Calling it quits after 4 years...here's my wedding photography experience

<p>"bridal magazines ... assume that articles on what to look for in a wedding photographer are scarce in these publications."<br>

Perhaps there should be such an article here, or in a wiki or presented to several such publications?<br>

And scare did seem a good typo.</p>

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<p>Quote: I just shake my head when a bride is willing to pay 800.00 for a photo booth but balks at paying a thousand for a basic photo coverage. It's always been that way in the wedding industry. The majority of brides will pay for the things that their guests will see. /Quote<br>

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Then, sell the photo booth. As photographers, we need to stop trying to force 'our' vision and standards down the throats of those who don't / can't appreciate it. Learn to read a prospect/lead, ask questions about budget and expectations and MAKE IT EASY for the bride to enjoy her day with WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO HER. <br>

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This, coming from the guy who's heavily discounted weddings for friends (with a 50% "satisfaction rate"; my cheapest wedding was the one that is most maligned to this day, so...lesson learned) and one who prefers to shoot film vs. digital b/c it is easier to get stuff wrong (personal decision; already in counseling, so don't try to change my mind, lol).<br>

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In short - LISTEN TO THE MARKET. If the market wants photo booths vs. second shooters, DO IT. Offer a full package, make the buying experience EASY and LOW STRESS (what bride-to-be doesn't want THAT?). <br>

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And --- don't rely on the traditional profit drivers to be there for you. If you can position a photo booth for a wedding, why not a homecoming dance, a bar mitzvah, a birthday, a prom, etc....? <br>

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Be an imager...and not just a photographer...but most of all, OFFER SOLUTIONS.<br>

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-- Advice from a dumb sales guy who works from home and makes money helping customers decide to do things that most would find very common-sense....</p>

<p>"I think you can learn at least as much from failure as you can success." You will learn much, much more. Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from poor judgment.<br>

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Remember Teddy Roosevelt's "Far better it is to dream mighty dreams............................."<br>

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My digital wedding packages started at $1600 for four hours and went to $3600 for the "Platinum Package." It was a reasonably profitable venture until everyone and their cousin became "professional photographers" with the availability of sub $2000 digital cameras. Digital changed the wedding business as well as the news business, as far as photography is concerned. I see ads now for wedding photography for $300 for unlimited time and unlimited images. Not to mention DJ's for $100 a night. I guess to make money in weddings nowadays it would be better to bake the $5000 cakes.<br>

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Change is inevitable, so now I shoot film again for personal satisfaction, and have great fun. <br>

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It's the very fortunate individual who is able to make a good living doing only what they love. Most have to do what they have to do to be successful and then use that success to be able to do what they love.<br>

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Learning to live in and to enjoy the present moment, whatever it may entail, is the key to happiness, so some have said.<br>

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To the OP: congratulations on having the courage to put your dream into action, regardless of its outcome, and best wishes for your next adventure in this wondrous life. </p>

<p>Brandon Ward said it well!<br>

(<a name="00dSUM"></a><a href="/photodb/user?user_id=15921">Brandon Ward</a> , Aug 26, 2015)</p>

<p>Whether you are a wedding photographer, sports photographer, photo journalist, etc. You need to <br>

widen your vision and passion. Very few people can afford to specialize. We all know the top 1%-3%<br>

who can make a living doing only one type of photography, but for me that would be so boring. Mix<br>

it up. As Brandon said, offer photo booths, offer other services that are trending. OR create a network<br>

of other people, or businesses, that offer something you do not, or cannot afford, and make them a<br>

part of your team.</p>

<p>Our policy is "Yes". We always say yes first and then find a way to make it <br>

happen. In this day and age when anyone can find anything they want on the internet or one or two<br>

phone calls or texts away, you have to be ready to be their one stop shop. Yes, I know it does not <br>

sound as glamorous, and sexy, as saying "I do only ...". But, are you running a business or not!? In <br>

business you do not say no to any opportunity. You leap. And yes, sometimes, it may seem like you<br>

are leaping without looking, but with a good network of other talented people an email or text away, <br>

there is nothing you cannot do.</p>

<p>We started with elementary portraits. That was our passion. Cute kids, cute smiles, appreciative <br>

parents. Well, we then started getting requests for sports, groups, graduation, AND weddings. Well,<br>

we never said no. Yes, we stumbled. A LOT! But, the only way to learn is to do it.</p>

<p>I wish all you photographers out there success and joy. But always remember you HAVE TO BE A<br>

BUSSINESS PERSON as well as a photographer.</p>

<P><B> Business name and irrelevant image removed</B></P>

<p> I smiled when I read 'Part of my "gimmick is I shoot film' from Daniel Stewart. Any decent photographer can reproduce the look of film from a digital file.<br>

As a previous poster stated you produce what the bride wants not want you like doing. I can imagine what a bride will say when she gets only a handful of photos from a film shooter when her friend got 500. That's the world we live in now.<br>

Sure shoot film for yourself but not for a wedding. Be interesting to hear from Daniel in a couple of years as to what his gimmick has achieved. Best of luck with that.</p>

<p>I haven't had a chance to read the whole thread but I will respond to Joe Morris. Joe - when did you last shoot film and digital side-by-side? On a cursory level we can reproduce the look of certain film types, at least to an extent (and whether we feel we have reproduced that on digital will largely depend on our experience with both, and how discerning we are). But whenever I shoot film I am always struck by how different the results are. Of course there are still clients who like the thought of having their wedding committed to film, just as there are many customers out there who will pay a premium to purchase a chair carved using traditional methods, over a mass produced 'equivalent'. Ask any cabinetmaker or antique dealer.</p>

<p>And you are very wrong that a photographer's style and working methods are always dictated by their customers. That should never be the case (unless you occupy a market level where creativity is not a requirement). At the higher end of the market or the niche end of the market, that is unworkable. A bride goes to a photographer because the style of that photographer resonates with her particular sense of aesthetic. Then there are brides who simply shop on price. A bride wanting a disc containing 500 images is hardly going to approach a niche film photographer who will be giving her 30 prints hand mounted, and provided in a hand carved box.</p>

<p>If a bride comes to me wanting a vintage themed shoot, with faded and tinted processing, then I know I am not the photographer for her. That is not me failing to cater to my customers. Quite the contrary - if you're in business as a photographer you need to understand who your key clients are, and you market your offerings to them. Not the other way round.</p>

<p>I know several photographers who routinely produce weddings on film for their customers. They have no shortage of clients, they understand those clients, and they know where to find them. And vice versa. If Daniel fails in his venture, and it has nothing to do with his 'gimmick' and everything to do with his failure to understand and market that sector.</p>

<p>I stick by what I said in my previous article, any decent digital photographer can reproduce the look of film, end of story.<br>

That's why so many photographers are going out of business because they are doing what they want, i.e. shot film and other gimmicks, and not want the brides want. The number of couples who ask for film you can probably count on one hand.<br>

Times are changing and too many people are not.<br>

I did not state 'that a photographer's style and working methods are always dictated by their customers'. They pick a photographer for his style and methods but he still has to produce what the bride wants.<br>

Why would I shoot film and digital together, I don't ride a horse and buggy and then compere it to my car. I have a beautiful digital camera that has fantastic abilities why would I be hog tied and shoot film. </p>

<p>I'm going to be very blunt. <br>

It takes less than 40 hours to process your -average- wedding. Start to finish. <br>

When the average income is around $50k /yr for most people. $3k-10k for a week's work ain't bad. And believe me, working not nearly as hard as many people. <br>

This reminds me of the internet in it's infancy when web designers worked very hard to maintain a mystery about what it took to build a website. And they took advantage of the moment by egregious gouging. Many years later everything reached it's point of natural equilibrium, and websites have become free or amazingly inexpense, yet well designed. <br>

Though consistently good photography takes skill, and sometimes talent, it's not rocket science so much as stategy, luck, and intuition. That's getting hard to find as I sort through dozens of website databases showing the same old overdone subject matter. <br>

The cause of many quality wedding photographers resigning as starving artist, is more often than not, due to something missing in their business model. <br>

All in all there will always be the cheap, the expensive, and the mediocre. If you want to succeed, you have to pick your market and forget this whole business of justifying your price to a customer.... </p>

<p>I have been reading people's comments from the very start of “Calling It Quits” and like everything in life; there are some good and not so good points that have been raised.<br>

However, regardless of how much a wedding photographer is worth, can or should be charging, the most important point is that we all have to start at the beginning, be it film or digital. Moreover, if we learn from our mistakes we can improve and become better.<br>

Other people have mentioned that times have changed and that photographers need to move with the changing times. if all photographers did move with the times would the Wedding photography market still continue to shrink? <br>

The one thing that will never change is what people want, if you can offer this at a price they are willing to pay, you will find the work, you just have to decide the right market in terms of the prices you can charge.<br>

Quality never go’s out of fashion for the people who appreciate quality and for the people who see this in a photographer’s work they will be willing to pay for it. However, for the photographers that made a very good living in the “Old Day’s” perhaps some of them just became complacent? <br>

The one thing that is very difficult to pass on is experience, especially when people are told that they can’t do something, so for every "I Can't' there will be "I Can" and that has to be a positive thing.</p>

<p>“It is better to have tried and failed, than not tried at all” which was what I was told growing up.</p>