Many industries are getting serious facelift thanks to affordable digital technology being put into consumer’s hands. Usually this means that businesses that used to make a killing aren’t making the massive dollars they used to. Today I received an e-mail that made me think the wedding photography industry is headed this way. A recent client (and the winners of the contest), Sarah Gengler, flew us up to Seattle for her wedding, paid for our cheapest package with digital negatives and then just made an album herself. She sent me the link to what she made and I was blown away!
Check it out HERE
I think it’s so cool that those who want to do so can make a wedding album exactly how they want it and save money by putting in the hours themselves. (Sarah said there was a LOT of hours into this one, but it shows) It’s a sort of photographer-client collaboration that been available at this level until now. As the photographer, it would seem self-defeating to tell you all this, but I think we’re going to see this happening more and more and more. Brides aren’t getting older or less tech-savy. And for me, it just means 1. People get EXACTLY what they want at the price they want and probably have fun in the process 2. I do less work, thereby charging less 3. But since there’s less work per wedding, I can increase the amount of weddings I take, meaning I just spend more time shooting, which I like better. So, I see no one loosing here.
There is one caveat: We can’t garuntee the quality of people’s self-designed albums, so for those who want security, they can pay us to do it for them, which makes sense, right? I don’t think that custom designed are going the way of the CD, but change is definitely afoot. Now, that said, sometimes the high cost of wedding albums is for a reason. We’re using a company called KISS wedding books right now and the cost just to make a book is really surprising, but the quality is amazing. Snapfish probably isn’t like that, but not everyone wants leather bound, flush-mount pages, right? So to each his own.
I think there’s going to be many more of these to show and I totally embrace this trend and hope it continues!
I was just thinking the same thing over the last couple of days. I do now also get clients who want to design their own and to that end I offer my images as part of the package after 12 months, or for a premium after two. That helps to protect my profit margins as the print sales and album won’t be included.
If the client wants to get creative, then by all means they can; this album by your client is a great example of someone with a great eye and talent for good design.
I also offer premium flush-mount albums that are a cut above the consumer offerings, but are of course substantially more. I make it known from the start that the ability for a consumer to go direct to one of these premium suppliers just isn’t possible, but do direct them towards a good printer. It now looks like Blurb offers a better service – worth a look.
At least here in Boston I’ve got most of my clients who are willing to pay for a great design and the premium album as it does take a lot of time and the consumer offerings are great but not outstanding.
That all said, I’m with you on the spending more time shooting rather than album design. It takes up a huge chunk of time and if the clients are interested in doing it themselves that is fine with me. I think there’s an opening for these premium album companies to open the gates to the clients via an approval with the photographer. That way everyone would get what they want.
Love the photos btw – I never did buy the 35 1.4, but still dreaming of it or possibly the 85 1.2 …