Page 32 - NyghtVision Magazine Volume 3 #2

I didn't know what to say. At first I thought Falcon: Well even if it sounds like a lot to you,
I might point out that a Rebel isn't a pro cam- it isn't. Especially when you look at what it costs
era—but that seemed, I don't know, pointless. to do business. Remember, roughly 25% has to
And besides, I didn't want to hurt her feelings. be put aside for taxes. So, now we are down to
Francois: Hard to react to that. What did you about $18.75/hour. On top of this, we have to
end up saying to her? factor in the wear and tear on our gear. Our
Falcon: Nothing. Nothing at all. No matter camera bodies cost $6500. Our lenses average
what I might have said, I would have only end- $1600 each. We recently had one of our lenses
ed up hurting her feelings or sounding like a die on us—a Canon 24-105mm L Series lens at
snob. Neither was a good option. It was she that. Best case scenario, we’ll pay around $600
who had really said it all: If you buy a cam- to repair it. If that’s not an option, we’re looking
era that lets you change lenses, well, it must be at a replacement cost of $1200.
what the pros use. Every time we press the shutter and create an
Francois: So, how does this apply to your ex- image, the camera is one image closer to wear-
perience at WPPI? ing out. On average, we try to get four years out
Falcon: As one person said to me, "Photog- of a camera body. That means we have to be
raphers who do weddings fall into one of two saving about $150 per month per camera body.
camps. They either make a ton of money or Add to this the cost associated with software
they starve to death." Well, these days most and computer upgrades and replacement, and
starve to death, and the idea that there is mon- even before anyone gets paid, there’s not much
ey to be made easily and quickly in the wed- of that hourly rate left.
ding industry is beginning to die as well. So, take the $18.75 per hour from that wed-
A few years ago, Peter Atherton gave a lec- ding and deduct about $12 per hour for equip-
ture at WPPI on the topic of photographing ment costs. Now we are down to $6.75 per hour.
weddings as a business. When he asked one Would you work for eight hours under high
photographer how many weddings he’d done pressure and with the liability that is inherent
the previous year, the man’s answer was sixty. for $6.75? That’s less than minimum wage.
When Peter asked him if he had made money, Francois: No. I have seen you and JD work a
the man answered that he hadn't. wedding. I can't imagine the stress of managing
"So what will you do to fix that?" Peter asked. all the things that can go wrong and needing to
"Shoot eighty this year," the man replied. react almost instantaneously to changing situa-
Francois: If you can’t make money shoot- tions seamlessly. Absolutely not.
ing sixty weddings, then why would shooting Falcon: Believe me, it takes its toll.
eighty weddings fix that? Francois: So, how did the wedding industry
Falcon: It doesn't. And that's the problem. The get into this mess?
sheer economics of the problem are stagger- Falcon: It’s not just the wedding business
ing. Recently, I did a wedding. I worked eight that’s in trouble, the portrait end of the industry
hours, created nearly seven hundred photos, isn't much better off. With stores such as Sears
spent forty hours post-processing, spent an- and Walmart holding down the low end of the
other eight hours creating the web galleries market and Olin Mills controlling market share
and four more hours uploading and verifying at the higher end, the price points are so low
that everything was working. Do the math. Di- that few independent photographers can match
vide $1500 by 60 hours. them and make money. The portrait business
Francois: Let me see… that's about $25 per has essentially been decimated as well.
hour. A lot of people would say that that isn't a Francois: Who is making money right now?
bad hourly rate. Falcon: Unless you are Canon or perhaps

32 | INTERVIEW: FALCON ON WPPI