Comments on: Change

By: Mary Gardella

Mary Gardella — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:41:32 +0000

As photographers/artists we will constantly struggle with those that undercut the market for the fast buck. There are also those who are afraid to charge what they are worth and undercut themselves. Our biz model in theory works towards keeping the client with us through all those life change. In practice, it’s much more difficult to accomplish. When you mentioned this idea to us during our recent conversations I thought what a great way to maintain those relationships. Definitely thinking more along these lines.

By: ABC Dragoo

ABC Dragoo — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:31:42 +0000

Last weekend, I was at a party. Me (stationery designer) and two friends (interior designer, and custom shoe maker) were having a very similar conversation. I wish you were there with these ideas!

At some point – there has got to be a turn around. This might just be the way.

I see too many creatives across the board who are giving themselves (mostly their time) away for free. They take jobs where they barely cover materials and don’t even come close to paying themselves for their effort. I think it cheapens their brand to give themselves away like that.

Great post as always Sean.
ABCD

By: Bryan Johnson

Bryan Johnson — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:22:48 +0000

I’m with you on this one, Caleb.

By: Catherine Hall

Catherine Hall — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:01:41 +0000

Great advice. I definitely agree that marketing your work and building its value is very important. I find building and maintaining relationships of utmost important in the wedding photography industry.

By: CalebC.

CalebC. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:11:07 +0000

Produce quality work. Find receptive people. Build true relationships.

It’s not a business model. It’s just good living.

By: Daniel Sroka

Daniel Sroka — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:52:37 +0000

Fine art photography has also been greatly effected by the downward pressure of so many people being willing to sell their “fine art” for barely enough money to cover their expenses. Visit Etsy, and you find many photographers are selling their prints for $5, $10, $20. While I understand and respect the joy a new artist experiences at having someone willing to pay *any* amount for their work, they need to understand the long-term implications of the market that they are creating — a market that is trained to equate “fine art” with the price of a pizza.

By: Scott Bourne

Scott Bourne — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:11:53 +0000

Sean this is a well-written piece with a good message. I agree that creatives need to build value – and your ideas are good starting points. One thing that wedding pros have going for them is that if they do a good job with the wedding, they have a built-in opportunity to see and photograph the family again – when the first child is born. When I ran a wedding practice I always offered to come photograph the mother and baby in the hospital – for free – as a reminder of our bond with the family. Of course when I delivered the free 8×10 I offered solutions for photographing the child going forward along with new family portraits, prints for relatives, etc. It always worked well and is just the kind of thing you are talking about. Nice to see someone else beating the right drum. Thanks.

By: J Sandifer

J Sandifer — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:36:07 +0000

There will always be people that race to the bottom, it has been in our industry for years and will be here for many more. Scott and I had a conversation recently about hope for our industry and understanding the possibilities…an industry that has lowered the threshold of entry, but the possibility to distance yourself from the crowd with quality work and brand. I fear for those that are afraid of the $500 photographer taking their work…really?

I agree on Change…creating an annuity is certainly that, working on that now

You should come out to Vegas for WPPI!

By: Tom McCallum

Tom McCallum — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:26:12 +0000

As a tourism professional for many years and now a marketing and strategy consultant (who finds Sean’s writings a must read!), these are accurate yet scary thoughts for the wedding professional. After all, where is that ongoing client loyalty / revenue stream going to come from on what is intrinsically a one time purchase ?

To me the answer comes back to networking, and networking with those who can bring you ongoing business leads. Yes, that can mean the wedding planner and others who get the first call, but (let’s stay with photographers) wedding photographers also could (in most cases) do a far better job of building their own brand, independent of their network, and so be the first point of contact from that bride-to-be. In addition to getting more business, makes sense that there is intrinsic network value in being the originator of the stream of business that spins out to others from that first contact.

One other observation is that, in far too many cases, a greatly overlooked resource is the staff of hotels that specialise in weddings. With the rapidly increasing trend (put on steroids by the web in recent years) for brides to DIY more and more of their own planning and execution, the Hotel group planner (or, as one of my clients calls the role, “wedding guru” !) is increasingly that point of contact. That particular fairly small client does 70+ weddings a year, up from zero 5 years ago. Wouldn’t it be good to make sure you are the professional called for photography (or flowers, or beauty, or reception planning etc etc). Now there’s something that many could focus more on in order to gain repeat customer business.

By: Alexandra Jusino

Alexandra Jusino — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:21:22 +0000

Can’t wait to meet you at the Day of Education in Chicago in a week. Every single day I think of a question that’s been on my mind about my business and you not only answer it, but give me a new perspective on the way of running the business. Thank you for writing these posts.