Losing business to amateurs

[JoeW27 1]

First, it's a really tough time to make a living as a full-time photographer. Whether you're shooting commercial work, as a photojournalist, or doing portraiture of some type. Barriers to entry are almost nonexistent. And while most amateurs with a camera aren't very good, the reality is that some of them are excellent. I run in to so many shooters who have a day job and will shoot portraits or weddings on the side for a pittance. For them, it's beer money. It's not about paying a mortgage or healthcare or money for the kid's college fund--their day job covers that.

Second, it is true that in some cases, excellent work is given up for cheaper crap. But that isn't unique to photographer. Dell went from award-winning service centers to outsourcing it all to India as a way to save bucks (and then got savaged by customers regarding the service and tech help they got). Businesses make all sorts of decisions based on money (as opposed to...quality of the service or work....relationship....proven track record).

 

[manaheim]

Photography really isn't a business to be in these days. If you're established, hopefully you can keep ahead of the wave, but I hear a lot of examples of folks falling. Heck, I'm totally one of those "new professional" types, and >I< saw my business taken away by someone newer and cheaper. (who did lesser work)

There's a reason why I've shifted my focus to another art form. Photography will always be a love... but there's no reasonable way to make it a career and not go totally insane. (AND not destroy someone else's career in the process...)

 

[Trever1t]

There are hobbyists who are worlds better than so many pros. The problem as I see it is that most of these hobbyists do not value their own work and give it away....

 

[JacaRanda]

It's often tough for me to think of what's fair and what's not fair and when to apply either one to a circumstance.

What if she does see something wrong with it, but feels her passion is more important than his 15k? Her getting the chance to do what she wants to do may be more important (to her) than taking someone else's job.

It gets weird to say the least. When is it okay to be selfish, or is it being selfish?

 

[AlanKlein80 19]

I'm sorry about your friend. Changes in technology always effect business. I lost my business because I got complacent. I didn't spend the time and money getting involved in new things, establishing new niches. I had some customers for twenty years so why bother. So when it hit the fan, I was in dire straits to make end meets and along with other complications lost my business.

Sorry to be hard, but how come he learned about the switch after it happened? Was he going to lunch with his client so he could have the possibility of heading this off at the pass by making adjustments to his pricing. I can't believe that they're going to get $15,000 of photo work for free. Assuming it was free, what happens in the second year when this "free" person decides to charge $20,000? Is the school that stupid? Or maybe they had a problem with his work and just told him that they were getting it for free. Sometimes we don't get the whole story.

 

[photoguy99]

Why should some guy be accorded a living that, evidently, loads of people can do and will do for nothing?

How do we choose who gets to make money?

 

[AlanKlein80 19]

My suggestion at this point would be for your friend to meet with the school photo buyer to try to get the "real" reasons for the switch and adjust for it. If it is costs, let him make an adjustment they can live with. If he can't adjust the price to their needs, then at least stay on good terms with them and stay in contact with them every few months. No one works for nothing forever. When she tires of it, they call him back assuming there are not other reasons for the switch. But he has to be honest with himself as to the circumstances and adjust accordingly. Good luck to him.

 

[tirediron]

There's something that strikes me as odd about this. First and foremost, what university in this day and age can afford 15K for sports photography? That aside, There must be more to the story, and before we castigate the "amateur" too seriously, we would need to know if she was even aware that she was displacing a hired gun. As well, it seems doubly odd (as mentioned earlier) that the university would make a switch like this without some provocation.

 

[snerd]

There's something that strikes me as odd about this. First and foremost, what university in this day and age can afford 15K for sports photography? That aside, There must be more to the story, and before we castigate the "amateur" too seriously, we would need to know if she was even aware that she was displacing a hired gun. As well, it seems doubly odd (as mentioned earlier) that the university would make a switch like this without some provocation.

I don't know............ but at the University of Oklahoma, they pay Bob Stoops $15 million over 7 years. So I would think $15K for sports photography would be a drop in the bucket.

 

[tirediron]

I don't know............ but at the University of Oklahoma, they pay Bob Stoops $15 million over 7 years. So I would think $15K for sports photography would be a drop in the bucket.

Well... that part was said at least partly tongue-in-cheek.

 

[chainsawal]

There are hobbyists who are worlds better than so many pros. The problem as I see it is that most of these hobbyists do not value their own work and give it away....

Best post of the thread. And my response since I am technically one of the so-called "poachers." So the OP can be mad at people like me all they want, but the reality is I wasn't getting what I needed from my local photographer, and he was unwilling to change and adapt, so he drove my passion for photography.

I myself got irritated when my local photographer wouldn't keep up with technology and kept wanting to sell me overpriced prints for $700+ a session while my kids were growing. I asked for the digital prints one day (in addition to the prints he makes big money on) and you would have thought I robbed him the way he reacted (in 2009). Very unprofessional. I offered to pay him whatever he wanted for them so I would ensure I have them forever, and he was offended. Having to take pictures of my kids at every holiday and special event each year would have cost me $4,000-$7,000 annually... so I figured, I have a few advanced degrees.. how hard can it be? What I found out... if you have the money... it is not hard.

Then I had some commercial photography needs that would take him 2-3 weeks to turn around even though I needed them quickly. He said he didn't have the staff and refused to hire them... his business was fine the way it was. The things I needed literally take me 4-5 mins per photo today to shoot and about 120 seconds on Photoshop or lightroom to process. But it took him 3 weeks because he was slow and refused to resource properly.

So I started with a D80... upgraded to a D7000... and today shoot with a D800 and am looking to buy a D4s because I shoot so many sports. I love photography and over the last 5 years learned a tremendous amount online (e.g. Lynda.com, Youtube, and even from other photographers). I started taking pictures of my own family and my own commercial photography. I bought hi-end glass... and even have a home studio with about $30k of equipment.

And what I realize today (and other people do as well)? My work is 100x better than what I got from my old photographer (who has since went out of business I might ad because he refused to change). I look back at pictures of my kids and realize the eyes are out of focus... the lighting is bad... the composition is bad... etc. 2-3 weeks turnaround for a commercial picture of a screwdriver in and out of the package is ridiculous... most people around here now get it done in 48 hours.. and charge extra for same-day service.

So I still work at an executive management level job during the day where I make 100x more than I could doing photography full-time. But I still do plenty of after-work jobs because I LOVE IT. And I do it for cheap (or sometimes for free).

My old photographer use to sit in his business studio all day, working for the same 40-50 clients he worked with for most of his career who slowly stopped coming by.

I on the other hand joined local business groups, had lunch with many in the community, started sharing my work locally and online, etc. and things went viral. Now I have more request than time.

Having lived in many different cities in the world... and always kinda being on the fringe of photography with my work until now, I can tell you most photographer's issues are their lack of business sense and the random elitist personality.

Just because you were successful at something yesterday, doesn't mean you will be successful tomorrow if you don't innovate and keep pace. Technology is moving fast...

And business models change. Consumers bought pro photographs back in the day because that was their only option.. as shooting film was expensive and difficult for most people...today, most photographers can't handle what I call the "good enough" challenge. Everyone today has a phone that takes ok pictures, and although yours may be better, theirs may be "good enough." And entry level DSLR's are relatively inexpensive as well. I couldn't tell you how many Cannon and Nikon cameras I see at sporting events for little one where people spent $1,400 on a camera and lens, and are shooting in auto mode with the flash up in the middle of the day while my shutter speeds without a ND Filter are in the 8,000 range on ISO 340 at 5.6. Always makes me laugh, but then again, they may be "good enough" for them.

So although the OP may be mad that someone scooped his business for free... that is just business. It happens everyday. In my work, vendors will routinely offer things for free or at a price where they lose money the 1st year in order to secure business. That is smart business... which is why the OP always need to be developing new relationships and new opportunities. That job may come back in a year once she jacks the price.. who knows.

So I wouldn't blame the people who took your business because they adapted, out-hustled, etc. That is the nature of business these days.

Just my 2 cents... but the only person to blame for my passion for photography which led to me taking other people's business (many times for free) is my old photographer who made everything difficult and felt he didn't need to accommodate his customers. It was his way or the highway... and that was unfortunate for him.

 

[gsgary]

The problem is with digital anyone can use a digital camera I bet the problem was not so bad when you shot film

 

[Forkie]

I'm also in the "why pay for it if you can get it for free?" camp.

If people are buying a camera, learning how to use it on the internet and then stealing our clients, we're not doing a very good job. Our service needs to be WORTH paying for.

It's not the people giving freebies that need to change here, it's us - the photographers charging people. We need to be better than the freetographers or offer something that the freetographers can't.

 

[gsgary]

80% of what you see on here is not worth paying for

 

[RichieT]

A lot of businesses need to adapt to the changing times or risk going under. A big box store like Home Depot put a lot of smaller hardware stores out of business though some survived by offering services that Home Depot couldn't.
This photographer might think she is doing a good thing or she might be trying to make a name and establish a portfolio so she can charge later. If she is doing it because she thinks she's doing a good thing, she should look to the local High Schools which usually don't have a budget for photography for sports. She can get her experience and not affect the local pros. My sons' old high school used to use a teacher with a P&S for their pictures. I would take pictures of all the athletes and give them to the school where they used them in the yearbook, school brochures, and a sports night slideshow. For that they listed me as a coach which gave me field side and mat side access which I wouldn't have had otherwise. On the flip side, when their soccer team won the state championship, they hired a "pro", and wound up going with my shots instead.