Believe it or not, there are intelligent customers that are willing to pay good prices for quality work. You usually need to be pretty well established, with a known, good reputation in order to be considered by them. Making a good living in photography is not easy but it is doable. Word of mouth is still the best advertising. Shooting weddings, if you are good at it, can still be one of the most lucrative fields in photography. But, it's a hell of a lot of work building a reputation and getting known, not to mention the gruelling 10 and 12 hour days. "Fine art" photographers tend to look down on wedding shooters as being prostitutes, of a sort.
Len --- -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 2:24 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re[3]: Pricing of PhotoWork Bingo My thoughts exactly. I'm barely an amateur at this and I spot errors/problems in any number of photos. I'm almost never satisfied with 100% of any work I do because I want to have some sort of perfection and because I am aware of what has to be done to get that perfection (equipment, artistry and technical expertise all play a part in this). The problem is in the "end user"/customer. Many times, they're perfectly happy with sub par work because they've become accustomed to it, and because they don't know what to look for to prove to them that the work actually is sub par. In short, customer education is required. A well composed, exposed, developed, and printed photograph should be worthy of good $$ but it's a matter of explaining to the "average" customer what that is. . . Cheers, Dave Original Message: ----------------- From: Bruce Dayton [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 11:54:18 -0700 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re[2]: Pricing of PhotoWork Bill, This is very much an area where I think change is in the making. More capable equipment, more people using it and their willingness to accept mediocre to poor quality all play a big role. You would be appalled at some of the wedding invitations I have seen lately - some even showing the date/time stamp (not even set correctly) on them. I was at an awards banquet recently where the "press" was present. The only shots taken were by the reporters themselves with digital P&S cameras - not even a supplemental flash - just some quick snaps. I think the trick is to find venues where quality is desired - eliminates the hacks and do-it-your-selfers and then charge for your time as a skilled professional. Basically pass on all material/lab costs to them. They will actually think they are getting a bargain because they don't have to pay some high price for a couple of prints. There still seems to be some value placed on an individual's work time. Certainly far more value than they place on some prints. After all, they can get prints made at Walmart for a few dollars. Bruce - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
