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Go4Long
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Re: Mustang Air to Air: The Sequel


JWilsonphoto wrote:
nickjohnson wrote:
JWilsonphoto wrote:
I've been sending "teaser" images to my clients as I work my way through yesterday's imagery and they love the stuff. In fact, they love it so much that instead of shooting all of those sites quarterly, they want me to do it monthly, the planning paid off!

There are a zillion people out there shooting aerials, some rent a plane, some own a plane, some shoot from helicopters, but there is a common thread throughout their work, they are focused on speed. Understandably they want to cram as many sites into the time they are up as they possibly can, but there is the rub. You cannot do that and achieve a quality level that sets you above the competition. Like the drone people, these arial shooters find themselves in an ever tightening spiral of reduced pricing because nothing sets them apart form their competition. Honestly, my aerials are the most expensive in the marketplace, and my clients wouldn't consider jumping ship because they've had the product the rapid fire inexpensive guys put out. My philosophy has always been, shoot it with the best gear, shoot it in the best light, give them triple the imagery the shotgun NSEW photographers provide them, and think marketing the whole time I'm up, what else can I get for them that will help tell their story better? There are still people who go for the 80 bucks a site guys, but once you turn them, you have them for life.





Ah, the complete opposite of the race to the bottom that seams to be apparent just about everywhere one looks ?



I'm on a couple of DJI Drone forums, mostly just to monitor firmware updates because some are good and some are laden with problems. The other day I followed a post that had a headline like "$10 for a realtor shoot....!" The thread went on forever with comments from all of the drone people who thought they were going to make a killing with their new quadcopter. A hundred comments condensed down.........real estate is not a market that pays, and like everything else, about 5% of the drone owners in the world are going to make any kind of reasonable income from their drones. First problem is, that real estate, except in some rare cases on very expensive properties, has never paid a decent rate, the second has been that the drone people have shot themselves in both feet and are now aiming for their forehead as they attempt to under bid the other 20 people on their block with a drone. I know a couple of guys that went to Octo drones and hung Reds on them just to differentiate themselves from the crowd. Gutsy move considering the investment and the risk of loss, but one of them is doing very well with his rig and his rate is generally 10K a day +. It's risky, but if you focus on quality and shoot for a quality level that separates you from the competition, then go headlong after the market that cares about that level of product, you have a better chance of making it. Understandably that approach scares a lot of people, still wakes me up a times.



The part that still blows my mind is that they actually have to tell people that "you can't fly that here" in some places...Our CF-18 pilot noticed one during one of his passes at the show by me a couple weeks ago, and led me to wonder

1. What kind of shots it was that this person thought they were going to get
2. What posessed them to think they could fly their drone at an airport in the first place let alone at an airshow.

I get the fascination with drones, and I've often thought about buying myself one, but I think more common sense is required. Maybe some simple questions on a pre-purchase checklist to see if the person has the common sense required to own and operate a drone?

On the race to the bottom front, I've hardly shot motocross this year...I can't be bothered since one of the rebel moms started buying herself some decent camera gear and continued to give her shots away for free. I spent the last few years building myself up a loyal following, but I can't compete with free.



Aug 16, 2017 at 03:31 PM
Go4Long
Offline
Upload & Sell: On
Re: Mustang Air to Air: The Sequel


JWilsonphoto wrote:
nickjohnson wrote:
JWilsonphoto wrote:
I've been sending "teaser" images to my clients as I work my way through yesterday's imagery and they love the stuff. In fact, they love it so much that instead of shooting all of those sites quarterly, they want me to do it monthly, the planning paid off!

There are a zillion people out there shooting aerials, some rent a plane, some own a plane, some shoot from helicopters, but there is a common thread throughout their work, they are focused on speed. Understandably they want to cram as many sites into the time they are up as they possibly can, but there is the rub. You cannot do that and achieve a quality level that sets you above the competition. Like the drone people, these arial shooters find themselves in an ever tightening spiral of reduced pricing because nothing sets them apart form their competition. Honestly, my aerials are the most expensive in the marketplace, and my clients wouldn't consider jumping ship because they've had the product the rapid fire inexpensive guys put out. My philosophy has always been, shoot it with the best gear, shoot it in the best light, give them triple the imagery the shotgun NSEW photographers provide them, and think marketing the whole time I'm up, what else can I get for them that will help tell their story better? There are still people who go for the 80 bucks a site guys, but once you turn them, you have them for life.





Ah, the complete opposite of the race to the bottom that seams to be apparent just about everywhere one looks ?



I'm on a couple of DJI Drone forums, mostly just to monitor firmware updates because some are good and some are laden with problems. The other day I followed a post that had a headline like "$10 for a realtor shoot....!" The thread went on forever with comments from all of the drone people who thought they were going to make a killing with their new quadcopter. A hundred comments condensed down.........real estate is not a market that pays, and like everything else, about 5% of the drone owners in the world are going to make any kind of reasonable income from their drones. First problem is, that real estate, except in some rare cases on very expensive properties, has never paid a decent rate, the second has been that the drone people have shot themselves in both feet and are now aiming for their forehead as they attempt to under bid the other 20 people on their block with a drone. I know a couple of guys that went to Octo drones and hung Reds on them just to differentiate themselves from the crowd. Gutsy move considering the investment and the risk of loss, but one of them is doing very well with his rig and his rate is generally 10K a day +. It's risky, but if you focus on quality and shoot for a quality level that separates you from the competition, then go headlong after the market that cares about that level of product, you have a better chance of making it. Understandably that approach scares a lot of people, still wakes me up a times.



The part that still blows my mind is that they actually have to tell people that "you can't fly that here" in some places...Our CF-18 pilot noticed one during one of his passes at the show by me a couple weeks ago, and led me to wonder

1. What kind of shots it was that this person thought they were going to get
2. What posessed them to think they could fly their drone at an airport in the first place let alone at an airshow.



Aug 16, 2017 at 03:27 PM





  Previous versions of Go4Long's message #14146711 « Mustang Air to Air: The Sequel »

 




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