Yesterday I posted Part One, The End Of Portrait Photography. Today we continue examining why the end of portrait photography is near. Just for fun I asked my twenty year old daughter today how she would describe a professional photograph. Her answer: “What does that even mean?” That is my point. We have done a lousy job in explaining what the term professional photography is.
Is a professional photography a picture that is taken with professional equipment, or by a professional person (with the 10,000 hours), or by a professional studio or company, or by professional software? She had a quizzical look on her face and now – so do I!
The term professional photographer has become in fact a little fuzzy.
But let’s look at the facts.
Does the quality of the portrait image really matter anymore? Does your new client care if it is technically perfect? Or is this scenario more likely: they want it, they want it fast, and cheap or better FREE. All it has to be is GOOD ENOUGH. Here is why. Your new buyer just doesn’t care. For them digital content it is disposable content. It has lost its value.
They don’t sit with printed black and white photos on their laps for hours like my mother reminiscing about the good old days. They don’t know the quality difference because there is an app to fix that. Your current buyers don’t use photography to recreate a certain type of feeling that my generation remembers. It doesn’t exist, that’s why. They care about on whether or not it is cool, does get a point across fast, is interesting, or exciting. Perhaps they care if it makes their mom happy but other than that – if you are a portrait photographer you need to re-examine your business model.
As computer sales have stagnated but smart phones and tablets continue to explode that for certain types of photography especially portrait photography a new and very gloom area has arrived. If 20-year old Gina can take pictures with her smart phone, manipulate, and post them online and skater Alex can film a video and post it online why in the world would they pay you?
You will not be able to tell a 23-year old iPhone 5 user who grew up on this highly filtered, overexposed, and manipulating technology that the images they take are not exciting. They love it. And their peers tell them sometimes with thousands of likes that they agree. You cannot argue with that. And frankly some of the work I see that comes from amateurs blows my mind. A lot of it is actually really good and it feels current.
The perfection of good portrait photography is reserved for your more established clientele and they too, are pushing the posed images to the back of the piano and adding their special occasion gifts namely digital rapidly changing frames to the forefront.
What should you do if you have a nagging suspicion that this is you?
You need to rethink your genre and business model. If what I believe is true (and I am pretty certain it is) you have to adjust your business to the changes. Either you have to brand yourself for a particular generation and assist in the preservation of an area, or you move into one of the areas of photography where you can still prove the value.
Can and should you add retouching and image preservation like client and Photography Business Intensive graduate Walter Psotka in Canada? Should you add Wordpress site development like Michael as an add on service?
The rule of thumb in business is simple. If you used to make a lot of money with it but now you are not anymore – something needs to be adjusted. If you love it and after the start-up phase (three years roughly) it is not breaking even or loving you back – it needs to be adjusted.
Blaming progress is pointless. Once consumer behavior changes it is done and it will not revert. So add on additional services or market more specific to a particular type of generation or customer type. Market the business portrait only to business people. Market dating images to singles. Market family portraits to Baby Boomers. Create more specialized and more targeted campaigns to a particular group. Find out where your potential customers hang out in that group and offer them ONLY what is interesting to them. The CEO of a company who wants to hire you for a business portrait doesn’t need to see happy babies crawling on the ice bear fur! A character actor doesn’t need to see a three generational portrait image. Segment and target. Be specific and matter again to your clients.
Let me know if you find these ideas helpful for your portrait business.
Your coach
Beate
P.S. You did sign up for the bootcamp yes? https://beatechelette.com/bootcamp
My link wouldn’t past in your Website box???
http://www.moskovita-photography.com
Anyways, your article touched on why I got out of the wedding/portrait business when my Dad retired in 1997. I saw the handwriting on the wall when the digital camera first started coming out.
Anyways, you say your daughter is 20? How can that be? You don’t look a day older than 30.
You are too kind Jack. That’s where a professional photographer comes in and (I admit) some retouching. 😀
You are absolutely right! You have put into articulate wording that which I’ve been saying for years, i.e. that as long as it sorta looks like Uncle Harry, it’s a “good enough” picture.
Fortunately (?) I’m nearing retirement (?) (I’ll be 70 next month) and doing predominantly commercial work, but everyone has a good cheapie digital camera. And I’ve seen some 16x20s hanging on their walls, and they’re damn good. The others don’t care what their images look like as long as they’re recognizable…and they’re only putting them on the web anyways. And even when they’re not!
SIGH… I think I’ll have another scotch right now…and maybe cry myself to sleep. (I AM kidding!)
Hi Neil, yes, it is indeed sad to see how things changed and very scary at the same time it is exciting because content creation is so popular. Which is a great thing especially as making art is often not even taught in schools anymore. You enjoy that scotch..
I believe portrait photographers and even studios need to go mobile and reduce their prices and go for volume. The days of $300-$600 photo sessions are drawing to a close. A backdrop set-up with 3 strobes can be assembled in about 20 minutes if you’re good. Here are your customers:
** Residential…offer 60 minute sessions. Create a photo party deal where 3 families have photos taken, offer a slight discount to all and give the host a free 8 x 10.
** Corporate…offer to “update” a company’s executive staff. Set up in a conference room. Charge a reasonable fee for the number of portraits.
** Beautiful homes photography. Offer to take “stunning” photos of large homes and mansions. Use film. Convert some to “oil painting” formats.
FOR STUDIOS
If your studio is not in a rich neighborhood or very close, you need to move. The wealthy will pay for quality as long as they don’t have to drive very far. Dust off your Hasselblad and offer “magazine quality” portraits images in your studio. Connect with the merchants in the area. Network and advertise in the publications the affluent read. Offer to do portraits in their homes, too.
These are some good ideas Dave, thank you for sharing. I am always glad to hear about tips that worked for your photography business.
Self-reinvention is necessary every few years.
Photography is democratized. It is now a universal language, accessible to anyone with a smartphone in hand. That means professional “photographers” must evolve and use their skills in different ways. It is no longer enough to be a specialist at still photography of some particular niche. We must morph ourselves into digital communicators.
Suddenly, writing, photography, music, video, and the Internet have all come together in a melting pot of communicative power and influence. If you can manipulate all these variables well, there is a place for you as a hybrid digital communicator.
Mom wants all her images on FaceBook, Flickr, Shutterfly, YouTube, Vimeo, or some other sharing site. So professionals will need to find ways to give her something THERE that she cannot get by doing it herself.
http://www.discovermirrorless.com offers some insights into this new (recycled) world of Hybrid Imaging. It’s a lot like the multi-image/multi-media world I lived in in the 1980s, but anyone can watch from anywhere.
Professionals who sit on their laurels (and other posterior parts) will be left behind in a state of despair and depression and neurosis. Don’t stay there! Use these new and glorious tools to your advantage.
Hello Beate,
Thank you for a stimulating article on the art and craft of portraiture photography.
Many of the points you raise are accurate for most of our profession. Unfortunately I have to agree with you that we have done a lousy job of educating the public and our profession on the art and craft of our profession. So few of photographers I know and have met have no vision about what they do or why they do it. They believe their view is the only view I don’t consider the clients’ needs or desires. My approach is a little different. My job was to figure out what I liked and then present it in a way that the client would not just want it, but have the desire to own it. I also needed to communicate clearly and well what it was that I wanted to do and why it would be a benefit to them to do.
Steve Jobs of Apple once said:
People really don’t know what they want until you show it to them. When they see it, then they desire to have that story about their life. It’s not the portraits per se, it’s the story the portrait tells. What it says about the subject, what is implied by the expression and how the receiver sees him or herself in that image. This is not an absolute, but I think it really comes close.
Some people say to give the customer what they want. But what does the customer know about portraiture, clothing, lighting, composition, expression and the art. You need to be the expert and if you’re not, they will tell you what to do. You can lose you vision before you get started. Then they take control and you’re at their mercy. I know I’ve been there and will be there again. It’s not a happy place to work.
I do somewhat disagree about your statement that you think the next generation is smarter. I do agree they are faster, furious and most definitely lazy. Smarter in what way, are their lives any better, richer fulfilled. I see the younger generation embracing superficial things and pretending they are real. Look at the entertainment network we have in America, reality shows that have no reality.
You raise the question what is a professional photographer. On this point I like to quote Angela Carson, her example or joke, . . What do you call a person that graduates from the top of his class in medical school, Dr. . . What you call a person who graduates from the bottom of his class in medical school, Dr.
So what does it take to become a professional photographer, absolutely nothing there is no qualification there’s no testing there’s no assurance that this individual can do what they say they can do. No qualification, . . And the public knows it. So who’s the expert if you have no qualifications and the client knows you have no qualification why should they trust you. Would you go to a doctor that works out of her car? Would you buy your clothing from someone on the corner? What you expect, customers to spend great amounts of money from a photographer who has no commercial location, no qualifications no credibility and little to no business experience.
My vision is and was to make my studio the best place to buy/own a portrait. I had to reinventing the portrait buying experience.
We need to change our point of view. We are not in the photography business. Yes we sell photographs, albums, frames and key chains. LOL
We were in the business of teaching people something new, making them feel good, and putting smiles on their faces.
This can be done by retraining ourselves to think differently I needed to train myself not to “sell portraits” but instead to make sure that everyone that walks out of our studio with a smile. The goal is to inform, engage, and excite people about what we do. The rest will come easier than you think.
How do you state your vision? I’m a family portrait photographer that helps people create personal treasures that enrich their lives. I use photography to create personal treasures that enrich people’s lives! We Enrich Lives!
So yes the portrait business is changing and in some ways dying. The portrait business is also expanding and thriving for those that can’t think beyond the old ways and learn to market sell and create personal treasures that enrich people’s lives.
Thanks for your time have a wonderful Christmas. God bless, he’s still in control!
Fabulous comments and thoughts. Thank you for sharing. I say to my clients that portrait and wedding photography is like operating a time machine. The images can transport you back at any given moment.
Hola!!! Very interesting article about the future of professional photographers. The new generation of consumers are looking exactly for instant gratification. Adapting to what is new is the key for success in any business. I believe all of this new tools technology is offering photographers should be embraced and used to find a new market and business model. Marketing by specific areas is a great idea . Also offering new services and finding new areas of photography such as underwater, aerial, etc.
Saludos from Cancun, Mexico!
Great article!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Love Cancun and your comments. Thank you for participating!
George…your comments are right on the money. Just like with the internet, relevance and content wins. A professional can make a mere “picture” relevant, by making it creative, unique and a true expression of what the subject is about. A camera phone in the hands of an amateur can’t do any of this. It’s the marketing and creating customer need that’s a challenge.. Creative photographic examples used in your advertising could be worth a thousand words, too.
Good portrait photography is not just taking a picture of a smiling face. Heck, any monkey with a point-and-shoot or camera phone can do that, as has been rightfully pointed out in this thread. No, good portrait photography is about drawing out the personality or “soul” of the subject for the viewer (or world) to see and contemplate. That takes skill beyond just the technical aspects of f-stop and shutter speed (although proficiency here is important, too) – it takes the ability to connect emotionally with the subject in order to understand the personality and capture its representation in the image.
The portrait factories are woefully unprepared or unable to invest the time or emotional capital required to successfully pull this off. Reliance on a “formula” breeds a sameness which is ultimately stifling. This is why no two of my portrait sessions are alike. The only common thread among my sessions is my treatment of them as the royalty they are.
There is always someone willing to do it cheaper – or for free (gasp!). It’s been my experience that those who do it cheaper simply don’t have the expertise to create a memorable portrait. One has to look no further than the masterful works of Yosef Karsh to realize that the average “portrait-shooter” who doesn’t have a clue cannot even come close.
Thank you Allen for the comment. What I want to know is what Yosef Karsh does that many portrait shooters don’t know how to do. Is there a formula we can learn from?
So tur. Digital revolution has turned all photography on its head. Quantity and immediacy trump quality and durability. It really started with Polaroids, which to our delight provided as poor an image as was marketable at the time. Now, instant images are omnipresent. And generally expected to be “free'”.
Case in point, I recently shot a high school formal at a local hotel, setting up a mini-studio in an adjacent conference room. For three solid hours I shot the teens coming in to pose, mug and ham it up for my camera. Afterwards I spent at least three times as many hors editing and adjust the images to make them sparkle even more. Added in several sepia treated photos to provide a vintage look. After uploading them to my website’s gallery where they could actually purchase prints (!), the kids proceeded help themselves to free frame grabs which were instantly posted on their Facebook pages. Although warned in advance that this would happen, it was still startling to see how many had the command of the technology to take my (“their”) portraits off the site for their own use. Only one parent wanted to buy a print. Although I was paid for the shoot, it was nonetheless an education in what the next generation of consumers are looking for. And let me tell you, it isn’t portrait photography that they can hang on their walls. I blame this development more on the pervasiveness of social media, which as corrupted the once discerning consumer into a drag net fisherman who cares only about how many and how quickly they can haul in their catch.
That’s why may main business is weddings and bar mitzvahs. At least there, the older generation are still paying the bills.
Norm, you hit it on the spot. Your key point is the pervasiveness of social which has corrupted the once discerning consumer. Great commentary. Thank you for your contribution.
Beate, Do you do photography, or have you had a photography business ???
I’ve have a photography degree, was a photo editor at Elle, launch my production and photography representation business, turned that into a stock photography syndication for celebrity homes and everything architectural, interior, and living well. Sold that to Corbis. Now I am a consultant and coach.
Karsh was a technician, but most of all, an artist. I think that aspect is lacking in your two blogs Beate. With all due respect, your analysis seems overly negative, can be applied to all kinds of photography, not just portraiture, and is a symptom that is affecting all media: publishing, music, news mediums, etc. We need to stop scrounging for the bottom and thinking that prices need to be lowered to compete, complaining about moms with cameras and newbies who will shoot for food and start realizing that the days of the photographer as technician may be over but our artistry cannot be taken away or even copied. Competing on price with mall photographers is not a winning strategy; it is a prescription for commoditization and is not sustainable without their volume. Yes, I agree that we need to target our marketing, but that doesn’t seem like a new idea to me. Its what advertisers do all the time. What we need to accept is that anyone can use a camera today, cameras are ubiquitous and basic post-processing is not magic any longer, but that your clients may pay you because you are an artist. You bring something totally unique to the table. Clearly, the pool of customers will be smaller now because you have basically ceded all of those who were hiring you in the past because you knew an f-stop from a bus stop. But the ones that hired you because they loved your art will still want you. Their channels may have changed, but there are channels. Music has survived the almost total death of the physical medium and the ability for anyone to create stuff that resembles music with software. Photography, as an art can as well.
Wasn’t black and white supposed to die long ago too?
Balderdash I say!
I was recently asked by a potential client what makes you different as a professional besides owning the better more professional equipment. I was being interviewed for a university symposium. I was also asked to cut my fee down by two thirds. I was told the university had several photographers on retainer and that they would shoot the event for $400.00. This was an 8 speaker panel and 5 hours of shooting. In order to get the job that I normally would have charged $1200 for- which I feel is very cheap given all the time in photoshop- I had to cut below the 400.00. My response was– I am the photographer- I am there for you 24/7 my job is to shoot your event and give you the best shots possible. They wanted me and I wanted the job, so I ended up bartering back in forth for a week. They were insistent and we ended up at a $350.00 rate-they get unlimited usage with my name on the images and their university name. I didn’t have to do a thing in photoshop-just put the images in Dropbox- Did I go to low? Maybe, if I hadn’t I would not have gotten the job. So, what do we do? Competition is fierce – shooters are cheap.
On a similar job a few months back I watched a photographer shoot an entire Chamber of Commerce event on her iPhone. Last month I got a call for a Bar Mitzvah- the client said “how cheap will you go?” It was a four day event with the last day shooting all the kids getting” Limo rides.” I live in a very wealthy community, even here they don’t want to pay. She called to say she found somebody really cheap. I have been shooting since 1984-I trained with the best in NYC in 80’s and 90’s. I hope to see the future turn the other way – just like the record industry is going Retro. I am older so I won’t be shooting commercially to much longer but I am watching the industry just to see how it is changing.
Thank you for sharing Gail. Ouch! That’s a rough story. How low will you go? Crazy. What do you do to tell them the value of your work?
Great article, Beate!
This is in response to Gail Fisher, among others, who ask themselves either publicly or privately, “How low will I go?”
For better or worse, I’ve decided I will no longer drop my price simply because a prospective client comes crying that their business is down, expenses are up, there’s lots of competition, etc. ad nauseam. If I bite, them I’m not only working for (far) less than I feel I deserve and need, but will forever be known as a discounter. Once you start competing on price, you’ve lost because there will ALWAYS be someone along who is cheaper. All you’ve accomplished is convincing your clients that photography is indeed a commodity, like bread, gas or you name it.
Photographers who have talent, experience and a measure of pride should not fall for this. Yes, we will lose some jobs. I’ve “lost” two bar mitzvah gigs last month because I wasn’t cheap enough. In my area, nobody produces quite the style of work I do. That’s just a simple truth. I’ve worked very hard and long to craft an artistic look that is my own, as much as I can make it. Fortunately, there are enough clients here who recognize my results and want to hire only me. Those who don’t, don’t. I’m not going to cry over it, as much as the additional income would be welcomed.
In short, Gail, when you allow yourself to provide your UNIQUE SERVICE at a price dictated by your client, you will both lose. They don’t get the benefit of your full attention during the shoot or in post production. Worse, you lose income not only now, but in the future. That’s how I see it.
We’re in a tough cycle for creative artists. The commodity suppliers will always get the low hanging fruit. Instead, try to build yourself a taller ladder.
Is That Really Great-GreatUncle Joe? I guess this discussion is about the kind of portraiture we see in studio windows along Main Street. Every now and then the studio owner includes one of those 1890’s portraits of Uncle Joe. We can confidently figure that the photograph of Joe shows us pretty accurately how he must’ve looked in 1890. Good ol’ Joe. This is in contrast to how we approach contemporary photo portraits. More about this below.
Regards the future for portrait photography: the crystal ball here at Pine Lake Farm says, ‘no’… portraiture isn’t going to disappear, here in the USA or in Germany. Don’t toss away your creative lighting tools. But you will need to invest in a tool that ends in …shop.
Generation “Y” folks, in 2062 are going to ask, WHAT’S REAL IN PORTRAITURE?
Will -vanity- airbrush our memories, too? Are overeager photographers taking the art of doctoring photos a little too far? Like add-ons to your computer or new car, the digital era has brought the capability to do “more” to photo portraits – almost “painting” a photo portrait to please the client, who’s happy then to pay a good price.
100 years from now, will our great-grandchildren be able to trust that the portrait of us shows us as we really are?
No, the business of portraiture will not go out of style, but with the culprit, photoshop, and its do-alikes, even amateurs can get proficient at doctoring pictures. We are going to see some entertaining portraits in the next century. Digital magic can take out wrinkles, slim you down, un-bald you, and in general make you look twenty years younger.
Are we to be victims of phoniness in a world of slim-down artists? Let’s face it, this issue has been around a long time. Abraham Lincoln wasn’t a pretty guy. Painters depicted him the way the public wished him to be.
The present is more important to us than the future.
Photojournalism of the ‘50’s established an “ethic” of “tampering not allowed” that is no longer viable today. Most ‘baby-boomers’ see photography as a way of depicting reality, with no tweaking. However, if photography is to be art, it has to be subject to the magic of imagination.
Photography in the 1880’s first tried to be ‘paintings,’ but then with perfection of cameras like the LEICA, evolved to documentation and photojournalism.
Photojournalism still remains (although somewhat bruised and battered) as “real” in the minds of most people who grew up in the 40’s to the 80’s. Photojournalism can be tweaked somewhat, but when it comes to portraiture there’s a different standard.
Before photography came to the fore in the 1800’s, we had drawing/art/painting, that knew none of the ‘reality’ limitations and constrictions that the photojournalism of the ‘50’s established. The portraits of George Washington, Henry the VIII, Louis the 16th – did those folks really look like that? The busts of Plato, Aristotle, or Socrates – were those real likenesses?
And to take it a step further, what would a portrait of Adolph look like (or the statue at the Reichstag) if the Nazis had won the war? Probably not much of a faithful likeness.
Ask the question: “Who’s paying for this portrait?” The son, daughter, wife, husband? The taxpayers, foundation director, the Democratic Party?
And what about instances such as school portraits – should the student be ‘helped’ to look his/her best? What if the child has a disfigurement, or a birthmark? What about teen-age zits? Where do we draw the line?
“Real” does not work when it comes to depicting people you love, or admire and hold up as hero. As long as portrait photographers have the license to make their subjects 150% better-looking than they really are, long lists of portrait photographers will remain in the Yellow Pages. –Rohn Engh