Comments on: Why Being a Wedding Photographer is the Best Job in the World

By: Kyle Sanders

Kyle Sanders — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 02:24:00 +0000

Patrick – that was a great read, and you make some very valid points. I am amazed when I see people advertising video work for $250 – but the kinds of clients I deal with at my agency would not even blink at a five figure invoice.

By: Tanner Wendell Stewart

Tanner Wendell Stewart — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 04:18:00 +0000

traveling is almost enough to make it for me… Then you add the moments, the awesome food, the story telling, its the best

By: Patrick Hall

Patrick Hall — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 23:47:00 +0000

Oh I don’t think a saturation in cheap photographers has hurt the market at all. Infact I think it has helped. If you choose to price a full day’s worth of work at $250 then that doesn’t affect me at all….my clients are going to use the full budget they have for photography and not a penny less. This is a crucial read if you haven’t read it already: http://fstoppers.com/why-bad-wedding-photographers-have-made-the-industry-better

By: Janelle Rodriguez

Janelle Rodriguez — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:32:00 +0000

Absolutely love this post! And I was in the same boat this past holiday season. Being a wedding photographer allowed me to travel several hours to visit my father in the hospital. We are so lucky to manage our own time.

By: Kathrin Stahl

Kathrin Stahl — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:38:00 +0000

Yes, David, I do agree with every single word you say. Being a wedding photographer IS a dream job. It’s absolutely wonderful being able to decide on ones own schedule, being able to spend time with the family, being able to catch all the beautifil moments of a wedding day. But what reallyreally makes me happy about this job is the tears in the eyes of a bride when she and her husband get to see their pictures for the first time.

By: Kyle Sanders

Kyle Sanders — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:30:00 +0000

That’s exactly my curiosity! In progressive towns like Austin Texas (and NYC, I presume) pretty much everyone with a DSLR thinks they are a professional, and will do a wedding for $250 or a family portrait session for $50 including editing and DVD delivery of images. My point is not to bemoan the negative effects this has to the industry, but that it is obviously not a living.

In some ways, that is an appealing lifestyle as well; having a solid day job that keeps everything afloat, and a hobby that pays for itself. Of course, you don’t get a month off for the holidays!

By: Geoff Lister

Geoff Lister — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:10:00 +0000

I agree, it would be interesting, but it’s hard, as a good chunk of wedding photographers I know do other work as well, whether out of boredom or because they need the income.

And unfortunately, for every successful photographer there are three struggling to pay the rent and working other jobs. But if you make it, it’s a great world to be in.

By: Patrick Hall

Patrick Hall — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:46:00 +0000

I think it depends on the stage you are in with your career. When you are just getting started, you might work 60 hours a week and make $40,000 the first year. But as your career builds, you might make $100,000 a year and work 15 hours a week. Shooting a wedding might take 8 hours, then editing it and delivering it might take 6 hours. If you run a blog or spend a lot of time on other things then that can add up but if you’ve done the work up front it’s not unheard of that you could have a 20< hour work week with lots of free time. Obviously if you live in NYC then $100,000 might not be enough to live off of once taxes are taken and expenses are paid out. But in some places that might be a very luxurious lifestyle.

Unfortunately I think the graph would ultimately be pretty dismal. Something like 95% of all ideas are never started, 90% of new businesses fail in the first year, and 9/10 people won't push themselves to accomplish what the 1/10 people easily accomplish because they won't ever approach their plans with the work ethic needed to succeed. But that's not to say it's not worth being the 1/10 and becoming successful in something you enjoy. Just my random thoughts on the topic

By: Kyle Sanders

Kyle Sanders — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:35:00 +0000

I would be really curious to see an anonymized scatter graph of yearly salary and working hours of wedding photographers. There is a fantastic quote by rock climber Eric Beck that states “At either end of the social spectrum there lies a leisure class.” Not to say that wedding photographers are poor by any means, but as Lee said a few weeks ago, if you live by “I need $X to live” and setting your work to your living requirements, not your live to what 40-50hr/week work affords you.

By: Chuck Navarro

Chuck Navarro — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 17:37:00 +0000

I love being a turtle!!!! *Ahem* I mean wedding photographer! Seriously though when you get into doing the big weddings it becomes pretty fun. You meet some great people and get paid pretty good for it. Not to mention I get to pretty much make up my own schedule. :)