How Not To Run A Photo Business

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Many photographers struggle with their pricing. This is normal. The best way for a photographer to establish their business is to understand how their business operates. They also should learn how any business operates.

A photographer learns to price according to *their* location, *their* business plans and *their* market positioning. This takes time and effort and mistakes will be made along the way.

And then there are photographers who like to take shortcuts.

Pretend Professional

I got a phone call today from someone claiming to be an office manager. She said they needed some business portraits. She asked how much I charged, how the pictures would be shot, whether I use softboxes or umbrellas, what type of backgrounds are best, how the photos are selected, what amount of retouching I do, and how the pictures would be delivered. After I answered all her questions, she suddenly hung up.
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More than just cost

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It seems that the mantra of most businesses is “cut costs”. Many companies are not just concerned about controlling their costs but also about reducing costs to the absolute minimum. These companies want to spend less but still, somehow, earn more.

Most companies view a professional photographer as an expense. So they immediately think that photography is a cost like any other and it has to be minimized. This is the barrier that a commercial or corporate photographer has to get around. There are two ways to do this:

1) Be the cheapest photographer in town.

2) Stop being seen as an expense but rather as an investment.

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Consistent Business Portraits

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A potential corporate client reached out, requesting a photographer who could replicate the look of their previous business portraits. Their new employees needed headshots that matched the style of the existing ones.

Matching previous portraits is a common request, and it reflects a company’s understanding of the importance of consistency in business messaging. Consistency fosters a sense of stability, which in turn builds trust.

Trust is built with consistency. – Lincoln Chafee, US state governor

It’s typically easy to match the style of existing business portraits but I asked the company to provide samples of the previous images, just to be sure.

Oiy!
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Failing A Class

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It’s not even necessary to read the news story. The picture says it all.

In a Grade 2 class photo, all the students are grouped together in the centre. Except one. A student in a wheelchair is off to the side. The child’s father said he cried when he saw the photo.

The picture is not just thoughtless, it’s also bad photography. It shows how not to do a group photo. The picture is what you get from an inexperienced photographer. School portrait companies, in this case, Lifetouch, are notorious for having a high turnover of photographers.

Lifetouch says, “Our school photographers take their role in preserving memories seriously” and “Our school photographers are committed to making each child feel special and valued.” It seems the company failed this class.
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Prisoners or Pictures?

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When did “photograph” become a bad word?

When writing online about their pictures, some folks will use statements like, “I captured this on…”, “this was captured at…”, “my favourite capture of the week”, “sunset captures from my vacation”, “holiday captures”, “best wedding captures”, “creative pet captures” and “candid kid captures.”

On sites where viewers can leave comments to posted pictures, people often write things such as “Nice capture!”, “Cool capture!”, “How did you capture that?”, “Lovely detail in that capture” and “I love the feel of this capture.”

There are many sites that offer tips on how to capture a winning photo, how to capture the perfect picture and how to capture your children.
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Fear Photography

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As a photographer, which would you prefer: lots of low-paying customers or only a few high-paying customers? For example:

Photographer A shoots three business portraits every week at $100 each. His annual gross revenue is 3 X $100 X 52 = $15,600.

Photographer B does only one business portrait every other week at $600. Her annual gross is 1 x $600 x 26 = $15,600.

Which is better: low price with high volume or high price with low volume?
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Getting On Base

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A recent article in a Canadian photo magazine gives advice on how to become a professional sports photographer. The article talks about the excitement of being at sports events and blasting away at ten frames per second. A look at the author’s web site shows many fantastic photos . . . of weddings and portraits.

The author’s advice for wannabe sports photographers is to call sports events and ask for a free “photo pass.” If necessary, the photographer should offer free photos in exchange for said pass. Later, when the photographer has gained some experience, they can sell pictures to the event and enter the exciting world of sports photography.

This information is wrong.
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