Big Box Store Studios vs. Professional Photographers
The only thing we do is photography.
I saw this on another website so I do not take credit for it, unfortunately, I don't know who wrote it and I've edited it a little.
Store Photo Studio
Chain stores do have their place. For a very cheap price you can run in, shoot some quick photos, and be done with it. But YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
Consider the time and effort that a personal photographer puts into photographs, compared to a chain store. Store sessions last just a few minutes, while a personal photographer takes the time to get to know the people, makes them comfortable, makes them laugh. If a baby is crying at a chain store, they often don’t have the time (or the patience) to wait because everyone is in a hurry.
The truth is that many chain store studios lose money. In fact, Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios in 2007 because of the financial drain. What the chain stores bank on is a client coming in for quick, cheap photos…and while there, spending $200 on other items. They are there to get you in the door.
The Average One-Hour Portrait Session
First, let's look at the actual work involved:
* Travel to the session or prepare their studio
* Setup, preparation, talking to the client, etc.
* Shoot the photos
* Travel from the session/clean up their studio
* Load images onto a computer
* Back up the files on an external drive
* Several hours of Adobe® Photoshop® time, including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, skin touch-ups, enhancements and backing up edited photographs.
* Several hours preparing the gallery, talking with the client, answering questions, receiving and processing order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package prints, schedule shipment, and ship or delivering personally.
* Occasionally meeting clients to review photos and place order. Meeting and travel time average 2 hours.
You can see how a one-hour session easily turns into several days or more from start to finish. So when you see a personal photographer charging a session fee for a one-hour photo shoot, the client is NOT paying them per hour.
(What this article fails to include above, is the time communicating with each potential and new client, planning and preparing the session ahead of time to make sure every detail is personalized to fit the needs and personality of the individual client).
I saw this on another website so I do not take credit for it, unfortunately, I don't know who wrote it and I've edited it a little.
Store Photo Studio
Chain stores do have their place. For a very cheap price you can run in, shoot some quick photos, and be done with it. But YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
Consider the time and effort that a personal photographer puts into photographs, compared to a chain store. Store sessions last just a few minutes, while a personal photographer takes the time to get to know the people, makes them comfortable, makes them laugh. If a baby is crying at a chain store, they often don’t have the time (or the patience) to wait because everyone is in a hurry.
The truth is that many chain store studios lose money. In fact, Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios in 2007 because of the financial drain. What the chain stores bank on is a client coming in for quick, cheap photos…and while there, spending $200 on other items. They are there to get you in the door.
The Average One-Hour Portrait Session
First, let's look at the actual work involved:
* Travel to the session or prepare their studio
* Setup, preparation, talking to the client, etc.
* Shoot the photos
* Travel from the session/clean up their studio
* Load images onto a computer
* Back up the files on an external drive
* Several hours of Adobe® Photoshop® time, including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, skin touch-ups, enhancements and backing up edited photographs.
* Several hours preparing the gallery, talking with the client, answering questions, receiving and processing order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package prints, schedule shipment, and ship or delivering personally.
* Occasionally meeting clients to review photos and place order. Meeting and travel time average 2 hours.
You can see how a one-hour session easily turns into several days or more from start to finish. So when you see a personal photographer charging a session fee for a one-hour photo shoot, the client is NOT paying them per hour.
(What this article fails to include above, is the time communicating with each potential and new client, planning and preparing the session ahead of time to make sure every detail is personalized to fit the needs and personality of the individual client).
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