices in 10 years). The first wedding in the family was a $4500 sale---the budget for this wedding was $1000. So much for treating both daughters equally. But it is understandable since the parents home value decreased by 70% and their investments worth were cut in half! I'll be age 64 in May and my energies are focused in other areas but it is sad to see the direction of professional photography. Never before have the artistic tools and possibilities and products of professional photography been greater than they are now. But many potential clients are not relating to it. Reaching out to connect with a client base awash in their own images the need for professional services is far less compelling than in the past. Let's hope the new generation of professional protographers, who have nowhere to go but up, will turn it around.</p>