http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/10-m...dist=TNMostRead
I'm sure this has come up before but here's another check...what do you think? Are wedding photographers justified in prices or are we really that overpaid?
I think there's a bit of truth in both statements personally. I have seen many who overcharge based on experience but also many who I think could be charging more. There are also those that get into it for the money and not because they love it as well.
What do you think?
**Edited to note that I just realized this story was from 2003! I'm a bit sleep deprived and Jet lagged having just got back from Japan the other night..sorry.
Full Version: Wedding Photogs top 10 overpaid jobs in US??
well, it's an older article, so it's a bit dated (it's scary to think 2003 is dated, i feel old lol)
$1900 is not a lot considering the overhead, time spent on working on photos after the wedding, etc. I'm biased by my own salary at work and my personal expenses, but if I were to do 25 weddings at 1900 (I say 25 because I doubt too many people are shooting 40-50 weddings a year nowadays, I could be wrong), I would not have the same quality of life I currently have
$1900 is not a lot considering the overhead, time spent on working on photos after the wedding, etc. I'm biased by my own salary at work and my personal expenses, but if I were to do 25 weddings at 1900 (I say 25 because I doubt too many people are shooting 40-50 weddings a year nowadays, I could be wrong), I would not have the same quality of life I currently have
Def an older article. I think to make a living at wedding photography and to do it well, the prices do have to be at a certain level. Just to maintain the salary and benefits I have now with my full time job, I know exactly how much I would need to charge for my time...and it definitely isn't cheap. But to do photography full time, as I would like to, I need to treat it as a business first, just one that I happen to love doing. I also know that I can't charge as much as I'd really like to until I have the experience and rock solid skills to offer my clients. And that's what I'm working on now.
I think the guy had a bad experience with a wedding photographer and does not know what he is talking about, in 2003 or today.
Hey, I need to keep my lifestyle up. I need a new Bently every other year... and a house on the east coast, west coast, FL and Midwest is essential. And lets not forget the private jet.. these things aren't cheap you know. 
Hope that you had a great time in Japan. Are you any closer or is the government still dragging it's feet?
I didn't read the article, but I will chime in on this. We are not the most expensive. We start off at $2500 and go up to $6000. We are full time self employed. Getting health insurance alone for your family, being self employed sucks. We pay 14K a year alone. Add cost of sales, time, self employment tax, social security, advertising, gear, computers, gas, cars, memory, mortgage, car payments, camera insurance, Liability insurance,(continue list here). It's impossible not to charge that. Some have spouses that have full time jobs and can get the health insurance and help defer a major cost. Over 50 million Americans are without health insurance. It doesn't matter if you are Republican or Democrat, the system doesn't work, but thats another post.
Most clients don't realize how much time per client we spend working. It's not taking the photos and presto here they are. This job is much more labor intensive than most think. I know I am not telling anything new. Just going off on a tangent. Our prices justify what we have to do to make a living and to be successful. At our price point we still have to have take on more volume to make a good living at it. We are competing with the shoot and burners, the weekend warriors, and the uncle Bobs. Sorry another tangent. Think I will quit now and go comment on photos. Less typing.
I didn't read the article, but I will chime in on this. We are not the most expensive. We start off at $2500 and go up to $6000. We are full time self employed. Getting health insurance alone for your family, being self employed sucks. We pay 14K a year alone. Add cost of sales, time, self employment tax, social security, advertising, gear, computers, gas, cars, memory, mortgage, car payments, camera insurance, Liability insurance,(continue list here). It's impossible not to charge that. Some have spouses that have full time jobs and can get the health insurance and help defer a major cost. Over 50 million Americans are without health insurance. It doesn't matter if you are Republican or Democrat, the system doesn't work, but thats another post.
Most clients don't realize how much time per client we spend working. It's not taking the photos and presto here they are. This job is much more labor intensive than most think. I know I am not telling anything new. Just going off on a tangent. Our prices justify what we have to do to make a living and to be successful. At our price point we still have to have take on more volume to make a good living at it. We are competing with the shoot and burners, the weekend warriors, and the uncle Bobs. Sorry another tangent. Think I will quit now and go comment on photos. Less typing.
Hope that you had a great time in Japan. Are you any closer or is the government still dragging it's feet?
I didn't read the article, but I will chime in on this. We are not the most expensive. We start off at $2500 and go up to $6000. We are full time self employed. Getting health insurance alone for your family, being self employed sucks. We pay 14K a year alone. Add cost of sales, time, self employment tax, social security, advertising, gear, computers, gas, cars, memory, mortgage, car payments, camera insurance, Liability insurance,(continue list here). It's impossible not to charge that. Some have spouses that have full time jobs and can get the health insurance and help defer a major cost. Over 50 million Americans are without health insurance. It doesn't matter if you are Republican or Democrat, the system doesn't work, but thats another post.
Most clients don't realize how much time per client we spend working. It's not taking the photos and presto here they are. This job is much more labor intensive than most think. I know I am not telling anything new. Just going off on a tangent. Our prices justify what we have to do to make a living and to be successful. At our price point we still have to have take on more volume to make a good living at it. We are competing with the shoot and burners, the weekend warriors, and the uncle Bobs. Sorry another tangent. Think I will quit now and go comment on photos. Less typing.
I didn't read the article, but I will chime in on this. We are not the most expensive. We start off at $2500 and go up to $6000. We are full time self employed. Getting health insurance alone for your family, being self employed sucks. We pay 14K a year alone. Add cost of sales, time, self employment tax, social security, advertising, gear, computers, gas, cars, memory, mortgage, car payments, camera insurance, Liability insurance,(continue list here). It's impossible not to charge that. Some have spouses that have full time jobs and can get the health insurance and help defer a major cost. Over 50 million Americans are without health insurance. It doesn't matter if you are Republican or Democrat, the system doesn't work, but thats another post.
Most clients don't realize how much time per client we spend working. It's not taking the photos and presto here they are. This job is much more labor intensive than most think. I know I am not telling anything new. Just going off on a tangent. Our prices justify what we have to do to make a living and to be successful. At our price point we still have to have take on more volume to make a good living at it. We are competing with the shoot and burners, the weekend warriors, and the uncle Bobs. Sorry another tangent. Think I will quit now and go comment on photos. Less typing.
I think this is somewhat fair because he is classifying certain photographers - those that don't give a f - as the ones who are overpaid. I was thinking this was going to be another article I saw (which I unfortunately can't find now!) where the guy call wedding photogs overpaid becuase of how much they make for "less than 8 hours work". Ha!
I get that all the time - "you make alot of money for one day of work." Yeah, like clients call me up saturday morning, tell me where to go, and I show up and shoot for 8 hours after which the photos magically edit themselves, get sorted, and show up in an album! I wish more people understood that at least a full forty hour week goes into every wedding, if not more. We can educate our clients on that aspect, but I thnk the "general public" still feels like photogs are raking it in with little work... Maybe we need a PSA during the after-school special
I get that all the time - "you make alot of money for one day of work." Yeah, like clients call me up saturday morning, tell me where to go, and I show up and shoot for 8 hours after which the photos magically edit themselves, get sorted, and show up in an album! I wish more people understood that at least a full forty hour week goes into every wedding, if not more. We can educate our clients on that aspect, but I thnk the "general public" still feels like photogs are raking it in with little work... Maybe we need a PSA during the after-school special
Thanks Ross, Japan was super as usual and as usual, hotter than hell in a microwave.
As this article is pretty dated, prices are a bit off but I do agree with you Ross. To be good at it and to make enough to live off of, the prices do make sense. I think the key, as has been said many times here, is to educate our clients as to why are prices are as such. That we don't just show up, shoot and everything is gravy. Even if it looks as we're only "there" for 8 hours, there's so much more time involved sitting behind a computer, creating slideshows, albums, web ready photos, print ready photos, cards and all sorts of things. Factor all that together with the rising costs of gas and insurance costs, equipment maintenance, and the prices at times actually seem low. Some clients know this, some don't, and more, some don't care.
I think the majority of wedding photographers I know are by and large not doing this because they think they'll be getting rich off it. Most are happy to be able to make a living off of something they love to do. But nowadays there are tons who think it's easy work and just jump into it thinking they can make some good money at it. They care more about how much they can make than they care about their clients. They won't be in it for long though with that attitude.
As this article is pretty dated, prices are a bit off but I do agree with you Ross. To be good at it and to make enough to live off of, the prices do make sense. I think the key, as has been said many times here, is to educate our clients as to why are prices are as such. That we don't just show up, shoot and everything is gravy. Even if it looks as we're only "there" for 8 hours, there's so much more time involved sitting behind a computer, creating slideshows, albums, web ready photos, print ready photos, cards and all sorts of things. Factor all that together with the rising costs of gas and insurance costs, equipment maintenance, and the prices at times actually seem low. Some clients know this, some don't, and more, some don't care.
I think the majority of wedding photographers I know are by and large not doing this because they think they'll be getting rich off it. Most are happy to be able to make a living off of something they love to do. But nowadays there are tons who think it's easy work and just jump into it thinking they can make some good money at it. They care more about how much they can make than they care about their clients. They won't be in it for long though with that attitude.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.