Had an 80th-birthday event photo job this weekend. I did the husband's 80th birthday party last year, this year it was the wife's turn. Small job, about $150, images delivered on a CD, two hours.
Lady calls me and says they are going with a photo booth instead. That costs at least $750 and only 8 or so people can get into the picture.
Kind of bummed by this. I worked really hard at the last event and tried to deliver many candids they otherwise would not have had, plus did set-up shots with studio lighting, huge family photo that I stayed extra late to do.
Now I know how coal miners felt when they were replaced by mining machines.
KFormus wrote:
You charged them too little, they perceive your service as something of little value. If you don't value your photography, why should your customers?
Carl Feather wrote:
In this area, my rates are actually high. We have 14 percent unemployment, median income is $19,000. Ohio is a lousy place to do business.
If the photo booth guy can charge $750 and they can afford that, what makes you think people don't have money there? Even low-income families tend to pull money together for weddings.
I've actually never heard of a photographer being replaced by a silly-assed costly photo booth. What is the perceived benefit of getting one of these things vs. setting something up to crank out prints?
It's rare that there are not decent jobs to photograph in any reasonably sized areas. I have been in Ohio three times. Cincinnati twice, 2 weddings, same family, together grossed about $10k, and one in Columbus that grossed just under $18k
