Hard Times by Dominic Lee, Priory Studios
Monday, Sep 1st, 2008 in The IPWS Blog by Dominic Lee | 4 Comments
Already we are hearing of photographers being laid off, staff wages being cut and studios not renewing their lease.
As ever in hard times the weak photographers will be bullied into submission by customers who sense their desperation for business. More & more photographers are giving away their images on DVD which makes them no better than a fast food take-away where you couldn’t spend more than 10 Euro a head if you tried. They will sadly never experience the opportunity of celebrating even 10 years in business never mind having a business worth selling when they retire.
And as ever only the strong will survive. Because they refuse to downgrade their quality, reduce their price or sell their soul (by giving away their digital files).
It’s a buyers market: – Suppliers are no longer saying "ahh sorry sir, we won’t be getting another delivery from them for two weeks". Now you are more likely to hear "yes sir, we will have that for you in the morning". And with the current state of the Dollar & Sterling it is also very attractive for Irish photographers to buy from Northern Ireland or abroad.
Look to Michael O’Leary of Ryanair – he quickly turns a crisis into an opportunity, i.e. after the global downturn in the airline business following 9/11, he bought planes! Cheap! People were getting out, but he knew flying was here to stay, he recognised the temporary loss of faith would soon pass, and made a killing buying up what the airlines were frantic to offload.
So if business is slow upgrade your equipment, learn new skills, paint the studio and redesign everything from your business cards to your showroom. Get busy, be positive and did I mention? “Don’t give away your images on DVD”.
Best of Luck,
Dominic
4 Comments:
ah Dominic…in an ideal world. I agree with everthing you say but listen!..what’s that?..a familar sound i hear; yes the scratching of wolves at the door.
Every bride up north here is looking for that CD with prepared files. The words out and its spreading like a virus.
Mon. (9th) a girl rings me for a quote, “does that include a CD with ALL the photographs”..some photographer quoted her £400 for album, 40 photos and CD. Another quoted £375 for same. My album and processing cost me that.
Jayus am i out of the loop or sumthin. I recommended the £375; its a bargain and your in the basement..but don’t come cryin’ to me as 2 previous brides did.
I’ve been asked to scan from another “photographers” album and retouch. I declined and put it to them if they went with a professional in the first place you wouldn’t be in this situation.
I won’t compromise on processing and presentation. Every album is an advertisement and you never know who’s looking at it.
Must go now; that dam wolf’s near in.
ps; Flickr’s the new camera club according to my friend http://www.davymac.com/wordpress/
A couple recently left an album into a photographer to look at. When he dried away the tears of laughter he realised they were his pictures and boy does he regret giving them a CD. The sad thing was that they thought they were doing him a favour by printing his name in it!
While I agree with Dominic and understand where our collegue up north is coming from I think its an old case of if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.
Quality is what makes something worth paying for and though I love a good bargin as good as the next man, I would be reluctant to pay €400 for someone to cover my wedding day as I am sure a lot of people would.
Be proud of what you do. Remember the years you spent to get to where you are.
The way I look at it is, it is simple, if you are a fly by night Photographer, charge a few hundred euro, take the money and run but dont wait for the recommendations to come flooding in.
If you are a Professional photographer, be proud of your work, go the extra mile and think of the future.
As for giving away images on CD, I give them away, but I reduce the size so they are not going to print well and I add a watermark on them, everyone is happy.
Remember folks, some people shop in Brown Thomas and others in the Pound Shop.
Barry, you should be aware that a UK couple recently won a case against a photographer for supplying them with low res 6×4 inch images. The judge ruled that because the photographer had not made this clear at the time of the booking they were entitled to believe that the package was for high res printable files.
In any event you would be amazed at the quality a good technician can produce from a low res 6×4 file. The shop next door to me sells colour copiers, I gave him a wallet size laminated photo and 10 seconds later he handed me an A3 image which I know my Mother would be thrilled to frame for the wall.
Dominic