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I went and looked at your work and I don't think you're necessarily selling the need for people to use "Pro" gear very well. I'm not trying to be harsh here c

I went and looked at your work and I don't think you're necessarily selling the need for people to use "Pro" gear very well. I'm not trying to be harsh here cause you're just doing the same thing as so many photographers. There's no barrier at all to being a "Pro" these days, you just buy a camera and make a website/social accounts and hang your shingle out. It's basically a gig/freelance occupation at this point. You need pro gear for the types of shots you sell because there is an expectation you have the gear to "appear Pro" as opposed to a real need for this style of photo. Same thing with the idea that you need to take thousands of shots and cull them down with hours spent on the computer. If your reputation & people skills & marketing are strong enough this style of photo business can be done with a smartphone and with 10s or hundreds of shots per job as opposed to thousands and the business can be successful & more profitable. There's near 0 barrier to launching this style of photo business these days. If you have nothing else to show your serious you can show the customers that you put a lot of money into gear. I bet not that many of your sold photos are getting printed huge.. it's the standard work so many families buy and they put it in an album or throw some 8x10s up on the wall until they get bored.

AuryGlenz 6y ago
I don't think you've seen enough photographers if you think what I'm doing is average. You're right that the barrier to entry is low, but so is the skill level of those just starting out. In my experience most don't have the drive to improve themselves much either. They just putter along, and their family and friends feel like they need to use them and that's enough gigs to suit them until they bore of it. Make no mistake, if you gave my gear to someone that had little or no experience they wouldn't get the shots that I do. They would have no idea how to find good light, or in the absence of that use strobes or reflectors to create good light. Just posing people is a huge task. Some people are naturals, but most are far from it. Even if you know exactly how a person 'should' be posed, getting them to do it and be comfortable in front of the camera is tough. After that is editing and retouching. Most low tier photographers throw on a preset and call it a day, and wouldn't have the first clue how to do anything in Photoshop. I've had multiple couples that have done an engagement with me, and I later went to their house on their wedding day and they had several large prints up. Families have also ordered large prints of their shoots from me. Most of my work isn't particularly unique, but I'm in a rural area where I don't have the amount of potential customers where unique work would sell. My strobe lighting is unique though - very few photographers use anything more than a speedlight. That lets me pull off shots that other photographers could never do. If you ever see a photographer claim to be a "natural light photographer" that means they have no idea how to use any artificial light at all. They're literally using ignorance as a selling point, and it's not uncommon. One of the bad aspects of marketing in this job is that even bad photographers get lucky sometimes, which with enough shoots can equal an OK portfolio. There's also a disgusting trend of "workshops" where good photographers set up a shoot with lighting and paid models and photographers pay to take those photos for use in their portfolio. It's rare that I get asked to see a full wedding when someone is inquiring and it's by far the most important evidence of the skill of a wedding photographer. I'd put up my senior photography against the best in my state, and I've been hired by companies like Hormel to do photography even though they have an in house team.

AuryGlenz 6y ago

I don't think you've seen enough photographers if you think what I'm doing is average. You're right that the barrier to entry is low, but so is the skill level of those just starting out. In my experience most don't have the drive to improve themselves much either. They just putter along, and their family and friends feel like they need to use them and that's enough gigs to suit them until they bore of it. Make no mistake, if you gave my gear to someone that had little or no experience they wouldn't get the shots that I do. They would have no idea how to find good light, or in the absence of that use strobes or reflectors to create good light. Just posing people is a huge task. Some people are naturals, but most are far from it. Even if you know exactly how a person 'should' be posed, getting them to do it and be comfortable in front of the camera is tough. After that is editing and retouching. Most low tier photographers throw on a preset and call it a day, and wouldn't have the first clue how to do anything in Photoshop. I've had multiple couples that have done an engagement with me, and I later went to their house on their wedding day and they had several large prints up. Families have also ordered large prints of their shoots from me. Most of my work isn't particularly unique, but I'm in a rural area where I don't have the amount of potential customers where unique work would sell. My strobe lighting is unique though - very few photographers use anything more than a speedlight. That lets me pull off shots that other photographers could never do. If you ever see a photographer claim to be a "natural light photographer" that means they have no idea how to use any artificial light at all. They're literally using ignorance as a selling point, and it's not uncommon. One of the bad aspects of marketing in this job is that even bad photographers get lucky sometimes, which with enough shoots can equal an OK portfolio. There's also a disgusting trend of "workshops" where good photographers set up a shoot with lighting and paid models and photographers pay to take those photos for use in their portfolio. It's rare that I get asked to see a full wedding when someone is inquiring and it's by far the most important evidence of the skill of a wedding photographer. I'd put up my senior photography against the best in my state, and I've been hired by companies like Hormel to do photography even though they have an in house team.