dan_rosenberg1

<p>Does anyone have any experience working for a Vegas wedding chapel? It's a volume gig at $50 per 15 minute wedding. On the surface is sounds kinda fun but what is it like and is it worth doing. I've done about 60 regular weddings but this would be different. Any thoughts? Dan R</p>

<p>In my home state of Minnesota, my wife and I would do about one wedding a month. We got leads mostly through word of mouth and I attended a small wedding expo. Well now we live in Phoenix and are having to start all over again. No small wedding expos, only the giant monster ones with 200 other photographers. Any inexpensive marketing suggestions?</p>

<p>I have a very unique photo nitche that not many people are doing and it keeps me busy five months out of the year. Now if I can just get business for the rest of the year. As an event photographer, I'm not inclined to give out my idea for free. It has been very successful but it's also easy for someone to copy. So I'm going to have to see if I can corner the market first and foremost.</p>

<p>Hi Jamie, I like your site. Very simple and clean. I thought your prices were very reasonable. I think they are low enough where you can stay busy but is that what you want to make? The natural light photography tag line is fine but I don't see enough things that make you unique enough to charge more for what you are doing.</p>

<p>A few ideas here. First off, get pro equipment or the best you can afford. Read lots of photography books, go to seminars, and take lots of photos. Find a mentor who will help you. Don't think because you take nice snap shots you can just jump into photography and get paid for it. It just doesn't work that way. Lastly, you need to become a better communicator. Learn to speak well and write well. Communication and marketing are in many cases, just as important as your photography.</p>

<p>Gee, you can go to Vista Print and get 100 standard sized post cards for FREE. I just go 300 in and my costs were about 10 cents each. With the 28 cent stamp and we're looking at 38 cents each to send out four color post cards marketing my business, not bad.</p>

<p>I'm with one of the big church directory companies and what they do is sell photo packages that incorporate the cost of the directory into them.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info on Bella. I certainly wouldn't downplay $450 for a wedding when you didn't have to do any sales and marketing. I would bet that most photographers don't even take their marketing time into consideration as an actual expense.</p>

<p>Hi Tim, the sad fact is that 90 percent of people in photography are part time. Almost all photographers are generalists with a specialty. If you can develop your specialty to the maximum, you can fill in with all the generalist stuff everyone else does. If you are lucky, you become so good at your specialty, you no longer need to be a generalist. To succeed in photography, you need to be a great marketer/salesperson first and foremost. The photography skills will come with experience. I know it seems silly but I think we all know people who really aren't that great of photographers but make a living at this because they are very good at marketing. Whereas I've seen a lot of fantastic photographers fail at this because they don't have one lick of business common sense.</p>

<p>Ronald, I take photos at a multiple day event. I target events that mom and pops can't get good photos at and then I come back the next day and sell photos from my both. The people love it because they can take their photos home immediately, they don't have to wait at viewing stations or wait for a printer, they don't wait have to wait for snail mail either. The organizers love it because they NEVER get phone calls from someone who didn't receive their photos. If I even mention online sales, my sales go down like a rock. If you want to sell pictures, don't put them online!</p>

<p>As an event photographer, I always try to do events that moms and pops can't do with their Rebel camera. If mom and dad can do it, it's probably not a great long term business plan. I would close off the area but if I got cash in hand or the mall paid me well enough, I would let mom and dad take a photo. If a mom and dad photo is stealing from your print sales, I would just say "sorry but we don't allow outside cameras in our photo studio".</p>

<p>Take the money and run. Since it is for editorial purposes you don't need a release. This would put you in the classification of a paparazzi and the studio probably wouldn't hire you again but being an extra isn't that great of a job anyway. Take the money.</p>

<p>DON'T DO IT. Trying to run a business based on online sales is a disaster. When I went to selling photos, CDs and posters on the spot, I tripled my sales. As an event photographer, on site sales is the only way to go. I think in general, photographers now know that onlines sales stink but yet they still put them online and get an order once in awhile. Go figure? In my experience, just mentioning you are going to put photos online will kill your on site sales. And the sad part is, most of the people who say they will order online...don't.</p>

<p>The key would be, are the people in the photo "identifiable"? If so, you need a model release. If not, you should be able to get by without one. If the owner has a great relationship with his customers, that is a possibility but I still think you would have to have a "closed set" policy in place using models, family members or friends.</p>

<p>Hi Dick, I try to charge what the market will bare, if it's $50 an hour or if it's $150 an hour. It depends on the size and scope of the event. All clients are not created equal. In this case, I don't think $100 to $150 an hour would be excessive. Just by asking around and checking out the competition you should be able to get a good handle on pricing.</p>