"fotodave" said:
People have no concept or value of photography these days.
at the risk of going off-topic, this comment by dave is so true. ;
traditional professional photo studios are losing lots of business to the "i have a rebel, that makes me a professional" guy who advertises on craigslist that he will shoot your wedding and give you a disc full of jpegs all for the low price of $500 (disclaimer- if you are a relative or good friend of the couple getting married and want to do them a favor, i have no issue with that). ; while the job from a studio may cost 6-7 times that, what people don't realize
there is a value for the photographer(s)'s expertise, experience, knowledge, savvy, professionalism, and skill. ; i have shot close to 50 weddings over the past few years with a particular school and can attest that no two jobs are ever alike and none ever goes completely smoothly. ; this is where skills, savvy, experience, and training all kick in and it's the photographer's job to make the hiccups as invisible as possible. ; there is a value for that. ; i have learned that there is an intrinsic value to the price that someone pays; if you chage someone next to nothing for something, the buyer will think that said item is not worth anything. ; charging a reasonable price for a quality item shows that you are confident in your work and shows that you are saying your work has value. ; that said, there are a lot of things that are overpriced, overhyped garbage out there so you need to not fall into that trap either.
there is also a difference between a professionally printed photograph and the one that the kid at the local store printed in 20 seconds for you (paper quality, color correction, retouching, etc). ; there is a reason why a professionally shot, printed, and mounted 16x20 costs $200+ from the studio and not $7.99 from some kiosk that happened to be having a sale that day.
it's the same in all professions: ; lawyers, doctors, landscapers, etc. ; the good ones all charge more than the lower ones and still get the business because people are willing to pay more (most times) for quality. ;
the way a typical wedding day goes is this:
1200pm - muster at the studio, secure gear, equipment, game plan
100pm - 215pm - shoot at bride's house (dress, flowers, parents, bridesmaids, etc)
300pm - 400pm - wedding ceremony
400pm - 600pm - formals at church, other locations
600pm - 700pm - cocktail hour
700pm - 1100pm - reception
------------------------
11 hour day * 2 photographers = 22 man-hours at the shoot
after the shoot, you have a photoshot artist to review all of the pics, pull the duds, proof the keepers, then retouch the photos selected for the album and prints, and order the prints themselves. ; THEN you have another person actually build the album. ; there is a TON of work that goes into each event. ; there is a value for that and that needs to be respected.
