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 p.3 #6 · The right way to get into wedding photography | |
GateCityPhotog wrote:
Stupid? Says who?
I'll offer some insight from someone who's been there and done that. This post is going to be long, but it is a wakeup call for those in denial, and an eye opening inside look from someone that has been there and doesn't need income from photography to feed his family.
I began having an interest in wedding photography about 7-8 years ago. You know, back in the good 'ole days 
I had (still have) a day job and was/am making very good money in my profession. I did not need wedding photography income in any way, shape or form. I very much enjoyed taking photographs. I purchased my first DSLR (a Canon 1D MK I) back in 2002 so that I could photograph my toddler son. I paid $5,500+ for that body way back then. Add to that quite a substantial sum of money for some decent glass, and voila, I had a very nice photography kit. I shot some junior golf for a while, and didn't earn enough money to pay for the gasoline and hotels, and I worked my arse off. I then gave that up and moved on. It was a fun venture for a while, but I'm glad I didn't have to feed my family on that income.
Next, my current wife and I were planning our wedding to take place in 2005 (this was 2004 'ish). As the wedding bug began to bite, and with it all of the excitement of having a wedding, I got the idea that I would shoot part of my own wedding (just some getting ready and reception type shots in a very limited fashion), though we hired a pro to shoot the wedding for us. Thing is, my gear was WAY better than the Pro's gear, because his margins were pretty thin and he had a great business model of not spending all of his earnings on gear. I was uncle Bob at my own wedding,  .
Moving along, after our wedding, I began to shoot some weddings for friends at a very low cost (few hundred dollars) and got some experience. They knew what they were getting themselves into when they hired me. I had a very solid understanding of basic photography principles and had spent a ton of time researching and looking at wedding day images. To boot, I spent several hundred dollars on books by Bambi Cantrell and various other well established photographers. I also spent a ton on advertising, software, etc, etc, etc. I did pretty well for myself and after about four or five years began to get fairly good and had enough clients to consider going full time. I was at least as good as some of the very well known 'togs on the West Coast who had made big names for themselves, as far as style and product are concerned. My wife even began to shoot some weddings with me.
However, there were two things holding me back from going full time: I was making a very good salary at my daytime gig AND most disconcerting was..., the influx of newbies. Any Jane or John with a camera could hang a shingle and compete with me. Sort of like I did to the the previously established pros out there, when I started. Except, I was charging good money to do weddings. I was getting anywhere from $3K - $6K gross for weddings. So, due to the fact that I was now working 100+ hour weeks at both of my jobs, I had to make a decision, as I couldn't continue to pull that sort of workload. I decided to take the sure thing. the short of it; I sold ALL of my gear. I didn't enjoy photography any more because it was literally wearing me out. I became depressed, my health went to hell, etc, etc. Mostly this happened because I didn't know how to efficiently run a business. I would have eventually, and actually did after a hiatus, figure out how to run a tighter ship. But by the time I figured it out, I was done!
Now, some two to three years later, I'm considering shooting a few weddings a year. The difference between now and then, you ask? Well, I swore I would never shoot weddings again. What follows is the most important part of my sharing this knowledge: I will now shoot weddings because I want to earn a FEW extra dollars, not because I love photography. That bears repeating: I will now shoot weddings because I want to earn a FEW extra dollars. I am a full timer's worst nightmare, and here's why; when I first started some years ago, I was passionate about photography and did it for the love of being around people that were at one of the happiest times of their lives. I really enjoyed photographing weddings. As a result, I was able to earn some good side money, but that was ancillary to my real intentions. Fast forward to now. I'm not going to do it for the love of weddings, or for the love of photography. No, those will be ancillary. I am going to shoot weddings because I want to earn some side cash. I figure I can charge $800-$1,200 for six hours of shooting, burn a disc and be done with it. I'll have a total of ten hours max in each wedding. I figure my costs will be somewhere between $400-$600 per wedding for the first year or two max, then I'll start to net nearly $800 - $1,000 per wedding as I slowly raise my prices to $1,200 to $1,500 per wedding. I'll have low overhead as to time spent per wedding, and it will be something that will net me $100+ per hour. I will market myself as a shoot and burn type. There are a LOT of brides out there that don't care about the entire pampered experience that so many photographers offer, and aren't willing to pay $3,000 to $6,000 for a few pictures. The Gary Fong days are over, for the most part. In these tough economic times, people are being MUCH more frugal and now realize that they don't NEED the fluff.
Today's full timers that have been doing this long enough to be 'good enough', as far as brides are concerned, know that they are swimming against the tide by charging $3K for a few images and upwards of $6K with an album and a couple of extra portrait sessions. They know it, and here's how I know they know it... There's a lot more chatter these days in forums than ever before about how the tide of newbies is getting stronger and stronger. They are starting to feel the serious pressure that newbies are putting on them, and they're nervous. They are starting to offer classes/seminars to the newbies, ala Gary Fong, Marcus Bell, et al. Pretty soon, the majority of brides will know that they can get a photographer, a disc of images and a high quality album for $2K to $3K, or just a disc for $1K - $1.5K. Any full timer that doesn't think so yet is in serious denial or just doesn't get it. There are lots of unemployed people out there that have cameras. Yeah, so they aren't Marcus Bell or [insert your hero photographer's name here], but one thing I learned over the years is that many, if not most, brides aren't willing to pony up a large chunk of their budget for top notch photography, when they can hire someone else that will provide them 70-90% of what some big production will give them, for a fraction of what the big productions commands. GOD knows with all of the easy to use software, actions, correction tools, etc out there now, becoming a wedding photographer is about as difficult as learning to drive a car. Yeah, most Americans can't drive for crap either, but they get where they're going unscathed most of the time. Many brides will take good enough at 1/2 to 1/4 of the price and run with it. The photographers that think and try to sell the idea that "the photography is the most important thing because everything else from your important day will be consumed/gone, but you'll need my excellent skills to preserve your memories" are in for quite a surprise. Yes, brides want their day preserved, but they know they can get that at 80% quality for 1/3 of the cost. They want memories, not necessarily art (well, most of them).
As to this photographer and the disc of images I got from our wedding 'tog; my wife wanted an album. We postponed it because life happens. I could have easily designed and had a very high quality beautiful album assembled for a few hundred dollars, which we can easily afford. Life happened, and we didn't get around to it. Occasionally, we'll run a slideshow of our wedding day images and we have one mid sized canvas print in our bedroom. That's it. Imagine, if we as photographers didn't get more product than that, how brides who these days share images via Tablet devices and online social networking are going to care less and less about traditional prints and albums. It is for this reason that I suspect my new business model will work. Thing is, I have a real income to feed my family, help me to purchase chlorine for my pool, and have many of the nice things that life offers. The extra income from shooting and burning will just offer a way for me to travel, attend some weddings and earn a decent extra cash flow for upgraded vacations. Heck, my wife may be able to take an early retirement from her stressful day job, and do ten to twelve shoot and burn weddings a year and have it made fairly easy.
Having a Utopian view of wedding photography as being a full time career is fallacious at best. Times are a 'changin. Swimming against the tide doesn't change the fact that the tide is heading in the opposite direction of which you wish it to go. Augment your income in others ways. That is my advice for the newbies. Save yourself a load of heartache and money, and do what works, not what you hope will work against conventional wisdom.
Trying to teach the newcomers that they are actually worth a lot more is like trying to teach lemmings to not embark on dangerous migrations. Ain't gonna happen. Capitalism, free markets and the easy entry to this field will ensure that there's plenty of competition for wedding photographers. Good for brides, not so much for wedding photographers that wish to make their living doing only weddings. There are lots of people that would be happy making $30K to $40K salary / year. Those are the people that are your competition. With technology these days, and with technology getting more efficient and easier to use to make acceptable images, it is only a matter of time that we'll get to the point that $1,500 wedding photographers will be the norm.
Oh, and I'll probably be putting on some photography classes/seminars and make a few bucks there too. I however will not be doing full production weddings as were done in past days. That jig is up, as far as I'm concerned. Pareto's 80/20 principle reigns supreme in this profession, as does it in most aspects/businesses in life.
In summary and closing, there are a lot of guys/gals like me. They do this for extra income. Now here comes your next wave; the folks that are unemployed, underemployed or just plain happy making a pittance of a salary. My advice; don't swim against the tide. Jump in the boat where it's nice and dry and see where this journey leads you. But, most of all, enjoy the trip and if you are so lucky, make your own boat and see if people will pay you to take them for a ride. After all, giving people what they want at a fair price (determined by market factors) is much healthier than drowning in denial....Show more →
This post is worth its weight in gold.
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