For close to 10 years I have worked on the side shooting photos at weddings, parties and other events.  At times I have claimed to be a “professional” photographer, but was I really?  Are you a “professional” if people pay you for your services, or is there more to it?

I have been taking photos for more than half of my life.  I started in junior high back when our SLR cameras used film and I developed my own photos in a darkroom.  I learned to shoot with the venerable Pentax K1000 – still a great camera!  When I was in college working for the Texas Wesleyan Rambler the industry started changing and I ditched the darkroom and started using a digital camera.  While living in New Hampshire I bought my first DSLR a Canon 10D.  Since then I have owned a Canon 30D, 7D and my best digital camera ever the Canon 5D Mark II.

Over the years I can’t tell you how many weddings I have taken photos at.  I shot enough weddings where in the absence of a wedding coordinator I could keep the event moving and stage people to get the shots I needed.  Not tooting my own horn, but I was an efficient, reliable photographer.  My prices were well below the cost of other photographers that did the same work… and that should have been my first clue.

I first started realizing there was a problem when I was reading a blog that my friend Rich was writing about his adventures as a photographer.  A constant thread in his tales of professional photography and custom printing was being undercut by amateur photographers and big-box stores.  Rich is one of the smartest guys I know and re-invented himself as a photographer after years of creating databases and solving network issues for wireless providers.  He found a specialty market making spot-on reproductions of artwork for amazing artists in Arizona.  Many times artists and other clients would balk at the cost of his custom perfection when compared to the mass production prices of the big-box stores.

I know you’re curious, why did I stop being a “professional” photographer….?

A DSLR Does Not Make You a “Professional” Photographer

I’m guilty, like many, of getting a professional looking camera, making some money on a photo shoot, and thinking I am a “professional” photographer.  Could I snap a great pic?  You bet!  Did I know about composition, exposure and lighting?  I know more than most.  Did I use manual settings, off-camera lighting and special techniques? Absolutely!

So what’s the big deal? Being a professional photographer is more than having a camera and knowing how to use it.  Let’s look at a few things that a professional photographer should have.

Backups of everything – A true event photographer has a backup of every piece of equipment.  And not just an emergency backup, they have the real deal.  I thought I was doing well when I had my Canon 5D and a 30D as backup.  But my client was not going to get the best quality product if I had to switch from the 5D with L-series lenses to the 30D and standard lenses.  Having backups of all your equipment is expensive!  The 5D camera bodies run $1500 to $2500.  L-series lenses run from $800 up to around $3,000.  Basic speedlite flashes run $300 to $500.  Off-camera lighting and remote triggers can cost upwards of $1,000.  Then all the miscellaneous gear, tripods, filters and batteries can cost thousands of dollars themselves.  A camera kit for a true professional photographer can cost $10,000+ on the low-end.  And here’s the painful part of the new DSLR world, that expensive kit will be completely out of date every 2-3 years.

Sick photographers – What happens when the photographer you found on Craigslist or your friend who is snapping pics of your wedding winds up getting sick?  Do you think they have a backup?  Do they belong to a professional organization of photographers who will provide a backup to reliably capture one of the most important days of your life?  The vast majority of photographers today have no professional affiliations and therefore no options for a professional backup.  They carry no insurance on their business.  This is a danger to you and to them.  The photographer you hire for $500 to shoot your wedding isn’t getting paid enough to have memberships in some of the organizations that provide insurance and backup plans.  A photographer that doesn’t have business insurance is one failed memory card away from getting their pants sued off.

A quick aside, this post is geared more towards photographers who shoot weddings and big corporate events.  If you like to go out and shoot pics of kids at a park or families in the flowers, you don’t have to worry about what I am writing as much…you should still pay attention though.  Just make sure your friends or whoever is hiring you understands that you are an amateur photographer and that there are no guarantees.  Also recognize that the flood of amateur photographers charging $50 for an off-site shoot has made it near impossible for a professional photographer to meet the overhead of their dues, insurance and equipment.

Speaking of backups – In a world of digital images, some of the most important photos of our lives are sitting on a hard drive that is amazingly vulnerable to corruption.  One big lightning strike, one dropped laptop, or one hard drive that simply goes bad can eradicate thousands of images.  Heaven forbid your photographer’s house burns down or someone breaks in and steals everything that looks like its worth money.  Professional photographers have to pay for professional offsite backups.  Online storage prices have dropped dramatically over the past 5 years, but photo backups of each event carry a cost.  Archiving RAW photo files for clients gets expensive.  (By the way, if your photographer doesn’t shoot RAW files, they’re not a professional photographer.)

I have backups of my backups.  We have multiple external Lacie drives in our home holding terabytes of photos of our family and from my days of shooting weddings and other events.  All those photos are archived online with Phanfare.com, the site I like most for full-resolution backups.  I pay extra for the RAW files I have from weddings that are backed up on Phanfare.  As a person who is truly paranoid about photo archival, I subscribe to Phanfare’s DVD backup plan.  Each quarter they send me 2,3 sometimes as many as 6 DVDs filled with master copies of the new images and videos I have uploaded to their servers.  I then put those DVDs in the safe deposit box at the bank.  Where does your photographer keep images of your wedding?  I have had multiple clients come back to me years later asking for another disc of photos from their wedding because theirs got lost, damaged, etc.  A professional photographer will always have a copy of your images, unless otherwise stated in the contract.  (Oh yeah, professional photographers have contracts.)

I was ruining an industry…

Rich’s blog was the final lesson in something I had been figuring out over the years.  The rise of the amateur photographer has ruined the photography industry.  I wouldn’t even venture to guess how many professional photographers have had to close their businesses over the last 5 years or so.  Rich did an amazing job of learning a craft and starting a small business.  His blog provided a behind the scenes look into the world of professional photography that was fun at times but many times pointed out the frustrations of a professional in a flooded market.  Rich had to eventually shutdown his photography and custom printing business after years of trying to compete against the amateur photographer with no overhead and the big-box store with its volume pricing.  An old friend of his contacted him about a job back in the world of databases and networks where his skills are valued and recognized by all.

Somewhere along the way I finally realized that I was ruining an industry.  I know a good number of professional photographers and videographers who do amazing things.  They love their jobs but definitely feel the stress of being in an industry where people with a $700 camera are undercutting their livelihood.  I would not encourage anyone to go into the photography industry at this time.  If you join the fray of Craigslist photographers you won’t be able to afford the protections you need in the industry.  I couldn’t even imagine trying to start a professional photography business in this super competitive time.

For years I used the excuse of, “It’s a fun way to pay for an expensive hobby.”  My photo gigs did pay for an expensive hobby, and made some money along the way, but at what cost?  And at what risk to myself and my family?  I’ve hung up my “professional” camera strap and now just shoot for fun and because I love it!

Many will say, “What about the people who can’t afford a professional photographer?”  Well, dig deep my friends…you get what you pay for.  The average wedding package from a professional runs $1,500 to $3,500.  To be frank, there are only so many weekends in a year and a limited number of opportunities for a professional to make enough money to provide a quality product for a once in a lifetime event.  Coming up with $2,000+ for a wedding photographer may seem steep, but there are a lot more expenses than just the fancy cameras and lenses.  Remember, your friendly photographer might want to feed himself or his family too.  If a professional shot 30 weddings in a year at $2,000 each, their take home might be $1,000 per event after overhead expenses, salaries, taxes and production costs are deducted.  I don’t know too many people who can scratch by on $30,000 a year.  And realistically, their profit margin per event is probably closer to $500-600.

Not everyone will agree with this post.  I welcome your comments and thoughts in the comment section below.  As always, if this post has been interesting to you I would appreciate you using the share buttons below to share this via email, Facebook or Twitter.  If you enjoyed this post, consider joining the Dad is Learning Facebook page and following me on Twitter for daily updates and other interesting reads.

Goal Update

It’s been a few Mondays since I have given a goal update.  I continue to do well with cutting back on the Dr. Pepper.  I have a soda here and there but not the constant flow of high fructose corn syrup that I used to intake.  Walking and working on the treadmill desk also continues to go well.  I still look forward to getting into the office to step up and get creative.  Still no massive weight loss but I feel good and can keep up with our girls which is a big improvement.