Huge opportunity in my lap...

[ramiro]

Well, I am finally in South TX (I moved from Chicago), and as I am working on setting up my senior photo business I have started to make contact with people from the high school I attended. Well today I get a call from my best friend from HS, she is the head nurse there and she tells me that she talked to one of the people in the group that works on the school pictures. She was told that the school is just about fed up with the current studio, bad attitude of photographers, crappy work that parents are unhappy with, poor quality, etc. She mentioned a laundry list of issues and how the school is really not happy with this studio.

Long story short, she mentioned that I am back in town and that I am doing photography and she said that if I want it, they can give it to me. I think she mentioned that from 1-12 there's like 3000 students. My 1st thought was, I am not ready, I just don't have the capacity to handle this and I am going to do a worse job than the current guy if I take this. But my 2nd thought was, what if I prepare for this and take it next year? What do I need to do to be able to handle something like this?

So my question for you guys is this. I have no clue of what's involved in doing school pictures? Is it just 1 guy doing this many portraits? or are there teams of photographers working several stations over a single day? or a single guy spread over multiple days. What about people to handle the backend, orders, editing, shipping, etc.? How many people would be needed? Right now it's just me and my wife and I was only looking for 100-120 seniors, so my little head just can't wrap around a whole school district of 3000. I'd really appreciate thoughts, ideas, or experiences from those of you have might have done this, or are doing this. if you are doing this, is it worth it?

[texkam]

I've seen seniors featured differently in yearbooks, so what if you proposed just shooting the Seniors. You could provide a product that is a little different and hopefully better than that of the underclassmen. After you feel comfortable with that you could eventually take over the whole thing.

[KdLaneJr]

Sounds like a great opportunity. I'm sure with careful planning you can be ready for next years school pictures.

[bondarnes]

Shooting underclass photography is not that hard, however the organization and logistics are the real nightmare. It takes most of a day to photograph 150 students. Then the real work begins. Many of the national companies are making very little money in this economy and they have years of experience and and know how to squeeze the last penny out of processing.

There is still money to be made in Senior portraiture if you have a great marketing program or the senior contract. Dynamite photography will guarantee success in the senior market.

[ramiro]

Thanx for the input guys. I have taken some time over the Thanksgiving break to look further into this and I have found some good into. I found that Marathon Press has a training DVD from a guy named Chris Wunder, who is a 30 year veteran in the school photography arena. I also found that there is software to handle the students and to link them to the images during capture, which was my main concern, of how to link students to correct names after the shoot.

My idea is to offer to do one of the elementary schools to start with, sort of as a test to see if it will work out for us and also for them. So far, with doing one of the elementary schools, around 450 students, and after talking to my friend about how the current photographer is doing things, I am figuring on 1 shooting station, 2 8-hour days of shooting, and 3 people including me: 1) collecting envelopes, 2) fixing and posing kids, 3) me shooting.

I'd love to hear more thoughts, ideas, or things I may need to think about or plan on. Thanx again for all the inputs.

[ldelacruz]

Look up a thread by MyKey of TriCoast Photography about school photography. He is a TPF member. He listed their setup.

[ramiro]

Originally Posted by ldelacruz

Look up a thread by MyKey of TriCoast Photography about school photography. He is a TPF member. He listed their setup.

Thanx, I found the thread and Wow!, those guys are doing some fabulous work. I sent MyKey a PM, hopefully I hear from him soon, if not, I'll give him a call. Thanx for the suggestion.

[Wil_Bloodworth]

I had to click on this thread based on the title alone. Am I the only one with his mind in the gutter and to publicly admit it?

- Wil

[ramiro]

Originally Posted by ParkImaging

I had to click on this thread based on the title alone. Am I the only one with his mind in the gutter and to publicly admit it?

- Wil

You mean about school photography? Would you mind elaborating?

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Originally Posted by ramiro

You mean about school photography? Would you mind elaborating?

No, I can't elaborate without being crude. Just look at the title of the post and use your imagination.

- Wil

[ramiro]

Originally Posted by ParkImaging

No, I can't elaborate without being crude. Just look at the title of the post and use your imagination.

- Wil

LOL!! Sorry, I am slow, I get it now!

[MyKey]

Good talking to you today Ramiro - sorry I was so under the weather and sneezing in your ear, but I hope I helped you out somehow through it all :)

[CaptainTom]

Originally Posted by ParkImaging

I had to click on this thread based on the title alone. Am I the only one with his mind in the gutter and to publicly admit it?

- Wil

Will -=- That thought has never crossed MY mind...until now..

[dw in amarillo]

I see others are familiar with Chris Wunder's training , I am contemplating
purchasing a Portraitefx franchise, but see that Chris trains independent
studio owners the same as he does franchisee's , can anyone give me
any info on whether I should buy a franchise or just get his training and software, and try it under my own name.....any other info regarding portraitefx would be helpful.

[J Eddington]

Guys, don't forget about spa. Senior Portrait Artists
spa | senior portrait artists