There will always be lemmings that follow doomsday predictors off a cliff. Please, follow. All of you!

I think that it’s just the opposite. It is people like “bfactor” that make us professionals, who work day in and day out to improve our craft, look better.

At a recent wedding I turned around to see 25/30 cameras of all standards and makes pointing at the couple; lots of these ‘uncles’ are now following my site, as they can see the difference between their efforts and mine; the more cameras out there, the more people can see it is not as easy as just a good camera; we’ve survived video, we’ll survive this….

Anyone who thinks shooting any wedding means one day of work is dreaming from the get go. And anyone who thinks he’ll shoot one wedding a week year round by working one day a week is dreaming even more. Let him change careers. He’ll get a wake up call when he’s hocking his gear to pay the mortgage.

Once the job market turns around, the weekend wedding photographers will drop like bugs on Raid. I have been doing wedding photography for 35 years, seen lots of fly by night wedding photographers come and go. The photographer who has the deep love for photography will always be around and can make a good living with photography.

I’m in agreement; the gene pool has been diluted; gone is the once professional industry of photography unless (are you listening PPA?) we get photographers to be accredited as professionals.

Who knows what is going to happen, but as a photographer in the business full-time for over 15 years myself, I’ve definitely seen a change, and I don’t think we are ever going to recover as a professional industry unless there is an accredited way to separate the wheat from the chaff – look it up; it’s a spot-on phrase.

Yes, uncle Bob can’t photograph like we do, but have him show up w/a decent camera here, one lens w/a shallow depth of field there and add a post-processing filter to make his photos shiny and cool, and viola! – the consumer who can’t tell the difference believes they can save money by paying less for some real fancy-schmancy photography!

As a professional w/an actual education and degree in photography, I’m concentrating on making my work and business excellent, instead of concerning myself w/all the lemmings and so called “rock stars” (an illusion, at best) out there – and there are thousands of them. I will forge forward with the belief that all this, too, shall pass. But education of the consumer and accreditation of the “professional” photographer, in my opinion, is THE best way to handle the current dilution situation.

He’s definitely forgotten about insurance, maintenance cost, travel cost, time associated, and etc!!

I feel that there is much more to photography than just taking pictures and delivering a CD (shoot and burn) The professional photographer needs to regain control of their work because the consumer is going to take that CD to Walgreens for crap processing and then tell everyone how bad the photographer was. Yes, we do have unique and different challenges in the industry at the moment. Both from within and without. We need to stop lessening the value of our own work if we expect others to understand that there is value.

We do not take pictures… we tell stories. If we continue to refine our craft and make beautiful albums that tell beautiful stories, then we indeed will have a bright beautiful future!

Been doing weddings for 34 years and there is a dillution like never before. A photographer told me the other day that he has been shooting a long time, since 2004, and times are hard.

Lots of Pro Am photos shooting weddings for free or next to nothing with no training or education. A year later they are charging $10K, a year after that they are selling seminars, a year after that, they are retired and learning to be a comic at Second City.

Can you blame a client, even a client with unlimited funds, to take a chance on a one year wonder and save a lot of money?

This is what we compete with. It is real, it will get worse. Get good at selling or get out and get a job at Starbucks where you will see the new photographers pitching their work for $500 per wedding.

Automation has allowed anyone to take decent images. Gone is the day when one had to know photography, exposures, framing, backgrounds, etc.

Creativity has gone waaaaay up thanks to photoshop.

IF there was NO photoshop then this would not be happening.

One has to be technically saavy now to stay ahead of the average shooters.

Unfortunately bad photography is now called “art” and brides don’t know the difference.

BUT, if they like the end result adn are willing to pay for it, does it matter ?

Honestly, I started out as that cocky guy with a camera who thought, “How easy is this?” With encouragement from friends and family who truly believed in me, I decided to really investigate starting up.

After a day of research, I realized that there’s WAAAAY more to it than using manual settings and pressing the shutter.

Though I’m still starting out, I have a much better, and humbler attitude and respect towards the art form (though I know I have more learning to do).

My point being: once someone sees the cost of the investment, learning the equipment, contacting print houses, setting up a website, and all of the other etc. of running and marketing a business, they’ll change their minds. They may even stop at the cost of equipment!

Now, if they’re that guy from the poker site who decides to take his camera and shoot away, any idiot would know this guy has no clue what he’s doing; if they can’t figure it out because they don’t know any better, then you probably don’t want that client to begin with.

There’s enough pro work circulating out there that any informed bride worth your time will know the difference. I know I personally am awed and inspired by all the beautiful work I see.

Reality check: he’ll only get 20 weddings a year! But he will just shoot and burn, work one day per week, and earn $1500 per wedding/$30K per year. No insurance, no taxes, nothing but pure profit. The reality is, if he has a good personality and puts forth a modicum of effort to satisfy the few questions/problems that may arise, he will come close to achieving his goal. The reality check is for us, not him. Be as high-minded as you want but this works and will continue to be the bane of our existence. If he is a talented photographer that just undervalues his work he will have an endless supply of brides keeping him busy year after year.

Funny how you used a *free* istock photo to illustrate this thread, Mark.

What Ken says above is valid, as well as the fact that quality (*middle class*) employment may not be returning for decades.

Where do you think all the photographers – those that can not earn a living- shooting commercial work, journalism, editorial, corporate, advertising, will go?

Changes brought on by digital access/technology have eviscerated the traditional markets. Stock images, loss of market share for printed media, glut of digital media, etc. If the younger photographers think digital is too steep a learning curve for traditional photographers (so I’ve heard) they don’t have their eyes open. Digital is a cakewalk compared to real photography.

These photographers being disenfranchised out of commercial markets possess real talent, creativity, and know – often quite beyond that of many talented wedding photographers. “Dilution” is from below – and above!

Yes, but your missing one crucial point Scott in your analysis. It is no longer a question of QUALITY. These traditional photographers, many who are older and who have been photojounalists or working outside the realm of Facebook, Twitter, and all the other forms of social media are sadly at a HUGE disadvantage. Your right, they posess mad skills that would trump many wedding photographers, but that does not matter. Wedding photography is many things other than quality images I’m afraid. Forget about the best wedding photographers, I’m just talking about wedding photography in general. I see lots of fluff, but little substance. I see tons of social networking and mediocrity. However, if there is one thing I learned in people photography in general it is this. The mediocre photographer with great business/social networking skills makes the $$$. The great photographer with mediocre/business skills makes $. What is funny to me is that the doomsdayers are always the older photographers generally speaking. The ones loosing market share, or those that can’t/won’t jump on the FB/Twitter bandwagon, adopt new strategies, or whatever.

At the end of the day, wedding photographers will be around in 10, 20, 30 years and beyond. How they capture the moment may change, as well as how they package and sell their product. The only thing we can do as photographers is stay right out in front of the changes, or get out!

Brent, The quality vs business issue is not new, it’s always been here. The commercial photography business was never easy. It has always been very competitive. However now the markets are fractured. Supply of imagery exceeds demand today. Before blogs and facebook there was (and still is) a huge amount of networking, marketing, and (in market) advertising going on in commercial photography. There still is for those still trying to compete. For those with skills in photography (and people) who used to work in declining markets, the first place they will often look to earn a living is adjacent markets.

I see all sorts of SNing online too. But almost never from big established photographers. Most of the blogs/etc. are by those at the bottom or middle trying to get up or stay up in the market. Of course there are also those that sell goods/services to photographers, which is a different market. Dan Winters, Platon, Annie Leibovitz, Rankin, Demarchelier, Laura Greenfield, Timothy Greenfield Sanders, Mario Testino…. I could go on and on with more established names. None of these photographer maintain blogs AFAIK. (At least a few of them still capture on film too).

Your statement about staying out in front of changes seems rather vague. It’s very easy to get caught up in all the trends and look the same as every other image maker. An important question about this business is Return On Investment. When things change very quickly (requiring so much more time, effort, resources to compete) (in a market that is already over supplied) it is a sound business practice to compare ROI relative to other opportunities.

“What is funny to me is that the doomsdayers are always the older photographers generally speaking. The ones loosing market share, or those that can’t/won’t jump on the FB/Twitter bandwagon, adopt new strategies, or whatever.”

“Always” and “generally speaking” in the same sentence doesn’t fit well together. One is an absolute, the other broad, encompassing. I see people use the words “haters” and “doomsdayers” online quite often when they don’t like feedback. Feedback either reflects reality or it doesn’t. I don’t think there would be 15 posts on this thread, along with real factual information about the photography industry (decline in markets/career) if this concern was not based in fact.

I’ll make a generalization that most of the established photographers who are doing exceedingly well right now are older (experienced) – and they are generally not SNing online. When we really have a look at the differences between new photographers (younger) and previously established photographers (older) there will obviously be some differences in experience, perception, and wisdom. Too often I see newer photographers trying to re-invent a wheel. Being absorbed in image making, self, (or SNing) does not necessarily equate to a clear perception or understanding of the markets. That doesn’t mean all older or younger photographers behave the same or have the same skill sets. How many young photographers have been very passionate about their *art* gone to art school for 4 years and have $100k of debt, but are earning the same as a waiter/waitress, or no longer working as photographers?

Here’s some more reality about the biz:
http://ddunleavy.typepad.com/the_big_picture/2005/07/investigation_c.html

I posted this a while back but it seems to always come back around! Complete with pie charts!

http://www.photographer-re.com/blog/personal/reality-check

Thanks Richard. That is amazing!
A few costs I did not see: healthcare coverage, retirement/pension, vacation.