Today I want to analyze the future of the photo world. Things have changed a LOT in the past ten years. Will they change just as much in the next ten? Probably so. This is the digital age and things change nearly everyday, placing more interest on this ever evolving imaging world, and more pressure on our pocket books as we attempt to stay up to date.
Just ten years ago the scene was entirely different. High end computers were running under the 300mgz range, LCD displays were starting shape the scene, and a 1 megapixel camera would probably cost you over $1000.00. In another ten years we might have an industry of holographic images taking off, and defining a new generation of imaging, but chances are still good that a good old fashion photo hanging on the wall will still be in style. It may however be dealt with in a different way.
I remember not long ago when it was simply not accepted for a pro to shoot digital. It just wasn’t “good enough” There’s some who might say it still isn’t, but their a dying breed. From a business perspective digital can be taken different ways. There is certainly the argument that digital has made everyone a photographer, but it has also given us more ability than ever before, and a real pro can set himself apart.
One thing worth noting is the direction of distribution that our media is taking. The time of “I don’t give away negatives (or files) it’s my art and they gotta buy their prints from me” is on the way out, even though some would like to deny it. Customers want, no demand flexibility. They want pictures to email, to view online, to print at home, to take to a lab etc. Some photographers are against this like the music industry is against songs that simply work the way we want. Like the entertainment industry is now finding out, time will eventually force a change.
So will this changing world of photography put us out of business. Yes! For some of us that is. Change in a market demands change in a business. If I was a photographer and still did not offer digital files, still gave the client a watermarked proof book that forced them to order prints from me at ten times what they cost elsewhere, and had a fit every time someone else at a wedding started taking their own pictures, then I had better start digging my grave.
Photography is about service, and service is about meeting a customers needs. Does this mean that selling high end prints, or other products is bad and will never live on. No, prints are alive and well, and the digital age has brought and offering of printing and more that could never before be offered. Things like digitally printed books, slideshows, digital frames, and giant prints are at out fingertips. We can still keep innovating, and selling.
So what’s the bottom line? It’s not that in ten years no one will have pictures on their walls. It’s that we’re in a fast changing businesses. If you don’t like change you better find a new job because it going to happen. If you do like change, and new fresh ideas, then your in luck. If we adapt our offerings to give the customer what they want, and maybe even a few things that they didn’t know they wanted then we’ll keep moving forward.
I try to remind myself that if I hate being chiseled, most others do as well. Value does not mean cheap. It means the customer feels like they’re getting something that’s worth what their paying for it, rather than being taken for every thing you can squeeze out of them. Value is the opposite of that 2.00 fee your bank charged you last week when you used the ATM machine to take YOUR money out.
Time changes things, and will continue to do so. Just be ready to make the changes as they come at you and chances are you’ll be ready for whatever your business faces.
Gavin Seim
www.seimeffects.com
www.seimphotography.com
Great Question, fine art is in a state of flux right now due to the new avenues created by the digital camera. I recently came across a new publication called Carrie Leigh’s Nude Magazine which takes the art form to another level. because of the state of the art we are now living in she was able to produce a amazing high wuality publication that allows the viewer to visualy travel around the fine art world and experiance art as no one has ever done. I think the age of computers and digital photography are taking great steps forward but art is still art and will always be along as publications such Carrie’s and Galleries push the envelope.
Gavin-
I have said this before and I will say it again: I still think your view on distribution direction is off. Mainly, equating it to the music industry is also a bit off (again – just my opinion)… For example, stating the photogs should lean toward being flexible with giving away their negatives so that others will print them at their discretion, and combining it with the comment of the music industry… I personally think your comments almost border on “just accept what the public wants and give it to them”. Should it really be that easy? Should someone even say something like that so caulously? Let me ask everyone this: Does the music industry not mandate a that their media be selected, produced and distributed on quality media such as CDs or quality level MP3s? Would a music icons such as The Police, The Stones, Britney Spears, Fall Out Boy or Red Hot Chili Peppers be “satisfied” (excuse the Stones pun) with SONY distributing their music at something like 65kbps instead of full CD quality? No way. If I shoot the photos, I still think I am the one responsible for seeing to it that they are printed and distributed to the standards that I had when I took them along with the technical expertise, the equipment etc.
You say people want – no demand – things easy, flexible, – whatever is easiest on the customer??? What about the ART that you have produced? Why should I allow someone to print my work at home on their $129 Walmart printer onto $0.14 per sheet of extremely cheap photo paper, only to see that paper fade in the frame on the wall in less than 5 months. Then they can tell all of their family and friends that those are the “professional” photos that I, the photographer took. Not a chance.
My point is this…. If you are an image maker, then make images and hand them over on CD or DVD.
If you are truly a photographer, then you should beg, plead and DEMAND that you and only you do everything you can to control the Capture to Print process from start to finish. It is the difference between a being professional photographer and a guy asked to shoot a wedding who had money to buy a body, an expensive lens and a flash or two.
Just my opinion, but I think it is worth thinking about for many of us PHOTOGRAPHERS.
Otherwise, keep up the dialog and the great work on the show… I do enjoy it.
even though some would like to deny it. Customers want, no demand flexibility. They want pictures to email, to view online, to print at home, to take to a lab etc. Some photographers are against this like the music industry is against songs that simply work the way we want. Like the entertainment industry is now finding out, time will eventually force a change.
I agree! You have to control the rights to a pictue that you take. This is a creation of expression of ones work. If we give the pictue rights away then, they could alter the end results of one
s work. I take a lot of shots, but when they are given proofs to review I choose the one’s they see.
The rest get dumped!