Well after a break of about 9 months, I decided to come back to WordPress. Its not that I didn’t enjoy blogging, I just found that I didn’t have the time or enthusiasm I thought I would have. I find life is like that, one minute I’m up and flying with all my ideas working well and the next I land with a bump and don’t know where I am or how to move forward.
With the economy such that non-essential services being a low priority for many households, including mine, fewer people are looking at having professional photographs taken. Offers on the likes of Groupon, Living Social and Woucher from some photographers make me wonder how they are making a living. Let me explain that one later on. There are always key times in life when you want to have professional photographs taken, weddings, newborn babies, an engagement, Graduations maybe a prom. However with the reduction in prices of quality digital cameras many people know someone who has “a good” camera, someone who is an enthusiast, joined a camera club, took a course at the High School. Now I know that all of these are a great start to being a professional photographer, however there is a lot more involved than just taking a good image. Have they insurance, will they turn up, what if they make a mistake, have a camera malfunction. Will they provide a set of edited images with a fluid colour palette that allows any images to be paired together in a book, frame or collage. How are their skills at posing, I know some amazing camera club members who take admirable award winning images of landscapes, but ask them to group a family of five and they wouldn’t get a striking portrait you would be proud to place on your wall.
Looking at the offers sent to my mailbox everyday from companies such as those mentioned above, along with others, sound too good to be true. A family portrait for £9 with four prints included, wow how can I compete with that. Well having asked a friend to go along to one of these local offers I found out how they work. The booking was made, and an email sent to confirm when, what to wear and what to expect, all very basic and no personalisation at all. On the day, my friend turned up herself, her husband and her two children of 10 and 6 years, all dressed in bright fun colours, they were asked to wait in reception where the walls were covered in lovely photographs of families and babies, all different with prices along side. When the photographer came to meet them, he asked if they had looked at the photographs and if any of them were what they were looking for. One of the Frames had a main image with 6 smaller ones along two of the edges, this was priced at £400. My friend mentioned that looked great, the photographer said he would ensure that those type of images were taken. The photographer took the family into the white studio and took a range of photographs for 15 minutes, then arranged a viewing date and time for a week later. My friend called me to give me the details of the shoot and how it had gone, on explaining that it was a viewing to see the finished shots, I warned her to not take the kids, to leave her bank cards at home and not to sign any agreements when they returned.
On the viewing day I called her and reminded her not to be swayed into buying anything. If she wanted any images I could do them for her, and to remember that at all times. At the viewing she and her husband were shown to a room with a comfortable sofa and the images were shown on a TV to them, the images were all good, nothing wrong with any of them, she was asked to select one to be her price inclusive print which was then printed four times so not four different prints. After seeing each photograph on its own, she was shown templates of the images within the various framed products she had seen in reception. Constantly told the images could be any of the other images but they had selected the most appropriate for each layout, she was asked her thoughts on each product; did she like the photographs? did she like the frame? which room would it suit in her home? had she photographs of the family in the kitchen? in the hall, in the bedroom, in the dining room? Constantly told how attractive her children are and how quickly they grow up, she felt worn out and realised she had been in the viewing for forty five minutes, three times longer than the actual studio time. On saying she would think about which she liked and would like time to think about it, she was offered a 10% discount for signing up today. These products were all over £300, and even an additional print would have to be framed and purchased at £50. After a few minutes of trying to extricate herself, my friend said she felt like she was a bad mother for not wanting to buy the photographs. It certainly took a bottle of wine and a good talking to from me to show her that this was just a marketing ploy.
So that is how many of these photographers offering these incredibly low prices can do so, its because they know they can get their costs back from selling you high priced products afterwards. It takes a strong person to be able to withstand a good salesman when you have large images of your children in front of you.
So beware if you book a special offer session expecting a bargain. RANT OVER, how will I be able to compete in a market that wants and needs a bargain. Well I hope to be able to offer an experience, I am looking at how to develop this experience, but that is my current goal, so I ask you to help? What kind of experience would you want to have when visiting a studio, what kind of experience would make you even want to visit a photographic studio?
deeteephotography 