Changing Face of Business

[Sketch]

We can go around in circles for months. Bummed that this thread went south. I can not speak for Steve, but this lovely thread has turned into a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Rabbit season, duck season - YouTube

Rabbit season, duck season - YouTube

Of course anyone can do what they want. Question is what do you want? What is your 3 and 5 year plan? For example if you were to charge $300.00 per wedding and you worked on the project for 24 hours that is basically $12.50 per hour. Not bad if you have an additional part time job. Crummy if you are trying to make a living doing photography. I think there is room for part time work in the retail world, but it would never float in the commercial world.

By charging bottom basement prices you a biting the hand that feeds. Photography these days is not cheaper then the film days. And you still need a lot skills to make your business profitable and your clients happy.

The only that has changed in the past 25 years is that people decided that living life vicariously through their point and shoot or camera phone is now acceptable behavior. We are flooded with images and folks that think photography is a dream job. "cause everyone says I take great photos".

[Bobby Deal]

Originally Posted by Sketch

Of course anyone can do what they want. Question is what do you want? What is your 3 and 5 year plan?

Now there is a good question.

I have a 5 year exit strategy to build my studio up to the point that one of the major studio groups out of LA buys it out to expand their reach into the Las Vegas Valley. Then it is off to a Latin based island to give Freddy some competition for the hottest Latinas in the world.

BTW that is one of my all time favorite Daffy Duck VS Bugs Bunny Arguments

[Sketch]

Sounds like an excellent plan Bobby!

If and when the wife and I ever get there we will be touring the country with an RV.

[Steven G Webb]

I shoot a lot of speculation work. We arrange with a show manager to provide photographic services for their exhibitors and work out contract details such as vendor fees, exclusive rights and what ever else is necessary. Sometimes the shows run 5 days and sometimes they run for multiple weeks. We're covering a show in June, out of town, that will run from Jun 7 - 24. We'll arrive on the 6th and depart on the 25th. The layout of the venue will require flash for 3 arenas, one a coliseum that seats about 3500. Six strobes, six RF triggers, three cameras, three RF transmitters and three photographers and one additional person to man the sales and production. We have a viewing area and fulfill on-site both digital and print products. We'll work a minimum of 10 hours each day, and two days each of the three weeks will require 16-18 hours for the evening feature events.

This year we will cover this event with two people for the first couple of days and add a 3rd person on the weekends. One photographer will be dedicated to one arena, the other will hopscotch between the other two to give as much coverage as possible. This is my business and I share it with my significant other. In the past I have hired one of my sons or a second shooter for the busier times. To give this show 100% everyday coverage would be cost prohibitive. Motel rooms, food, and travel expense would chew away the profit and of course people want to be paid.

What I find tough to swallow is the guy who is willing to sell 4X6 prints from an online storefront for $1.99 retail wants $250-$300 per day to shoot for me. I know his print costs and the postage for those $1.99 prints. He's making nothing. But what business is it of mine? Here's how it's my business: He's a hobby shooter and doesn't need to count the cost, his day job pays his bills and he gets the warm fuzzies when a $10 order comes in. He's not alone, there is an army of others doing the same thing. He has helped promote a negative income price point. Now I have potential customers saying, "Nice pictures, but too rich for my blood" because they have seen a thousand hobby shooters' offerings and now the value of a 5X7 is $1.99. Well, the raw materials for me to produce a 5X7 is roughly $1.50 so I can't meet that. That self same hobby shooter wants to know why I don't hire him because he's sure that I'm rolling in the dough. How could I not be getting rich? He sells his picture for less than two bucks and I'm charging twenty times as much. He assumes that I am greedy and keeping all the big money. He won't roll his fat butt out of bed for less than $200/day but he's part of the reason I can't afford him.

I was at an event when a very opinionated lady with all the world's answers came to me and offered to tell me what was wrong with my pictures. Actually, she said, the pictures were beautiful and at this particular venue she'd never seen any that approached the quality. She did feel obligated to tell me that if I wanted to sell more pictures, I'd lower my price. I could sell a bunch more pictures if I'd say, drop the price of an 8X10 (already adjusted lower to better suit the project) from $25 to $10. Man, what a revolutionary I idea! My regular price for a show 8X10 is $40 this event was a one-day competition and required no flash or complicated set-up so we adjusted the price down. I told her thank you for being so concerned with the success of my business but she did realize that I could move A LOT more product if I simply charged $0 for them, right? I could sell out but I could not make a profit. Why do 8X10's cost $40? Because they cost more than the ink and paper for me to produce. I've got over $100 in motel and food every day I'm there, gasoline costs me the same $3.XX per gallon, the liability insurance the venue requires costs me $40/mo and no matter how profitable the government is going to tap me for about 30% of my income. Why was there no photographer at a certain arena when her horse did the best job of his life? Because, to have a person there would make that $40 8X10 cost $120.

I love what I do. Horses are most magnificent and majestic and I love to photograph them. The bond and the trust between a rider and a horse jumping over a nearly 5 foot tall fence is an awesome thing. I happen to make some of the most beautiful pictures of hunters and jumpers available. It's a huge undertaking to light up a coliseum and it takes a great deal of skill to grab a perfectly timed shot at an angle that is flattering to the horse and to do it consistently when I have no control over how the courses are laid out and only one opportunity to set lights. Why do I continue to do it? Because I do it better than you can, regardless of who you are. And I like the challenge of nailing the shot and the exposure.

I'm not trying to get rich. I have a couple of nasty habits, though. I like to eat and I like having a comfortable house to sleep in. I have labored and struggled with pricing and product offerings. I've walked the tightrope, balancing a fair price for a valuable product that still provides me with a profit at the end of the day.

That's what its like to be me. Am I making any money? I did not make enough money last year to even be required to file an income tax return, much less pay any taxes. Does that answer the question? Don't call me elitist until you spend a day with me, living my life. It ain't easy, if it were anyone could do it. I'm not talking about the work, I'm talking about the lifestyle and the dues paying.

[Bobby Deal]

Very well stated Steve.

[Mark McCall]

Originally Posted by Songman45

Am I making any money? I did not make enough money last year to even be required to file an income tax return, much less pay any taxes. Does that answer the question? Don't call me elitist until you spend a day with me, living my life. It ain't easy, if it were anyone could do it. I'm not talking about the work, I'm talking about the lifestyle and the dues paying.

You've been in this a long time, Steve. Do you still feel that your in the dues paying stage?
I can totally relate...shooting something because you love it.
At what point do you feel you'll be able to make a living of it? or is that even the plan?

[Steven G Webb]

Originally Posted by Mark McCall

You've been in this a long time, Steve. Do you still feel that your in the dues paying stage?
I can totally relate...shooting something because you love it.
At what point do you feel you'll be able to make a living of it? or is that even the plan?

Hey Mark,

I think we pay our dues for as long as we are in this trade. Your a pretty respected member in PPA and I think you held or hold an office but those due still have to be paid, right? I don't think we as photographers ever reach a point where we can sit on our laurels.

I didn't know anything about a horse 5 years ago. I wasn't raised around them, never owned one, only rode two and one of them was a paid for trail ride. The original motivation for my shooting them was the profit angle. I beat my brains out learning how the different breeds and disciplines move and the timing required to get the shots. After the first year I learned quite a bit and began to gain a respect for the animal. Over time I have developed the love for shooting them. The business plan I drew up borrowed from existing operations in the same specialty; one I worked for two others who were doing nearly the same, both having branched from the same vine.

The plan all along was to make a living at this. I had taken refuge with a relative who is in this business in Virginia. When I came back to TX and established my business, I spent the first year seeking out clients. Understand, the end customer at a horse show is not my primary client. The managers of the shows are my primary clients. First I had to find them, then as a complete unknown find someone to let me in. I had to play a lot of backyard horse shows to establish a reputation and prove my ability. At this point on a time line, I should be working about 25 shows per year with a gross income of $75,000 and a net of about $45,000. I'm not even close.

I think when things take a downturn we either look for a scapegoat or we internalize the blame. So, first I've examined what I'm doing and where the weakness lies. I have fewer dates on the calendar this year, that's because I ran an experiment in moving up the food chain. I landed some more prestigious shows, larger in volume and in higher class venues. To a wedding photographer this would be like moving from backyard weddings in the trailer park to cathedral weddings with sit-down dinner receptions. That's not really tripping the trigger. I don't know why we aren't more profitable. I have spreadsheets going all the way back to day one and I have poured over the numbers.

I adopted some very conservative spending policies. I did not want to incur debt service, certainly not before making enough money to pay it. So, my presence is pretty conservative. Rather than a self-contained trailer with highly visible graphics, which would require a truck and would be a huge investment, I have a tabletop setup that I can haul in my minivan. We (my significant other and I) keep a tight reign on the expenses. We stay at business level motels, clean and plain and the only two extra amenities we require is a refrigerator and a microwave oven. We also eat on the cheap. That fridge will hold our sandwich makings and bottled water for lunches. The microwave will heat up breakfast meals from the local grocery store. I even pack a full size coffee maker and an institutional thermos with a pump dispenser because I love coffee and I hate paying $2-$3 bucks, two or three times a day at the concession stand. We are at the show to make money, not spend it.

Last year we had a pretty good year. We were still in positive growth. I felt good about my place in the industry. I watched two well respected, well established show photographers close and go completely out of the business. I'm now getting calls from show managers who three years ago I could only dream would agree to talk to me. Calling me. What's going on? I'm not being tossed a few crumbs (which would be the normal progression of things) someone is throwing the whole sandwich. When I contact the photographers who have historically worked these shows (once you work with a show manager you pretty much keep his jobs) the same response has resonated, "Ya know we used to pretty good at that show but last year we didn't make enough to cover expenses and I can't pay people of my own pocket and survive." I'm not talking about the low-end shows being abandoned for better ones. Some of these are shows that were highly contended for just a few years ago. I gratefully accepted a few of these and was disappointed in the outcome. Events that should have supported $2000 at the very least rang in at less than $1000. Had I not already been in the area I'd have taken a huge loss in expenses.

I'm pretty darned stubborn. I don't know why the whole business is going down. Guys with impressive stage presence, thus the huge expense, are dropping like flies. I don't think it's an issue of price point. My price list is lower than theirs because my CODB is less. So to the customer, I am less expensive. If the other guys had priced themselves out of the market, I'd be making more sales, even if making less net. That's not happening. My hope is the struggle is caused by an external force, like the cost of fuel and the general downturn in the economy. If this is a cycle and I can be the last man standing when it bottoms out, I will be the first man enjoying the rebound. I think photography in every genre and specialty is in a similar boat. The economy is crushing us and our customers. The money crunch is only adding to the willingness of customers to accept inferior products. Some people may not know the difference in a good picture and a bad one. Stevie Wonder could see the difference in an unlit camera phone picture and a well exposed perfectly timed one. It may be that there are just not enough people with both discriminating taste and discretionary income who can buy.

I have a pretty simple lifestyle. I don't have much left to compromise or give up in order to stay in business. I don't air condition my entire house, I don't have subscription TV. I might eat the store brands, but I've got to eat. And while all this is happening, I've got to have a professional appearance on the job that says I'm good at what I do and I'm successful. Vultures, after all don't go after animals that can fight back.

I can't dismiss the fact that the horse show photography business may be done. That it will never again support a full-time professional. With that ever in the back of my mind, and needing to eat, I have to consider the opportunities in other photographic endeavors. Like so many other show photographers who have packed it in.

Steve

[Mark McCall]

Yes, I still hold several offices.
Treasurer, Texas Professional Photographers Assoc.
Webmaster, Southwest Professional Photogrpahers Assoc., Texas School of Professional Photography, Oklahoma Professional Photographers Assoc.
PPA Council
Certified Professional Photographer Liason

I think I looking at it slightly differently.
I paid my dues in the years leading up to all this responsibility, because I don't see it as work. I enjoy the political part of the industry.

BUT...like you, I still have to make a living.
I'm shooting less of one type of work, more of another. I'm still doing fine, but 5 studios in the market area closed last year.

My buddy KC Montgomery is a huge equine photographer in OK, and has more business than he can handle. Home
He does one thing better than anyone. He offers products horse owners can't buy anywhere else.
I think that's the key for all of us.

[Steven G Webb]

It looks like KC Montgomery is as much advertising agency as he is Photographer. I have seen this on all levels with various photographers, surprisingly or not a lot of them in the equine industries. Photographers turned web designers. We all primarily work weekends, that leaves available time during the week. Some photographers have developed a product line of web advertising goods.

Every horse in a show ring has an owner, trainer, groom and rider. A "barn" or a "farm" is a facility with many times an independent owner. The farm usually employs trainers and grooms and has the stables and practice facility. Sometimes a trainer will operate the farm. So, someone with deep pockets who lives far, far away has an interest in a horse with a good bloodline and they buy the horse. Maybe they live in a condo or apartment in NY City so they rent the horse a stall in, say KY. They entrust the training to the barn's trainer who has a big resume. Little Suzie loves horses and mommy and daddy want to buy her riding lessons. They turn to the barn and trainer and little Suzie is schooled on one of the barn's fleet of horses. She get's good, good enough that she should be on the New Yorker's horse. The trainer arranges a lease so the horse becomes partly little Suzies. And so Suzie and the leased horse go into competitive exhibitions.

The barn, or farm needs advertising and promotion. They want more clients, more stabled horses, more kids to teach and more people to lease horses and show them. A lot of photographers branch out into doing barn calls or farm shoots for the photography. A few will also do turn-key packages.

I don't know the first key-stroke of HTML code, or how to script flash. I don't want to be a webmaster or site designer.

Steve

[Bobby Deal]

Steve as you have noted though there are additional markets you could branch out into within the equine world. On the road at a show or in the downtime in between it would seem there would be a fair amount of call for photo sessions of the horse with and without the rider. How about specifically reaching out to the barns and shooting the collateral images they need for their marketing. You don't have to be a designer to create the content for their web and marketing material. Perhaps you can work in tandem with a designer or simply provide the content to their existing designers.

How about those riding schools? Any call for the traditional class photo sessions? Do they have organized graduation events? Where else within the industry can you use your connections and reputation to generate additional shooting opportunities? Do the trainers, grooms, barn owners etc. need head shots? How about the sponsors at the show? Perhaps your expertise is exactly what that saddle maker needs for his next advertising campaign. Or maybe that trailer manufacture has a new horse and rider they are sponsoring that they need a couple series of shots with. You know the kind of advertising shot that is totally staged to look candid.

Reaching out to the industries that support our base industries can be a very lucrative sideline that could easily turn into a mainline.