Comments on: Survival Stories — Going Live

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:36:31 +0000

I’m in my 36th year of doing photography for a profession and to me, there are 3 things we need to be doing:
1.Market like crazy- believe it or not, last fall was the first time I had ever had brochures printed for my studio. Every person that comes in my studio for whatever reason gets a brochure- which highlights every type of work I do- along with a studio logo kitchen magnet placed in a nice bag.
2. Improve your business skills- I detested learning Successware being a typical photographer, but I knew that any studio software will be beneficial.
3. Improve your photography and computer skills to a point that no one in your area can match your work.

You can sit around with the “woe is me” attitude or you can use that same amount of time to be more proficient in your skills. The amateur problem is here to stay so spend your time on you, not thinking about them.

By: Steve Herzberg

Steve Herzberg — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:26:44 +0000

Daniel,
Thanks for sharing your success story.

Finding a niche to support your studio is, indeed, a strong strategy. And, I take it that your marketing is rooted in your delivery of better service.

From what I understand from your post and from looking at your website, it seems that the fact that you have a strong base of clients has enabled you to do a lot of different things and that you are not limited to church directory work.

I’ve often talked about finding one thing that supports a studio — and doing it a couple of days a week, to support the other things one wants to do the remaining days.

It looks like you’ve found a very good balance of things you like to do and are thriving.

Thanks for the uplifting post.

By: Daniel Bettinger

Daniel Bettinger — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:58:26 +0000

This is really late but……..
I am the owner of a second generation, storefront portrait studio in Denver. Been at it more than full time for 24 years and my studio is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. we are not only surviving but we are thriving. We are thriving because I made the concious decision to go after the national companies. We publish pictorial directories or church directories.
Kirk Redlin is not the first person I heard say that the days of mom and pop are gone. I heard it 15 years age at a PPA convention. The speaker said that 80% of us would be out of business by now. That definatly got my attention.
Here is my (breif) survival story.
Bought the studio from my parents in 1997.
started the digital conversion on 1999.
purchased 20K kodak cameras that we now use as door stops.
Went from 50 weddings and 1200 seniors a year to 5 weddings and 800 seniors.
The good news, we went from 100 families and couples a year to over 3000 a year. Church directories are keeping us alive.
This is a segment of our industry that the amatures and home studios can’t or won’t serve. A segmant that the national companies have monopolized and do a poor job of servicing.
To all the Mom and Pop studios that are still out there I am here to offer more information.

By: Mark Saba

Mark Saba — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:00:33 +0000

I was just searching the web to see who comes up when searching for wedding photographers in my area. I came across an ad for all day wedding photographer $399. When I visited the website of Rebecca she states on her pricing page that she is a professional photographer however she is not in it to make a living because her husband provides for her quite nicely. She also feels that $399 is a fair price for nine hours of shooting and all the post processing that goes with it. She takes about 150 images pre hour and retouches all of them puts them on a disk and gives them to you with a license to print. She says “I am a member of the Professional Photographers of America and I pay taxes! In other words you are dealing with a professional, not some “fly by night” individual.”

By: Jim Johnson

Jim Johnson — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:43:35 +0000

By: Steve Herzberg

Steve Herzberg — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:54:27 +0000

Hi,

I’m in San Francisco. Just got back from taping an interview with my friend, Hanson Fong, in his studio.

I asked Hanson how he avoided getting caught in “price wars” and to share some survival strategies.

I’ll post the video when I get back to Texas in a week or so.

Steve

By: Kirk Redlin

Kirk Redlin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:42:51 +0000

I haven’t had time to read all of the above comments, but speed reading gave me a clue as to the level of frustration that exists in our profession. First let me start by saying the days of the mom and pop main street studio are over. As I predicted in my seminar to the PPO of Oregon in September of 2003, the same gear, i.e. software and hardware companies were producing for us, really was for the amateur market. Their whole intent was to produce photographic equipment that would make any dummy look great and fatten their bottom line. The reality of the dilemia really boils down to who we are as professionals. If you were worth your salt before digital, you are still worth it today. But here is the catch. You must believe in yourself. I have spoken on the pro circuit for 30 years and every single one of my programs have focused on the art of self actualization, and the psychology of photography. If you are worth anything as a pro, you must have a clear definition of who you are and why people want you. You must always be able to walk a mile in your clients shoes with just a step into them. You must have an uncanny sense of presence with your clients, you must be able to instantly connect with people. You must be able to communicate with them on all levels, you must be educated. Learn to communicate, and above all learn to listen!
Great pros in this profession will always be wanted. This period of time will weed out the weak. That’s ok. In my studio, I spent the last summer building 50 new, funky, off the wall background and sets, they inspired me and my clients. they didn’t radically change the bottom line but they did keep people talking. My brochures will be more “out there” this year than last. My style will evolve and change like a chameleon just like it always has, never the same, always different. The great photographers of the ages have always had people talking about them. Donald Jack, said, “Call me, I don’t care what you call me, just Call ME!” Lastly, don’t worry about all the people out there with gear equal or better than you, they’re not you. They never will be. You are unique, you are great, you are loved. Now tell the world!

By: Kevin Newsome

Kevin Newsome — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:48:38 +0000

Fixer Inhalers vs Pixel Pixies…

Without a merging of those two business models, our industry will quickly go the way of Travel Agencies… to the spare bedroom.

The devaluation of professional photography was driven by the preview window on the back of the camera. No mystery means no risk. Long time pros simply have to be smarter marketers to keep the phone ringing. New photographers have to pump up the quality of their work and professionalism to earn credibility.

The current “new world order” in our profession supports little need for photo education, but in the long term, those who seek and embrace the basic knowledge of lighting, composition, and good business practices will be the most successful and emerge as the leaders in our industry.

Been shooting professionally for over 30 years and have no intention of looking for a “real job” anytime soon. It’s going to be an interesting decade!

By: Nancy Holt

Nancy Holt — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:16:54 +0000

what a great exchange! many thanks for this blog-it certainly helps at the least, psychologically-

By: prairiefire

prairiefire — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 04:42:05 +0000

Mark,

A lot of good points.

I think many in our society are having a hard time appreciating and understanding all art. By eliminating art and music from our schools, we’ve put a lot of people into the world who lack a frame of reference or standard upon which to judge.

We go places like Imaging and see the displays of our colleague’s work and get inspired. I’m wondering if it wouldn’t serve us well to take over “art appreciation” and volunteer to do a lecture in the schools about photography showing examples of great work.

I am a staunch believer in enforcing copyrights — I’m involved in a law suit right now to protect one of mine. I had a very positive experience the other day. A client, on her way for an America’s Next Top Model try out, could not get Walmart to print one of my images because they said it was “obviously done by a professional” and they would not violate my copyright. In the meta data I had embedded a license to print that image, but they didn’t see it. So, I emailed them a license. PPA has worked very hard to get these types of responses from places like Walmart and drug store chains. We are benefitting from their work. You might direct them to the canvas group.

sjh