Looking at a once traveled path.
I have been doing some very serious soul searching lately. Much due to my having to care for my mother, some of it due to the dramatic show fall that we have experience this season. Then there is the question about my Wedding Photography Side of my Business.
As of the last posting, I revealed a lot of very personal stuff about what my current life is going through. Then the past year, the economy hit bottom and had effected almost every ones wallet. This had in turn affected my Sale in the Wedding Division of my Studio. From shooting high end weddings over that past three years to now only shooting bargain sub $2000 weddings. As one groom told me, that he hired me by price alone, but he looked at my images he knew he should have paid triple of what he originally paid. Now, I have discovered that there is a major glut of new Wedding photographers hitting the streets. Some good, and some not very good at all, but all offering prices at $800.00 or less. In most cases don’t even cover my cost with the most recent weddings that I shoot. This is made more evident in an article by David Ziser, and he quotes:
The current situation – Here is what I believe:
I Believe… that the low priced sub $1000 DSLR killed the “Golden Wedding Goose” for long standing studios in our profession. I hear it everyday. They’re just are not that many “Main Street” studios surviving these days.
Back in the day (of film), if you wanted to shoot weddings, the “Cost of Membership” was at least $5000 for a medium format camera, lenses, and flash gear. That was a deterrent to the someone wanting to shoot wedding part time and kept the number of new shooters at bay.
I Believe… that there is much less of a monetary commitment a photographer needs to make to the process of shooting a wedding for his/her client these days. That fact alone has mushroomed the numbers of wedding photographers shooting today. And, resulted in driving the cost of weddings WAY down.
Back in the day, if you wanted to shoot a wedding, that meant that you were going to need to buy film and processing. Most photogs in my area were spending , on average, about $350 of actual costs per wedding. I personally spent $1000 a week on film and processing to shoot a wedding. Today that cost is FREE, FREE, FREE!!!
I believe… that there is much less of a monetary commitment needed by the buying public when it comes to buying wedding photography. Because of the proliferation of cheap all the way to inexpensive pricing in the field, the client sees that as the norm these day.
I was just reading in Business Week this morning that some of the luxury products use a pricing procedure called “anchoring” to offer one product at a very high price so that the second tier product, still pricy, becomes the big seller. Here is the link to the article right here.
What’s happened to the wedding profession is that the “PRICE” has been anchored to the bottom of the heap – i.e. the flea market wedding shoppers looking for rock bottom pricing for “professional photographic services” on Craig’s list.
I Believe… that the “Digital Age” itself has done much to reshape the wedding photography business. All the new aspiring photographers can find free or very reasonably priced training anywhere on the internet. My site DigitalProTalk, the Strobist, the Online Photographer, the Digital Photography School, et. al. have really revved up the enthusiasm for the profession.
Believe me, I think all that “easy to reach”information is a good thing. I’m a web surfing junkie myself and love to bring the tid-bits I find to you, our DPT readers. Hey, it’s fun.
That enthusiasm has also encouraged many new photographers to “give it a go” in the profession.
So do I believe that there are too many photographers shooting wedding these days? My answer – YES. Now for the rest of the story. Are many of them making any money? – NO!
But you say, “I love shooting weddings. What can I do?” Lots of suggestions were given in the “Comments” section of the last two posts.
I am not going to compete against the prices but will instead concentrate on my other skills. David is a very wise man when it comes to Wedding Photography, and he skills and teachings and I hold merit to that.
I have been getting a lot of inquiries from local and not so local sports leagues and sports clubs to shoot team photos and individual player portraits. If the demand increases, I may push in that direction. If it sounds like I am uncertain about my direction and future, well no I am not. I have come to a apex in my profession where I am starting to look back at where my photography all started. Shooting Sports and actions photos. No, I will not be looking to get my credentials for the coming Red Skins Football season, but I do see a positive direction that is worth exploring.
And oh yes, I have not left the Wedding Photography Business, not for a long time.
Paul
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