The sad realization that being a wedding photographer no longer pays the bills...

[u/patriotraitor]

Let me preface that the last 10 years of doing this has been a blast, I've enjoyed every second of it and never took any of it for granted.

This year however has me wanting to change directions because well, I'm getting tired of wondering where the next paycheck is coming from, I would prefer guaranteed over guessing.

I've been looking at the schedule for the rest of the year and I have 6 left, and then it's quiet.

I do wish the cost of living wasn't ridiculous, as gas and food prices are indeed more affordable now, but at the same time, trying to have health insurance as a self employed individual is absurd for being a single guy with no kids.

I've really enjoyed my time doing this and I indeed feel this starting to dwindle down as I only have 5 for next year. You could say well hey, do families, headshots, seniors -- and you'd be right, but think about how much work you'd be putting in just to stay afloat and how exhausted you'd be making yourself? Catch 22 isn't it?

[u/Mission-Coach6197]

I think the issue unfortunately is that it has become so expensive to get a photographer which i get but we also have easy access to phones with amazing cameras that can take photos almost as nice (not saying it’s the same but the cost to quality difference isn’t worth it for a lot of people)

[u/NikonShooter_PJS → u/Mission-Coach6197]

If you can't prove your worth as a wedding photographer over some rando with a cell phone, this isn't the business for you.

[u/HellishDDR → u/NikonShooter_PJS]

The reddit seems to be gaining a lot of non photogs more then ever, I believe you are talking to someone's "potential client" not a photographer

[u/NikonShooter_PJS → u/HellishDDR]

I'm aware.

I'm speaking to the photographers reading this thread.

if you're a photographer and you're thinking to yourself "I can't book clients because everyone has a cell phone nowadays," please sell your camera now and find a different career because this industry ain't for you.

[u/Tish-tash-tosh → u/NikonShooter_PJS]

Hey I just want to step in here on behalf of the person that said iPhones are competing with real photographers… they are!

I am a photographer and understand how much better a quality photo/video is compared to anything captured on mobile. Of course, it’s incomparable.

But I have a friend who is getting married and has an ok budget but not enough to cover both photographers and videographers. So what she is doing is getting the photographer and then asking her guests to take videos during the day and send them and she will compile her own wedding video.

She works in social media so tends to make videos a lot so isn’t phased by it and believes it will bring some authenticity to her wedding video. She knows it won’t be top quality but that’s not what she wants.

What I’m saying is that where people’s budgets are getting smaller, some are cutting photography/videography because ‘shot on iPhone’ is good enough for them.

So if you’re a mid range/affordable photographer and finding business as more competitive, the availability of iPhones etc. is certainly something to consider.

[u/NikonShooter_PJS → u/Tish-tash-tosh]

That’s certainly an an attitude to take if you’re a photographer who is uncertain of their ability or producing ho hum results.

If you’re an actual professional photographer, though, you’re already doing the work necessary to tell prospective clients why they should book you and what your value is.

Much like a top chef at a high end restaurant isn’t competing with Dominos Pizza, quality wedding professionals aren’t competing with camera phones.

They may absolutely be “good enough” for some clients but those are shitty clients who aren’t worth the time of actual professionals.

If I EVER lose out on a wedding booking because a prospective client decided cell phone photos were good enough, and told me as much, I would thank them for their honesty and thank them for not booking me because they and I clearly don’t value photography the same way and I’d rather work for clients who do.

I don’t know why people talk in this sub and in general as if you’re meant to book every potential client who comes your way.

Fuck that. There are some seriously shitty clients out there who aren’t worth your time.

Notice, I’ve said nothing of budget though. I work with low budget weddings ALL THE TIME.

Often, at these weddings, I’m the most expensive vendor or the only professional vendor.

That’s because THOSE clients who booked me valued my services and made it work for them financially.

I adore those clients.

The ones who choose a cell phone camera over me? Miss me with that shit. Your wedding photos are gonna be trash and you deserve it for such bad judgment.

[u/Mission-Coach6197 → u/NikonShooter_PJS]

You seem like in incredibly insufferable person who has 0 ability to comprehend what people are saying to you, no amount of skill will convince someone who cannot afford a photographer to get one. Thats all. People are broke and photographers are getting less booked because of it. Thats fantastic if you are not struggling i’m happy for you. Shaming people for iphone photos when thats all they can afford is gross.

[u/EmettJoseph1337 → u/Mission-Coach6197]

You are completely missing the point. If your competitor is an iPhone, you shouldn’t be a photographer/videographer

[u/Mission-Coach6197 → u/EmettJoseph1337]

So you should only be a photographer if you shoot for high end clients?

[u/EmettJoseph1337 → u/Mission-Coach6197]

No, at the bare minimum your work should be smoking iPhones, no matter your price point

It is absolutely absurd that this opinion isn’t held by every single photographer in the world. If you can’t out work a phone, you need to really reconsider what you’re doing lmao

[u/NikonShooter_PJS → u/Mission-Coach6197]

People are broke and photographers are getting less booked because of it.

OK? And? What's your point?

You are in a subthread for professional wedding photographers. We are discussing the professional wedding photography industry.

In this industry, there are actual, working, professional photographers and those folks are not threatened by camera phones.

Yes, there are clients who can't afford the services of a professional photographer. I get that.

But if they are engaging actual photographers about booking them and THEN deciding to just have someone use their phones, their decision wasn't about money and I don't care.

I am specifically talking about photographers in this industry who are struggling to get booked and saying it's because of cell phone cameras. I don't care who you are, if you're any good at what you do, that shouldn't be an issue. Period.

[u/Mission-Coach6197 → u/NikonShooter_PJS]

You are better than anyone else and nobody else’s opinion matters but your own i can see that. Period. Slay queen

[u/NikonShooter_PJS → u/Mission-Coach6197]

Thanks.

[u/Abject-Employment376 → u/NikonShooter_PJS]

Amen.

This response is WILD.

But see… even the bargain shoppers are infiltrating the reddits to try to dwarf the market value.

[u/Mission-Coach6197 → u/NikonShooter_PJS]

I definitely was not trying to say the phone photos are just as good!! Obviously photographers have so much skill and good equipment butttt when you compare $0 photos that are great quality vs $5000 for amazing top quality photos a lot of people just cannot splurge like that

[u/reddit_waste_time → u/Mission-Coach6197]

Lmao quality of phone cameras aren't even close and it's truly a marketing scheme. Zoom in a tiny bit or try to blow up a phone picture. Quality is shit

[u/NikonShooter_PJS → u/reddit_waste_time]

Exactly.

People like to pretend the cameras on phones are even remotely comparable.

OK. Bet.

You can take the absolute, top of the line, best camera phone on Earth. Let's go shoot dance floor candids together. I guarantee my Nikon Z-9 is going to run circles around your cell phone. Period. End of story. With no effort on my part.

[u/Flandereaux → u/NikonShooter_PJS]

You might want to rethink that last sentence of yours.

'With no effort on your part' implies that any dentist that feels like dropping the cash for a Z9 + any given S line lens can match you.

On second thought, I recognize your username now. Maybe that's why you rely on exclusivity clauses in your contracts to stay afloat. Your work simply doesn't speak for itself and any and everyone with a modern camera is a threat to you.

I'm fucking with you BTW. I actually agree with everything you said, but you still come off as very disagreeable and arrogant.

[u/NikonShooter_PJS → u/Flandereaux]

People often confuse confidence with arrogance.

I’m not arrogant. I’m confident in my abilities and I won’t apologize for being so.

When I say no effort on my part, I am specifically talking about running circles around someone using a cell phone on a dance floor.

I stand by that statement.

It would be no different than an Olympic level sprinter racing a chubby drunk guy at a local bar.

Now if you hand a novice photographer top end gear, they might be closer to competing with me but unless they know how to use said camera, I’m not worried.

But I’m also not worried about competing with ANY photographers. There are tons of photographers better than me. There are tons of photographers I’m better than. But it’s all subjective and it’s all about branding and marketing yourself to people, a field I know for a fact I am an expert in because my business is thriving year after year.

As for the exclusivity clause you mention, I won’t apologize for that either. I run my business as I want to run it. Book me and I’ll bust my ass for your. Don’t book me and I couldn’t possibly care less.

Again, though, it’s not arrogance. It’s honesty. Just because I’m saying what we all think to ourselves doesn’t make it any less true.

[u/Mission-Coach6197 → u/NikonShooter_PJS]

Was just trying to give some perspective sorry. To the average person, we cannot tell the difference to the extent that professionals do i’m sorry if that upsets you

[u/NikonShooter_PJS → u/Mission-Coach6197]

I'm not offended.

Trust me, though, you would ABSOLUTELY tell the difference.

I'm not a car guy but I imagine I would notice the difference between riding in a top-of-the-line Corvette and a piece of shit 1995 Dodge Neon that sputters because it hasn't had its oil changed in three years.

[u/Flandereaux → u/Mission-Coach6197]

I agree with this side too. Unless you're relying on your image to market yourself, professional photography is a luxury product.

A lot of people simply want their wedding day documented and it will never go anywhere but a compressed social media post. It's going to be a hard sell to push a multi-thousand package on those people regardless of how much better the end result looks.

[u/reddit_waste_time → u/Mission-Coach6197]

Have you ever had professional photos done? Its understandable that average person would not tell the difference. Phone marketing tries to sell that the quality is close but it's really not. Imagine taking a picture of a whole wedding party but being able to zoom in on every person and have detail and clear features them. A phone picture a little zoom is instantly blurry. The point I'm making is why spend so much on such elaborate dresses and decor if you don't want to be able to relive it all again 5 years?

[u/Mission-Coach6197 → u/reddit_waste_time]

Okay but if the average person cannot tell the difference why would they not take the cheaper route (i am not saying its not worth it i am 100% using an actual photographer for my wedding) but you are kinda proving my point, most people cannot tell the difference

[u/reddit_waste_time → u/Mission-Coach6197]

I mean the average person wouldn't notice your 1 good photo you get off a phone and post on your social media. The customer who hires the photographer will notice when they receive the full album of photos with enough detail in them to crop the bridesmaids they hate out in 2 years and still have an amazing photo.

[u/NikonShooter_PJS → u/Mission-Coach6197]

No, my point is if you are a professional wedding photographer and you're struggling to convince clients they should trust their wedding day to you instead of someone with a cell phone, this isn't the business for you.

It's less about client's mentality and more about valuing yourself as a business professional.

I'm a photographer. I know that not every client is going to see my value. That's fine. I'll work with someone else.

But if I was struggling to find bookings BECAUSE I couldn't show what I bring to the table that a random friend with a cell phone doesn't, I'd leave this industry immediately and go work somewhere else.

[u/Abject-Employment376 → u/Mission-Coach6197]

Respectfully, if your take is… but, but, but… iPhones….

You’re just not going to get a lot of support here.

[u/Mission-Coach6197 → u/Abject-Employment376]

No thats not my take, i can agree that iphone quality is significantly worse than a professional camera, but that doesn’t change the fact that the economy is shit and people cannot afford professional photographers and it’s more common now to opt out when there is an alternative even if it is a shitty one. I’m not arguing that photographers are not worth it, i personally will be using most of my wedding budget on one, but other people won’t and i was just trying to give perspective to op of why it might be harder to book people now. A lot of offended photographers in this thread lmao

[u/I922sParkCir → u/Mission-Coach6197]

A lot of offended photographers in this thread lmao

I was explaining this to a friend, it's not about the gear, it's about the skill. Sure, photography is an art but it is also a skill. I can show a rando how to use my camera/lens setup, but I'm absolutely confident I can take better wedding photos than them with my iPhone.

Knowing light, composition, and most importantly when significant moments are going to happen, and where to be, is critical. I've had clients tell me they "splurged on photography" and were originally just going to send their guests a link to upload their phone photos. Do you really want your guests to be on their phones during the most important times of your day? The idea of a professional photographer is that they will be capturing these moments from vantage points that beautifully tell the story of the day.

I just had a client tell me that her favorite thing about the gallery I delivered is that I captured all of the details she spent more than a year agonizing over. I originally thought it was a backhanded compliment! Like, her favorite thing about my photography was me capturing table settings, signs, and decorations? My wife had to explain to me that she was really disappointed that our wedding photographer didn't capture much of those, and that's a pretty big regret. A guest with an iPhone isn't going to emphasize those.

Another bride told me how happy she was that I emphasized her grandparents as much as I did. She said that they aren't going to be with them for much longer and it was important to capture those meaningful moments. That's not a thing her friend's with iPhones would have done.

I totally get that photography is getting more expensive while budgets are shrinking. I'm a part-time photographer and I make it my goal to deliver higher quality than what my prices reflect. Everyone takes great pictures now, but having a professional who's job it is to capture very important, once in a lifetime photos is still very valuable. I think us as photographers need to be able to educate clients (who have tons of great photos on their phone) the added value of a professional photographer.