May 8, 2014
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The price of experience.
Experience doesn’t happen overnight
As a professional photographer for close to 3 decades, I often find myself explaining many times throughout the year the difference between my work and someone right out of the gate. I have to remember that most client’s eyes are untrained when it comes to lighting the body correctly, getting catch lights in the eyes and posing the body for the best angle that reflects their body type as an example.
It is definitely a constant uphill battle to make a living in the business of photography. I don’t know how it happened over the years, but the theory of just purchasing a camera, buying a cool background was all you needed to hang an “open for business” sign.
So without sounding pompous, I don’t want to expel any negative comments about photographers giving away the kitchen sink for less than minimum wage. There are a few photographers in my area who utilize things like online coupon sites, refer to images as “sheets” and give away all the files from their session.
One of the reasons why I continue this online blog is to hopefully educate both the client and perhaps even inspire other photographers to reach higher. Currently, I am looking for a contractor to do some work on my house. The pricing differences are amazing. I know what it costs to do what I am asking. So basically, it is the quality of the work that will define the contractor. I surely don’t want a less experienced contractor (although qualified) to just do the job. I want it to be amazing. You get “amazing” from experience. Also, “amazing” comes with a price. I know that this contractor does not do online coupons, comes fully insured, has a list of referrals a mile long and has a long standing good reputation in the community. Should he charge more than the newbee? Absolutely. At one time, I am positive that this contractor started out as an apprentice, then worked his way to perhaps a small garage, doing paperwork at night and estimates on the weekend. He continually took classes to update his education on new materials and new methods. Eventually, this contractor updated his location, added a staff member or two and finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. His advertising budget was next to nothing because his work spoke for itself. Referrals were plentiful.
So, why is it so much harder to make a living in the business of photography and who is to blame? In my opinion, I blame photographers for the most part and digital cameras for the second. Obviously, not all photographers, but the majority of the new ones. Those of us who managed to keep our heads above water for more than a decade put in their time and know how to price their work based on their experience. But it is the new person in town who undercuts other photographers who grasp any client willing to come in for next to nothing to expedite their career. What they don’t realize is that in all actuality, they are ruining their own future in photography. How do they expect to eventually raise their prices in accordance to their gained experience when clients know them as the $49 portrait session photographer? (Just using the $49 as an example.) How does the $49 session fee cover new equipment, liability insurance, lighting equipment, backgrounds, printing, telephone, web presence, lab fees, shipping, car insurance, car maintenance just to start? We won’t even throw in taking a salary to pay for your health insurance, your rent, groceries and the hot water boiler that just decided to go to heaven. Is the photographer hoping that the end result of the portrait session will be that the client will purchase a “sheet” of prints to pay for all of this?
Along with the digital files, your client will then take to the local drug store to have your images printed out. Unfortunately, there is no future for this type of photographer.
By offering the low session fee, the free files, the “sheets” of paper prints, the photographer is, in my opinion, cheapening the art of photography. I am first and foremost an artist. It has taken me years and years of education to better myself. I surely don’t consider myself on the level of such great portrait artists as Annie Leibovitz , Alfred Eisenstaedt, Arnold Newman, Dorothea Lange, Lewis Hine, Anne Geddes, Walker Evans, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon and Ansel Adams to name a handful. These hardworking, skilled artists of yesterday brought us to where we are. To make us hold our gaze over an image and think of it’s beauty was a skill. Sure, they had their bad exposures, their out of focus images. But what you saw in the end was greatness. Their negatives were just that. Not to be given out like green stamps. Their pride and joy… The culmination of years of hard work.
Questions? Email the studio at lerephoto@gmail.com. Or, follow the studio on Facebook at Donna Lere Photographer. Instant gratification can be found on Twitter @donnalerephoto. www.lerephoto.com
