Expert: Don Wood - 2/14/2003

Question
Good morning!
i have a few questions....
1.  For selling stock photography, where can i find the information to make my own marketing list?  i have found books with thousands of names, but how can i do it myself?

2.  We live in a small town, the closest photographers are 2 to 3 hours away.  i would like to do weddings, sporting events and group events.  Any suggestions how to do this without much experience?  Any tips?  Also, starting out without my own darkroom, is that a doable idea?  We have a "one hour photo" here in town.  A retired military photographer.  They will work with me with developing prices and enlargements as long as i let people know where they were developed.  Does that sound reasonable?

3.  I want to build my own dark room.  What would you suggest as a starting point?  i would like to do both color and black and white.

Thank you for your time and for sharing your experience!

Shannon

Answer
1. I would suggest trying to find an agent to help you. It will cost a percentage of each sale but he will be doing what he does best and that is selling. The downside of this is that you would be investing a lot of money in building up his inventory of saleable images. Perhaps if you entered a search in Google for stock photography it would give you the information you need to enter this field. This would definitely be a part-time weekend/evening proposition with you working a day job to provide the income to live on.
2. I too live in a small town. It is difficult to establish a studio for weddings, sports, groups, word of mouth advertising is the best way. Don't expect to just jump in and immediately have all the work you want or can handle. Read books, study photos, magazines, art galleries, photo galleries, with an eye to how you would reproduce that particular picture. Develop your eye for the photographic moment when all the elements come together and you snap the shutter.
Sounds as if the retired photographer is willing to help you, take his advice but realize that he is in the business to make a profit for himself, if you make a profit also that is a plus, if you advertise for him (what he's asking you to do) remember that people will judge you on what the pix look like. If they are just like what they themselves can get because they used him, you will have a hard time justifying your prices when they know what his prices are. They will say that you are making too much money for what they can get by doing their own work. There are 100's of labs out there that you can mail work to, their turn-around time may be slower than his time but your customers will receive the benefits of having their pix on different sorts of paper, matte or silk as opposed to glossy. Remember in your pricing policies that it is not just the cost of the print at the lab that determines your price. You will have to factor in the cost of the film, the time you spend shooting, the mileage you pile up to get to the job, your attire, the condition of your transportation, your rent, the cost of the bookkeeping, etc. As you can tell, there are many expenses to consider, the major expense will be the waiting period between jobs. I estimate I spend 90% of the time waiting for the jobs to come, 5% waiting for the processing to come back and then working the order up, billing etc. The other 5% is spent worrying about making the money to pay my bills. In my free time I'm continuing to develop my shooting eye and instincts. This is a job in which you need an understanding significant other that can provide your day-to-day living expenses while you're developing your business.
3. This is an interesting paradox nowadays. In the beginning you will find that the chemicals will degrade, paper will go beyond expiration date for optimum color, because you only have a limited amount of clients. Let the lab worry about this. You will find that the demands for a b/w lab are very limited. I have been in my lab only about 5 times in the past 5 years. 35 years ago it was approximately 50-50 as for as usage of b/w prints. They are primarily used as large prints to put on walls, etc. However, you will find that when you develop your own prints, you will improve your shooting because you know when you've screwed up and don't expect the lab to do what can't be done to save your prints.
You may want to consider going digital. If that is the case, you must equip yourself with the best digital equipment you can afford, the best printer you can afford, the best scanner and software. This would eliminate your one hour lab man.
In short, you have quite a few decisions to make and stew over, take your time in deciding. Photography as a hobby with an occasional photo job for which you charge can be as satisfying. Until your budding studio can get to the stage where it is self-supporting, and can support you and your life-style, be a weekend shooter, weeknight shooter, and don't quit your day job until you find yourself having to turn down assignments because of the time constraints you have.
Good luck, keep in touch, if I can help further, please ask.
Don