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My World: What Happened to Our Headshots

Richard Rives

New member
We were doing quite a few headshots for business people. We would get them in and out with a CD-ROM in hand with images they liked within 30 minutes. We made it very convenient. But, where did everyone go? The phone doesn't ring anymore. We are the most reasonably prices portrait studio. Either businesses stopped hiring or they found another photographer with a lesser price.
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Where did everyone go? I would think that your customers probably went to facebook and linkedin. Do you offer that kind of service? Would it be viable to provide for that kind of service?

They key question is always what the customers do with the pictures. If they hand out the pictures in print, or hang them in the hall, they'll need a pro to do it. If they just need to post the pictures on the Net and need pictures which do not look "too professional", you are out of a job.

It is very much a regional think, BTW. Wedding photography is out of fashion in Europe and in the US, but last time I was in Malaysia, wedding photographers were doing very, very fine.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
We were doing quite a few headshots for business people. We would get them in and out with a CD-ROM in hand with images they liked within 30 minutes. We made it very convenient. But, where did everyone go? The phone doesn't ring anymore. We are the most reasonably prices portrait studio. Either businesses stopped hiring or they found another photographer with a lesser price.

Richard,

Welcome to OPF. Do you have a list of your previous clients. Why not offer a special shoot at low price with a family or group shot as a package if they answer a short questionnaire on their use of your images.

You really need to know your market and as Jerome points out, markets change and so one has to adapt and adopt new strategies. Some photographers have done very well. Alain Briot is a clever marketer and even sells marketing CD's, LOL! He has success with luxury cars and homes to prove it.

I'm not suggesting you become an internet personality, but this is a business of either pleasure and self-fulfillment or else competition in a complex changing landscape. Everyone has a camera in their phone that does a pretty good job and for a fe dollars, one can have excellent filters transform the snap to a likable picture.

Also check out "headshots" in a Google search in your neighborhood. Visit a few and see what they offer and how successful they are. Grab one of their fliers. It might even be worth going with a successful wedding, product, boudoir, event or corporate photographer to widen the scope of your work.

Have you worked in any of these areas and is photography your main occupation or a sideline/hobby?

Asher
 

Richard Rives

New member
After reading all the pros and cons stories, struggles and tribulations I have decided I need a vacation to get away from this for a while. I'll take some good shots of landscapes and come back with a renewed mind for photography.
 
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