The business side of Wedding/portrait photography

Friends,

The business forum here on PN doesn't have a category specifically for the

question I intend to ask, so please hang in there with me. It seems that

everywhere I turn, we are bombarded by formerly successful wedding or portrait

photographers who want to help make you successful by selling you a DVD or a

book for "the bargain price of $$$" Now what stinks is that you don't get to

open up the books on their business, and you will never know whether they are

full of hot air trying to sell DVD and books, or if they really made more than

minimum wage as a wedding/portrait photographer.

Here's the quandary. Rangefinder Mag publishes an article, of a business that

can be summarized in the following fashion.

"The business has now grown to include a staff of one full-time photographer

and three part-time office assistants. In 2003, they photographed over 70

weddings and 150 family portrait sessions, with gross sales in excess of

$1,000,000."

I'd like to see the EXACT business/marketing plans that resulted in gross

sales of $1M after only 70 weddings and 150 portrait sessions. My curiosity

tells me that a.) it was a remarkable year, and b.) it probably is not

sustainable at that level of income.

I'd especially enjoy hearing from and speaking with any pro photographers who

have executed a business plan of their own which resulted in 6 figures income

in any consecutive 12-month period. For those of you who are ready to hit

reply and say "so what's your question" here it is: Have you executed a

wedding/portrait photography business plan which has resulted in excess of 6

figures? Did sustain that level for more than a couple of years? What did

you do differently that the nearest wedding/portrait photographer (earning

less that you) didn't? What do you have that he/she doesn't have?

Reference: http://www.rangefindermag.com/magazine/Jul07/138.pdf

Thanks for sharing.

Steven -

I'm not in that category, but by looking at his website (which has no prices) I can tell you how he does it...

He offers unique high quality prints which are hand finished to his clients. From the looks of his site the prices start at $700 for a session and an 8x10. Most people aren't looking for a single 8x10, but for multiples and different poses.

As the article says, he hires good salespeople and he is undoubtedly a

very skilled photographer. A good portion of the sale is the ability to close the deal with the client, which is why at upscale studios such as his, the photographer worries about the art, while a sales pro closes the deal with the buyers.

Very believable that he did that volume and that he can sustain it. Kids grow up and parents want year photos. When the kids get married, they'll go to him for the weddings and then for their kids...

Dave

I've wondered about this myself.

How many weddings or wedding-like events (golden anniversaries, bar mitzvahs, quinceanyeras, etc.) can a single photographer do in a year? 40-50 sounds to me ambitious but doable if you are really in demand, and assuming that you're reasonably talented, the more weddings you do, the better your referral business is going to be, so at some point, you're going to be turning away business.

Seems a conservative fee for a very in-demand photographer in the USA would be perhaps $2000 per event shoot, so 40 events = $80K, gross. I know that star photographers charge much more than that, but I'm trying not to assume star-photographer status. Charge $2500 per shoot, you've got six figures. I'm thinking here of a solo shooter.

And that's before you charge for other stuff like portraits, albums, etc.

Nevertheless, it's a competitive business, and the real question is how many people can the market really support at that level. That question can't be answered by math alone.

Hi Steven, i would also like to add that guys like this are able to command a higher price in general...I seriously doubt that his weddings are less than 5000K per; at 70 weddings per year you are looking at 350k a year in revenues. He is probably getting re orders for some of his weddings which would boost his revenues more.

Now if you average his portraits, you are looking at an average of 4333k per session for 150 portrait which to me is quite possible. I use to assist a photographer who would often invoice a single family portrait session at 5000$. His clients would typically be wealthy families. Some of his mos expensive weddings would bring close to 10k.

The photography business is no different than any other business. It depends who you want to target as clients. If you sell weddings at 400$ with every thing included, you will never get to shoot Donald Trump next wedding... I could very well imagine the final bill on a wedding from a wealthy person like this to be 20k+, then he would come back for his family portraits, personal portraits and so on...

Do you want to sell burgers or foie gras at your restaurant?

Pascal

I have not looked at the website or article.

I have no hesitation in accepting the above description of a W & P business, I am assuming $US.

In the first inst, these rough figures spring to my mind:

Weddings average: $US10,000, range: $7,000 to $20,000

Portrait sitting average: $US2,000, range: $1,200 to $4,000

Exes:

Salaries: 100,000 + 3 x 32000 = 200,000

Running O`heads: 100,000

Insurance / Legal / Utilities: 100,000

Cost of product / equipment and lease: 200,000

Advertising and Promotion: 100,000

Nett: 300,000 = 30%

I suggest a good deal of the nett has been is being re-invested as Capital.

I would expect the vendor (if it is for sale) is the `one photographer` and has built the business on the model based upon the premise of the intrinsic value of TIME in a one person service business.

Specific for a Wedding Photography business this premise can be represented with this simple equation:

50 x $10,000 = 500 x $1,000 or similar.

WW

im in a small town, one studio does almosst 400 high school srs per year, at $400 each,

that $160k and they do other portraits but no weddings.

i almost partnered with another photog when i opened my studio. once he shot fora year

or so, he just tripled his prices and had the high end marketing to go along with it. and

now is really busy with weddings starting at $5k. lots of percieved value...percieved. hes

good, but not out of this world good.

i think the wedding industry really got divided it either $500for a whole wedd or $5k these

days.

This is the end of the first year of business. Without print orders the income of just weddings will be around $65,000. Next year the income (based on new pricing and an increased booking rate) should be right at $100,000. NOT including print orders, portrait sessions, or other income streams.

There are two basic things you can do differently to set yourself apart. The first is marketing and perceived value. The second is talent. Fortunately most people can improve both of those areas.

Not unthinkable. There was just a post about a guy who was having problems with his wedding photographer, He said he spent $10,000 for his wedding.

70 weddings + $700,000. Two weeks vacation.

This means he making $300,000 for 150 portrait sessions. This is $2,000 a session. Not unheard of.

With three assistants, part or full time to do your post processing, or a chunk of it, its very doable, and sustainable.

Granted its very hard to capture the clients he has.

Rangefinder publishes a lot of stories like this one. But there's a back story in every tale of success, some detail which is almost overlooked but is the real key to understanding, somthing sometimes not even realized by the entepreneur.

I went to a seminar featuring a photographer who was making $250K annually - not bad for 30 years ago - in one of the poorest regions of the country. Back story, not mentioned: this person married into one of the richest families in the U.S. and most of the customers were actually multi-millionares.

Another seminar. The featured photographer spent over an hour explaining the secrets to success, with heavy emphasis on customer service and imagination. Back story: for over 40 years, this person was the only professional photographer within a 200 mile radius.

In this article, the back story seems to be hinted at in the final editorial comment. Steven Kramer has been around professional photography since he was 15, and worked for a number of metropolitan studios (can we assume wedding photographers?) before moving out on his own. I suspect he brought 100's if not 1000's of contacts and potential clients with him. The real story, to me, would be how he managed to attract 60 weddings the first year while working out of his home. Did he follow a general exodus of wealthy clientele into a growing high-income suburb, perhaps? Did he steal his employer's database? Did he have a brilliant marketing plan? Unfortunately, we'll probably never know the whole story.

There's a fair amount of self-promotion-hype in those articles profiling photographers. The writers don't really don't dig and research like a journalist would, they get their facts from the photographer and piece together the article.

I know more about some of these photographers, and so I see the spin they put on themselves in order to market their workshops and seminars. I won't mention their names. Read the articles with a grain a salt.

Another factor that comes into play is that of being "fooled by randomness", which is that the photographer may sincerely believe that certain factors are responsible for his success when it's actually due mostly to serendipity. I recall, for example, watching a Denis Reggie videotape where he was interviewed and explains that his success was due to the fact that he photographs without directing the bride and that the affluent client prefers that, and I'm thinking to myself, "and the fact that you're in demand by the higher crust because you're the only human being that ever shot the Kennedys without anyone getting killed has nothing to do with it?".

As one of my photography instructors once told me - the way to make real money in

photography is to find something to sell to photographers.