The changing times of photography

[gacop]

I'm not a pro or really even an amateur, I just enjoy taking photos. I've really tried to learn my camera by what ever means I've had available, such as reading, tutorials, etc. I know a lady that earns part-time money doing weddings and knows nothing about her camera but knows photoshop. When I was brand new to photography and first met her I began talking with her about f stops, aperture, you know different setting and how to take certain shots. She said " I don't know about the technical stuff, I just take the picture and fix it on photoshop. Like I said I'm not in a business I just enjoy photography, so no one is taking money out of my pocket but this bothered me.

 

[JBrown]

I have a confession, Im part of the problem.

About a year ago me and a friend at work picked up photography for fun and the possibility of side work. I love photography as it gives me a creative outlet.

Fast forward to today I dont do any paying work and gravitated towards nature photography simply because its on my schedule and i dont have to deal with anyone else. It has remained a hobby for me. My friend on the other hand has become what most of you hate, the $50 photographer. Ganted she isnt the best, but she did lots of cheap shoots and has some experience now and is average.

Anyways its time for me to get engagement photos and I look in town at a pros work ive seen and is great. Wants $ 400 for the shoot. My friend has raised her rates to a whopping $75. I hate to say it but i chose the $75. She can produce a decent enough image (only need one from a whole shoot) and the other is just way to much money.

So with that said, as someone who appreciates good photography and knows the differrence I still chose the lesser because financially it made much more sense. The wedding itself is a different matter.

 

[imagemaker46]

You're not part of the problem at all. Your friend is filling a void, unfortunately this void has affected the more expensive photographer. Chances are she has a full time job and can afford to charge $75, it's basically free money for her and I doubt that it is being declared as income. Your friend is part of a problem that isn't about to change.

 

[JacaRanda]

I have a confession, Im part of the problem.

About a year ago me and a friend at work picked up photography for fun and the possibility of side work. I love photography as it gives me a creative outlet.

Fast forward to today I dont do any paying work and gravitated towards nature photography simply because its on my schedule and i dont have to deal with anyone else. It has remained a hobby for me. My friend on the other hand has become what most of you hate, the $50 photographer. Ganted she isnt the best, but she did lots of cheap shoots and has some experience now and is average.

Anyways its time for me to get engagement photos and I look in town at a pros work ive seen and is great. Wants $ 400 for the shoot. My friend has raised her rates to a whopping $75. I hate to say it but i chose the $75. She can produce a decent enough image (only need one from a whole shoot) and the other is just way to much money.

So with that said, as someone who appreciates good photography and knows the differrence I still chose the lesser because financially it made much more sense. The wedding itself is a different matter.

There is no problem for you as long as you accept the quality of the photos your friend produces for you. There is no problem for your friend (it seems), she is putting money in her pocket and even been able to raise her rates.

 

[JBrown]

When I say im part of the problem, i mean in regards to photography as a profession. I willingly accepted the lesser work because of how cheap it was and know its not a rate someone could actually live off of.

With that said financials drive everything in this world and the reality is most people with a little training can take a DSLR and get a decent pic. That fact alone and the advances in body and lenses are crushing the industry.

 

[Braineack]

Fast forward to today I dont do any paying work and gravitated towards nature photography simply because its on my schedule and i dont have to deal with anyone else. It has remained a hobby for me. My friend on the other hand has become what most of you hate, the $50 photographer. Ganted she isnt the best, but she did lots of cheap shoots and has some experience now and is average.

I still don't see how this is part of the problem more than filling a void.

 

[runnah]

Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster; and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes into you.

 

[robbins.photo]

Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster; and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes into you.

No shirt,no shoes, no service.

 

[Braineack]

I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.

 

[runnah]

Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster; and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes into you.

No shirt,no shoes, no service.

"Yo, tweet them deetz."
-Benjamin Franklin

 

[MGRPhoto]

Not a pro but I know quite a few. The "old timers" that worked in a studio for years now use it as a secondary income or don't do it all anymore. The friends I have that are thriving are the ones who build complete marketing strategies for small/medium businesses. Everything from the company photography and marketing materials to building and hosting their websites. The photography aspect probably doesn't even take up half of their job at this point though. However they are making 10x what they were as just photographers. Literally 10x. There is still a market out there for the high end portrait/wedding guy but it's shrinking and it will be gone sooner than later. In a few more years the D3300 type cameras will be able fake all the skill the photographer lacks and people won't even hire photographers for weddings. The bride/groom will setup their event page on the social media site and their guests will just upload the shots they took to their social media page and that social media company will automatically generate an album for them and give them an option to buy a wedding book or leave the album digitally online.... damn I think I just came up with my million dollar idea! Don't you guys go stealin' it now!

And sports photographers are going to be extinct sooner than later as well. Soon we'll have robotic cameras on a wire that will get all the shots they need.

 

[spacefuzz]

I dont know about anyone else, but for me its been funneling my career into various niche markets.

My landscape photography I went high end fine art, limited edition prints and all expensive.

For my stock, its all hard to get landscape images, there are many photographers out there but not many will carry 10 lbs of gear up to 14,000 ft in the Sierras to get a shot.

For when I was a staff photographer it was all hard to access places with aircraft, very little competition.

Anyways my thoughts are you should embrace the change and use your hard earned skills and the new technology to advance the art and do things no one else has done. Dwelling on the negative is only holding you back.

 

[skieur]

Agree, diversify. Yes, you only get the big or difficult jobs now, not the $15 headshots. But if you branch out to more areas and take the big or difficult jobs in several of them, you make up the lost ground.
That means stealing ground from colleagues and competing with other professionals, and somebody has to not make it. But at least competing with other pros is tractable and feasible, unlike competing with people who are willing to do headshots for free for their coworkers..

Not necessarily stealing ground from colleagues and competing with other professionals, IF you can create a niche area that fits with your skill set.

 

[The_Traveler]

I solved the problem for myself by deciding never to shoot anything I wouldn't shoot for free.
It may be I don't have the skills to be a for-pay photographer, but I also don't have the interest and don't see making money as any measure of how good I am.

I was strongly affected by a definition I read of amateur versus professional that went like this, approximately.

An amateur is someone who works on his/her skills and abilities, doing what has been done before and sees as an end the perfect execution of what other people have already done.
A professional is one who uses skills to go on, to advance the art in some way.

So I am working on being a professional in that sense and totally ignoring amateur status.

 

[pgriz]

It's been an interesting discussion. I can't help but draw an analogy with the competition that exists in the natural world. Any given environment has a biota (fancy word for animals, plants, and single-celled organisms) that is optimized (more or less) for the food sources and conditions in that biosphere. If the environment is stable, there is a biological drive for more specialization, allowing the successful organisms a higher efficiency at converting food sources to reproduction. If the environment is unstable, then the successful organisms are the generalists, who can more effectively adapt to the changing conditions (think rats). If the environment is "evolving", then dedicated specialists tend to become extinct, and are replaced by less-particular generalists. However, as some ecological niches disappear, new ones open up and offer opportunities for species that can move into that new niche. If the niche lasts more than a few generations, then specialization again becomes the dominant driver.

Our photographic environment is changing with the tools of imaging undergoing their own technological evolution. The "consumption" and "use" of the images is changing, and as such, the importance of various attributes also changes. Simply put, it's nature's way of keeping us on our toes. We may call it societal evolution, or economic imperative, but the parallels to biology are quite strong.