How to beat the pizza photographer?

So I've been doing weddings in the 416 for a while, have a solid client base and good word of mouth referals. I use to only do weddings but had to diversify because I was getting undercut by the $300 wedding photographer person.

How do you charge $300 from 8am until 1am? How do you make money are people that desperate in Toronto to work this way. I had to start getting into portrait stuff and now mixing things in with video, selling my own products such as canvas, posters, aerial photography and more.

What do you guys do when responding to your client that says well i was quoted $300. Not to say that the $300 guys service was bad as his portfoliio was pretty good.

 

I'd prepare a list for them to ask the pizza photography guy, starting with, what sort of equipment will you be bringing?

I'm guessing odds are good he'll only list one camera, when he does point out to the client that he's taking a pretty significant risk operating this way, if anything happens guess what, you get no wedding photos at all.

I'd also have them inquire as to whether or not he/she has a proper business license and insurance, because again if not they are putting themselves at risk. If someone is injured they could be liable if the photographer they hired doesn't have insurance and they didn't perform due diligence in asking. My guess is if his/her rates are this cheap they are operating on the fly, with no insurance and no license.

 

get a full time job like the $300 guy.

 

8am to 1am is about 17 hours
$300 / 17 = $17.64 per hour

This excludes time to process images which is roughly 2x. So $8.82 an hour. Probably excludes travel and any thing else.
I assume this is ONLY digital images given to the client.

how much do you value your time ?
What differentiates your skills and abilities to the pizza guy ?

Why I Can’t Shoot Your Wedding for Free {Part I of II}

Why I Can’t Shoot Your Wedding for Free {Part II: Developing Pricing for Photographers}

 

Stop competing on price and start selling quality and service instead.

 

$300??!!! Jesus... I think you'd have better luck lifting your prices and people will take it more seriously.

I know it's a different market but I start at 2800$ for a day and get a lot more work than the people charging $500

 

Got to love photo forum economics.

 

could always bring the wedding party a few free pizzas ...

 

Nothing to worry about they will put themselves out of business real soon.

 

All fine and dandy. But they are like drug dealers..... as soon as one goes away (for whatever reason), there's a dozen more that merrily will take their place.

 

I'd remind the brides and grooms ... "Are you buying the cheapest cake? Are you buying the cheapest wedding dress? The cake has a lifespan of one day, the dress will rarely see the light of day after the wedding ... But the images will span your lifetime and the lifetime of your children. Purchase a cheap cake, skimp on the dress ... It is the images that will tell your wedding story again and again and again ... decades later the images will still be there reminding you of the day. The choice is a professional photographer who's livelihood demands the highest level of proficiency ... or some guy with a camera who snaps away pastime on weekends. You get what you pay for.