Who are your customers? Is this changing?

[mokka]

I thought we could openly discuss here who the majority of our customers for paid commissions, stock photographs (if you know), art prints etc. are. And which areas of photography are experiencing growth and which are in decline.

I haven't been a commercial enterprise for very long, but I have been in the photography game for longer, long enough to see how the digital age, cheap technology and the internet have changed the rules of the game.

It seems that some areas which used to be big money-spinners for photographers are in decline as people aren't that demanding of quality and would rather not pay for a professional now that they can afford the equipment themselves. I used to work for an architecture firm, and not that long ago these firms and property developers were big users of photographers to take promotional shots for brochures and the like, but now nearly all of this is done in-house by an assistant with a point-and-shoot. Sure the quality of most of the photography isn't as good but they would rather have this for free than pay for quality. A friend of mine used to do a lot of photography for hotels for travel brochures, paid for by the package tour operators. It's dried up for him a lot now, though surprisingly only in this last few years, even as late as 2005 they were still preferring to pay for his travel and accommodation as well as his fees to fly out to the Mediterranean, as opposed to having the holiday rep go out with a Canon Ixus.

I'm sure things like weddings will always be a steady earner as people know they are going to have to fork out the money for a professional, having a friend, even one with an SLR who does a lot of casual photography, is seen as too big a risk for most couples. Fashion seems to be pretty steady too.

What about growth areas? Does anyone feel they're getting more business than ever in certain fields.

[lonni]

We are seeing a trend in small buisinesses wanting some pro shots for their brochures, web sites etc. The main ones are B&B's and people who make things like jewelery. In their opinion fancy pro shots will make their product look better and give their business image a boost.

Yes every one is a photographer these days and people dont want to pay for something they think they can do them selves, but we found that educating people get us the business. We point out the difference in quality and have a good set of visuals. The same images printed by soem local retail outlets, a home printer and then ours. The product speaks for its self.

This might piss some people off but i have honestly found that the good photographers havent had a real drop in business cause customers know they cant get the same results them selves. I live in a smallish town, only 30,000 people and we have 20 photographer listed in the yellow pages, half of them are having trouble, half are making a living, and 1 or 2 are turning people away they are that busy. The half in trouble are what i call auto shooters, never get out of auto.

Photography is just like any business, trends shift, new products come out and we just have to figure out what our customer wants and give it to them.

We are in australia where we dont have senior shots, but the last 2 years we have had a big rise in graduation shots, and what i would call vanity shoots. Vanity shoots are young people, generally 18 to 24, who get the glamour style, top modle style shoot, they generally coem in groups, are mostky female and gay men. The shoot takes up a big chumk of the day, they have individual and group shots several changes of clothes and location.

I saw a local photographer do a package for $600 per head, minimum booking 6 maximum 10 in the group. Included was Drinks and nibbles, a limo for transport, a make up and hair artist and 3 locations. Each person got 20 low res web images on a disk, 2 x enlargements and 10 normal size prints.

I though this was a fantastic idea, maybe soem one can use it.

[mokka]

Thanks for responding, I expected people would be like 'this is commercially sensitive information and you have a cheek to ask about it'.

Before I had to cancel my plans to go to the USA for a few months I had been advertising for Photoshop tutorials and Photo walking tours of my city and was finding that I got a few responses, unfortunately my ever-changing location meant that if the respondents weren't able to meet me within a few weeks I had to let them know that I wouldn't be available.