Why Are Some Photographers More Successful Than Others?

While at the WPPI Tradeshow in Las Vegas, I had the opportunity to speak with a lot of other photographers from all over the USA. Some were successful and others were not.

I noticed that the successful photographers all had a good outlook on life and the industry in general. Those that were not as successful had nothing but "doom and gloom" to say about the industry and their lives.

I had to wonder why some of these people were photographers. Really, would you hire someone who had a negative outlook on life? Would you like to have that person there at your wedding?

I had a long talk with one veteran photographer who complained to me about the difficulties he was having embracing the new software program called Lightroom from Adobe. He complained that it was too difficult to use and that anyone using it had to be crazy. I sat there listening to him complain about it all the while thinking that Lightroom had revolutionized my work this past year.

Then, the photographer told me how all these "new" photographers had entered into business and stole all of his clients. They charged less than he did and so his clients were leaving him and going to them. Again, I couldn't help but think that it wasn't just the pricing, but perhaps it was that they had picked up on his negative attitude.

After he was done complaining, he asked me what software I used in my post production photography work. So I told him... Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom. He was shocked. "You use that piece of crap?" I told him yes. "It's got to take you forever to work on your images!" he exclaimed. But I told him it had actually saved me days of work. He could not believe it.

Then he asked me if the new photographers who were cheaper than me were taking away my business. I told him, no. Those brides looking for a low price weren't my clientele. Again, he was shocked. He asked me how long I've been shooting. "Eighteen years." Total silence on his part. He was also a veteran who had been shooting about that long. Maybe it was too long for him...

I explained to him that my clients don't hire me based on my price. They hire me based on my personality and my outlook on how I will help them at their wedding. And I told him that I use software like Lightroom to speed up my work. He just had to invest in the time to learn how to use it. So I gave him some tips on how to do it and he was again amazed.

I hope I helped him in using that software. But even more than that, I hope he got the message that it's not what you charge or what you use for your work on computers or cameras... it's how people perceive you as a potential vendor that gets you hired.

Recently, I met with a potential client who happened to be the sister of one of my past clients. She was excited to show her fiance my work and for him to meet me. She was at the wedding when I shot it for her sister but her fiance was not because he had to be at another wedding in Las Vegas.

Well, when we met, I could tell that he wasn't really happy to be there. Actually, many grooms are the same way. The bride is excited, but the groom isn't. It showed too in this case.

But we went on and I made my presentation and asked the bride what she wanted for her photos. Slowly, I could tell the groom was beginning to loosen up and begin to enjoy being there. In the end, he admitted to me that he really had a bad attitude coming in and that he really didn't want to be there. I told him I could tell. Then he said something to me that I really appreciated.

He said, "You know, you really made me appreciate wedding photography. I didn't want to be here, but what you said and what you showed made me realize I was wrong. I'm really glad you are going to shoot our wedding."

Wow!

With that, he invited me to join them for dinner after our meeting. I thanked him, but told him that since it was a Sunday, I needed to get back home to be with my family.

So why do some photographers succeed where others fail? Is it because these photographer's work is better than the others? Sometimes, yes... their photos are better. But often, it's more that the client feels more comfortable with this photographer than his competiton. So they hire him.

Those are my clients. And that's why I'm still in business. They like my photos and albums, but they LOVE me.

Nice, huh? :)