So… an interesting dicussion came up recently on the photography forum i frequent. A Bride posted a ranting post somewhere about how Wedding photographers who charge $3000 for the photographs are ripping people off and taking advantage of Brides. I mean (and i quote here) ”All your [sic] doing is hanging out at a wedding taking tons of photos and editing them.. and thats owrth [sic] 3 GRAND!!!”
Yeah… that’s all we do. We just rock up to the party, shoot a few snaps from the hip, run them through Google Picasa and give them to the bride and groom! That’s how it hangs with us photographers. Makes you “[sic]” with envy, doesn’t it?!
Or, lets look at it another way…
Most photographers are a one person outfit. In other words, to run their business they have to deal with the marketing, the advertising, the finances, the records, spreadsheets and databases, sales, purchasing, the photography, the editing and even manage the cleaning! They take on the roles of CEO, head photographer, PA, HR, finance, technical support and general dogsbody.
To get the business up and running he (or she – assume, when i say “he”, that i mean both sexes) will have to purchase a large amount of equipment… top end camera bodies (normally 2 or 3 at anywhere between £1500 and £5500 each), several top end lenses (an avereage top end lens can be between £800 and £2500), lighting (including on- and off-camera flash, studio lights, backdrops, accessories etc), camera accessories (bags, secure storage, spare batteries) and computer equipment and storage (high end workstations, IPS monitors, terrabytes of hard drive storage, backup options and media). On top of this he will have to be fully insured (including public liability), keep his training up to scratch and pay for those professional memberships. That’s before he even starts getting the jobs in.
So, your wedding photographer receives a call or an email from the Bride. He will spend time on returning the call and getting the all important consultation. He drives to the consultation and spends time with the couple, ensuring they get the best service. There will be time spent on emailing the Bride and Groom to confirm details. He gets the job and maybe the package has an engagement session included. So now there is travel to and from the engagement shoot. He returns and uploads the data, culls the images leaving only the best, edits these and then arranges a viewing. They go through a viewing and select their images and the final edits are run on them. The images are ordered (incurring print/album charges and postage) and delivered, either by hand or by post.
Once this has been completed the wedding photographer organises the last few weeks before the wedding, ensuring that the bride has sent him an order of service and any instructions or requests. If it is at a new venue then he may travel to the venue to look for the best lighting and photgenic areas. All equipment is checked, synchronised and cleaned, cards are formatted, batteries charged, suit donned, car loaded and off he drives to the wedding.
He will spend the day taking the Bride and Groom’s photographs, making sure he doesn’t miss the crucial moments; making sure that the light is right; ensuring the ISO, shutter speed and aperture are correct; assisting, guiding and arranging people; moving furniture; striking up relationships; cutting sharp moves on the dancefloor whilst trying to capture the essence of the evening. He is working constantly and can be doing so for up to 12 hours or more, possibly driving to other places for the wedding breakfast or reception. He takes the drive home and, once there, the cards are uploaded and backed up, regardless of whether he needs to go to bed.
He is then back to the culling and editing process; a process that can take somewhere between a few days to a week (or maybe even two). There may be anywhere between 1000-3000 images to get through… duplicates, blinkers, exposure issues and the like. Each image is edited to perfection and saved. Then there’s the slideshow and the album design. There will be a viewing in which the Bride and Groom select the images they want to keep in the album and any extra prodects they may require. Consequently, the album is re-designed and ordered and any extra products are designed, checked and ordered. Finally, there is one more consultation to present the final products to the Bride and Groom. There may be further contact if the Bride and Groom have any more questions or queries and the photographer may contact the couple at a later date to ensure all is ok.
A photographer doesn’t run a 9-5 business… a lot of this work is carried out in the evening or at weekends. There is no clocking on and clocking off – it is a passion and you cannot turn that passion on and off like a light switch. It is a business that steals time (how many times have i looked at the clock and said “Wow! 3am… must go to bed”) and money (cameras need replacing every 1-2 years with heavy use; other equipment needs maintenance, insurance and memberships are an annual thing, products need to be ordered) from you. If you break down the amount of hours spent on each wedding, the costs incurred throughout the process and the day-to-day running costs and put an hourly rate on it you won’t see much difference between a photographer and any other 9-5 day job (where you can clock off, go home and forget about your job). Don’t forget the taxes, too! Also, remember that some photographers still have a day job as well as running their business so they are fitting all of this in the evenings and weekends. I have myself, in busy periods, worked 20 hour days!
Many, many hours of work, effort and passion are put into each and every wedding that is captured. A product is presented to the Bride and Groom that will last decades and probably be passed onto future genrations. This isn’t a cake that will last a few days or a meal that lasts a few hours; It’s not the flowers that wilt or the disco that gives a few hours of fun and frivolity; It’s not the hired suit or the bridesmaid dresses that hang, unworn, in your best friend’s wardrobe. It is a love story. A Love story captured in a day that shows how two became one. It shows you the things that you may have missed as the day rushed by so quickly. It is a memory of your family and friends on the greatest day of your life. In 50 years’ time will you want to be looking through your album wishing that you’d paid a professional to give you a great memory instead of £200 for unedited and badly exposed images on a disc? Or… do you want to see every moment captured and remembered in detail? Do you want to re-live the happiness, tears and funny moments? Do you want to see the sly and adoring glance you were giving your new husband as he regaled tall tales in his speech? If so, then go back to that expensive photographer, check out his work and his packages, and ask if he’ll do the honour of capturing your precious day. You deserve it!
Is a photographer worth £2,000, £3000 or even £10,000? Absolutely!
Have fun,
Garry.
