November 4, 2006
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Its a Saturday and No Weddings…YES!
Every once in a while I get a break from pulling out my back, straining my neck and legs and get to stay home and relax with my family.
Yes weddings are very stressful and take a lot of strength and energy just to get through the day. Not only do we only have one chance to capture these once in a lifetime moments, but we’re always on and at a seconds notice need to jump up and capture things as they unfold.
Clients have no idea how much work goes into creating, capturing and designing their photos and albums. All they see is, someone takes the picture, develops it and puts it in an album. I wish it was that easy. A typical wedding in the planning stages with a professional photographer takes about 40 hours of non stop labor. From the consultation, the engagement shoot, the wedding itself, then all of the uploading, retouching, color correction and album design work we have about forty hours into a single job, some even more. Then there are the costs involved. Since we are self-employied there is health and medical insurance, life insurance, business insurance, leases, new equipment and in our case we use 4 computers and with each year are always uploading and purchasing newer software into the thousands of dollars to help make our workflow easier.This is just the tip of the iceberg. Lets talk about advertising, the Internet, Bridal Shows, printing costs and the list goes on.
Yes, this is a great business, but its not one that we make a lot of money at. We do it because we love what we do. With that said, next time you are hiring someone for anything, be it a plumber, painter etc. just remember when you hear what the costs are, you’ll be able to understand things in a new light.
Comments (4)
forty hours ONLY???? i put in average seventy two hours per wedding!
:whocares: :sleepy: :wha: :jealous:
Hey Randy…that was an awesome post. For sure many do not understand the hours we spend not to mention the stress of doing a fantastic job under pressure. But we do love it dont we? We better!
I have to agree with Leland. We spend much more time than that. Album design is so time intensive because there are so many different ways of doing one! You have many years on us so you have alot of it down.
K
This is so true. There is a lot of time involved with being a photographer, but for those who are and really love their work, it is the best job in the world!
:goodjob: I’ve been a self employed stained glass artist for the last 27 years. Everything you said in your post applies to me too…but oh how I love my work :love: