Slowdown?

[DepecheModem]

Hey guys and gals. I had a talk with a couple wedding vendors today. One a fellow photographer, another a videographer, they both said the phone ain't ringing. The videographer called the cheapest DJ he knew, and the guy said the same thing.

Anybody getting concerned? Me, personally, I am not. I just figure it was like last year where everbody pushed their weddings off until third and forth quarter and then booked 3 months before their dates. But I could be wrong. What do you guys think?

[Abel]

first off, welcome to the forum! also, my finacee loves your screen name! she's a big DM fan to begin with. hehe..

i myself wouldnt be too worried either... i mean the wedding market is huge... theres plenty to go around no doubt. if you have good work, then the clients will come.

[DepecheModem]

Abel,

Thanks for having me. I will do what I can to get some topics moving for you. The thing I can tell you about wedding photography is that a lot of the information floating around out there is wrong. I've heard that it's a recession proof business, and no matter what, people always get married. When you look at the entire wedding statistic, this may be true. The "average" wedding that is held at a church with a reception at a local hotel or golf course does very much get affected by the economy. In good times, when brides come in and say that they have a $15,000 budget, this means that they have a $26,000 budget and that they don't know it yet. In bad times, it means that they will be spending well under $20,000,

Weddings are a leading economic indicator. It has everything to do with the faith in the economy and the belief that you will have a job in the next couple of years to help pay for your wedding. When entry level jobs get slashed, so do average weddings.

Other factor about California is that more so than other states we have a lot of different types of photographers. Entertainment industry photographers, commercial photographers, some of these guys are quite specialized. When the economy heads south all these guys go to a fallback position, shooting weddings! I have to say photographing weddings is a lot more respectable career today than it was five years ago. Still, these are the same people who say later in better economic times "Yeah, I was desperate for money I actually started shooting weddings to make ends meet."

So, a smaller market, more competition. Then you get the guys who get laid off, or are afraid of getting laid off who want a second income, they will work for cheap or free just to get experience.

I know what you are saying about people who are in demand. When things turn into a buyer's market, it doesn't always work out that way. Brides sometimes get short sighted and focus on money more so than photography.

I've seen some wonderful photographers go under during bad econimic times. I don't believe we are heading for one right now, people are more concerned due to changing economic forces brought about by the subprime fiasco and tax season. I think things will get back to normal in a few months.

-Steve

[imported_Mark]

I'm not the best person to comment on a long term trend since I've only been at it for about 2 years, but I can say that, right now, I've booked 32 weddings for 2007 on a goal of 30 and I continue to get several inquiries/week. In slow times your marketing has to be rock solid. People WILL always get married, and some WILL always want quality photography. The lean times will just seperate the wheat from the chaff so to speak. Certainly quality photogs have gone under in lean times, but I would venture a guess that they worked entirely on word of mouth and didn't have a cohesive marketing strategy. This is a marketing job first, a sales job second, and an artistic endevour third. If you don't have all three tools in your toolbox, you will struggle in the slower years.

I know many photographers that can't "sell". I don't mean a hard sell either, just a matching of benefits to needs and desires, building the value in your product, and doing it with a dynamic personality and presentation. Even if they have a top-tier marketing scheme, it doesn't do any good if you can't execute the face to face. I have a 80% booking rate after my face to face meetings. Most other photogs I talk with only book 30%-50%. This will kill you if your inquiries get cut in half - I would still fill my year based on my close ratio and the number of inquiries I get.

That's my $.02, YMMV.

[DepecheModem]

Mark has some very good points. He’s kinda correct that you cannot judge your business based on a couple of years, especially if these past couple of years have been in good economic times. I quit my fulltime job 3 months prior to September 11th 2001. I don’t care who you were back then, those were some hard times.

Some of the things I learned from the experience is agility is important. The ability to identify that things have changed and make plans based on that is what is important. Another thing that was kinda different around this time was that digital cameras were starting to be used more and more for wedding photography. So, not only were there economic pressures but also a change in technology.

The problem that larger corporations have is that they cannot change fast enough during bad economic times. For photographers, a six pack of Jolt cola, a computer and a free evening is all we need to do an about face if we need to. We can have a new website by morning. When your business is new, you can do this fairly freely. When you’ve been around for a while, a huge change in marketing approach won’t go by unnoticed. If your business model is one that is reactionary, you can lose the respect of your client base and cut your own throat. You will constantly second guess yourself and you will sell yourself cheap because you are scared.

So, as you get more established, you have to walk a fine line. Not being too reactionary that you come off like Chicken Little and not too slow to recognize long term trends and other changes. I think the people who ultimately do the worst in an economic slowdown are the ones who try to ignore it and play it off as “business as usual.”

You’re right, this is a sales job first and foremost. A few years back the best wedding photographer in Texas, the one with the most awards went under. He was too focused on accolades and not focused enough on sales.

-Steve

[imported_Mark]

The nail has been hit on the head.

Another piece that ties into the digital revolution is the question of style. So many different "looks" are available to the modern bride that the ones that have the PP skills to deliver are in a great position. The old school may have been successful from the 80's through the 90's, but what they produced for those 20 years is no longer in demand. Changing to digital cameras and continuing to shoot and process the same old way wont change anything. You gotta have style - these kids are raised on MTV and Fox and the WB and you gotta make them look it.

[greenbean]

well, we're in a fairly cyclical industry with a lot of players involved. But I guess there are mostly three truths in the world. Death, marriage, and taxes. People aren't going to stop getting married (though I think recently the single peeps have surpassed the marriage peeps), so it's just a matter of advertising and getting yourself out there to take a piece of the pie.

[DepecheModem]

Ok, analogy time. I had a boss who had a wife who opened a Mrs. Fields Cookies store back in the early 1990s. She did her research very well. Back in the 80's a $1 cookie wasn't a big deal. The money was preety easy flowing. It was a cheap feel good meal. After she opened the store in the early 1990's we had a few years of a good strong recession. Long story short, she struggled with the store before she sold it around 94. How could this be? Don't people have to eat everyday?

If I wanted to be a $500 wedding photographer I would never worry about a thing. I would work and work and work every weekend. Recession, depression, good times, bad times, it wouldn't matter! Yet since I don't want to go after this market, and go after a clientle that has a bit larger budget on their wedding, I do have to worry about the economy. So far I don't see anything that keeps me up late at nights, but the fact that people still get married in recessions doesn't change the fact that the mid-range to higher end markets contract and get more competitive in recessions.

[LifeTimeImages]

I booked four weddings in March and another three in April and one so far this month.
I don't see a slowdown at all and business is great.

[PXLpainter]

This is all really good, honest info!

I've always been afraid of doing weddings - probably a confidence issue (not to mention the liability of when things "might" go wrong) but now with digital you can see immediate results and process/turn-around quickly, that removes that element at least (well - except for computer crashes, HD/media failures, etc... but much less of a chance for total bridal meltdown!) ;)

I gotta say though, that I really need to hone my flash skills and posing skills. I really feel inadequate in those areas - directing people to move a certain way and make them feel comfortable. I've done very little "posed" photography in my life for those reasons alone... my own personal "fear factor" I guess!

That's why I've opted for more commercial/industrial shooting with available light (digital) for the most part - as well as no-flash stage performance shooting to just capture a "moment" while firing off hundreds of shots.

So my hat's off to you hard-working wedding photogs! (and Mark - nice gallery web site you have too!) :D