Economics 101 (or Don’t Blame the Freelancers)

This post is about technology and the professional photography business. It’s another long story. All figures are in Singapore dollars.

A few years ago, my friend told me a story about his family. His great grandfather and great granduncles were portrait photographers operating a photo studios in Singapore. During those times, they used glass plates coated with hand applied photosensitive chemicals instead of negatives. The glass plates were technically the most superior technology at that time. In fact, the 8inch x 10inch glass plate will produce a black & white picture that *beats* a $30k 22megapixel digital camera in terms of resolution and tonal quality.

When his great granduncles retired, the next generation decided not to continue the business because of the advent of new technology, the 35mm camera.

He told me that the 35mm camera killed the portrait studio business. The 35mm cameras were small, simpler to use and had 36 shots per roll of film. The glass plate cameras were big and heavy and mostly confined to the studios. And you get only a few shots from the photographer. The quality of the prints produced from the 35mm comparison would have paled in comparison to the 8×10 plates but the clients didn’t care, they either couldn’t see the difference and/or it was way cheaper to buy a 35mm camera and take their own snaps.

This happened in the 1930s.

In the last few years, I have met up with “chian peis” (seniors) that I got to know in the 90s. They were mostly events and corporate shooters and they were netting anything from $5k to $8k a month just doing events and corporate shoots. In the last 3 to 4 years, a number of them have left the business altogether and nearly all of them have noted that business was severely affected by freelancers offering lower prices.

At the end of 2002, a major slide processing lab in town closed down. The lab handled a great deal of slide processing from photographers, both professional and amateur. It was a shock as they were about the most prominent slide processing folks in the business. I asked one of the ex-staff about the closure and she said, “A lot of you guys went digital, that’s why.”

Drawing comparisons
If we take a close look at digital and film SLRs, there isn’t really much of a big difference. The basics like aperture & shutter settings are there, in fact they look and work about the same. The CMOS or CCD works like film.

The killer application is the LCD instant preview. Why? With that, you can:

1. Flatten the photography learning curve. I am basing this on the fact that it takes a minimum of 4 hours to drop off and collect the slide film at the processing lab vs instantly reviewing the shots in seconds. Any mistake can be instantly reviewed and be corrected on the spot. Lessons learned are reinforced immediately.

2. Increase accuracy for shoots. Before the digital camera, only an experienced event/wedding day photographer guarantee good shots. The training would have taken at least 6 to 18 months before reaching competency. Even then, the number of perfect shots would be in the 80%-90% range. In commercial shoots, polaroid backs on medium format were used and we had to wait 90secs before viewing the polaroid. It was an eternity waiting for the image to form. This meant that polaroids were restricted to shoots where lighting and subjects could be controlled accurately. With digital SLRs, almost any type of photo shoot can be perfect.

Folks realized that with a digital camera, photography wasn’t that difficult after all. They could learn and shoot like National Geographic, Tatler, FHM, etc. types of pictures with ease. And coupled with mutual exchange of information in photo forums on the Internet, photography exploded.

Looking at the 1930s, the smaller and simple-to-use 35mm camera smoothened the photography learning curve and increased accuracy by being 36 times more forgiving than the 8×10inch camera.

In short, the professional photography situation in 1930s = 2000s.

Freelancers & Professionals
When the Canon 10D (and its Nikon equivalent) came in with a great price at 6mp, it was the back breaker for film SLRs and medium format. If properly exposed and processed, the 6mp was better than 35mm film and came close to medium format quality (at least in the eyes of the client). The cost of entry into the realm of paying photography was within finally within reach. A semi professional setup of 2 lenses + body + flash would be totally unavoidable.

Due to the drop in photography fees (especially in the events sector), a large percentage of professional photographers could not match the new fees and had to leave the business OR find a new photography niche. Their clients either went with a cheaper photographer or bought a digital camera themselves. This means that the clients either wanted to save money and/or couldn’t see the difference in the quality of the images.

In summary, don’t blame the freelancers, blame Economics 101.

Next Phase
Technology is inevitable, it is an undeniable truth. It’s been happening since the day photography was born and technology will continue to evolve. But this time, moving from film to digital, it wasn’t evolution, it was a quantum leap. And with IT bringing a convergence of 3d art, video and still photography, the business will continue to be reshaped. 2 examples:

Red One – A 12MP digital video camera that records 60fps in RAW.

Maya – Try the ‘Is it Fake or Foto‘ demo. Take special note of the car photo. Try to see if a non-photographer can tell if it’s fake. Some 3D artists are so good that photo-realistic car and interior renderings are possible now.

Right now, the technology for Red One and Maya are still either expensive or complex. But like all tech, they will get cheaper and simpler to use. It’s just a matter of time.

So how like dat?
There are a few ways, most folks will mix and match options 1, 2 & 3. (Please note that this list is no exhaustive, please email me if you have any more ideas).

1. Ride the tech wave – This means that the business primarily uses technology as leverage. I’ve heard of some photography companies using wifi equipped cameras + on-demand printing for shooting corporate dinners. It’s a great idea and apparently only a few business are doing it, so they must be getting more business and/or charging more for service or instant prints. As we have mentioned earlier, technology will get cheaper and/or less complex eventually (6 months to 1.5 years) so the businesses will either have to find new technology to supplant or drop their prices to match new comers. Needless to say, investment capital is high for this type of business.

2. Become a writer/web-design/3d/video/still photographer – There are a few obvious plus points for this options, by offering a myriad of complimentary services, it will be possible to get work coming from different areas so income might be more stable. Also, the business is buffered against fluctuations in the various industries. The biggest issue is that it’s very difficult to become very good at one thing because there isn’t enough time to learn everything well. Also, some prospective clients might find the ‘branding’ a bit confusing.

3. Make your business tech independent – In this type of photo business, a combination of photography skills + PR/marketing + good price point can be found at its core. Technology plays a minor part so capital investment might be lower for the long term. I’ll be brief in the explanations.

Photography skills is defined as the style and/or technical prowess of the photographer. If the photographer has a unique (and salable) style, clients will come a knocking. As for PR, how the photographer relates or deals with the clients is very important, it might make or break a deal especially if the client has a alternative photographer with roughly the same skill set. I am sure that you’ve heard this before, a 1st class photographer with 2nd class marketing will never go as far as a 2nd class photographer with 1st class marketing. Btw, PR also includes everything about what your client sees about you, this includes your diction, delivery on time, great name cards, letter heads, dress sense, body odor, etc. Everything.

Getting to a good price point is not just about how much you think you’re worth, it’s also knowing how much your clients think you are worth. Err in either way and you might be in for trouble with overwork (don’t laugh, this is an issue too) or not having enough work.

4. Go freelance/hobbyist – If you love photography but hate the pressure of maintaining a photography business for various reasons, go freelance. Most freelancers/hobbyists I have met are truly the happiest folks in photography. They can shoot anything, anytime, any price they like. They have the option of walking away if they don’t like the shoot/model/client/etc. They take photography at their own time and pace and they don’t have to justify expenditure to anyone (except the spouse). I know a nice gentlemen who shot for a school free-of-charge for many years just because he enjoyed photography. So if you aren’t really sure about professional photography being a good career choice, go freelance, attend courses & fun photo-shoots organized by clubs and stick to the day job.

Wes