Stats from an annual survey conducted with over 300 professional wedding photographers have seemingly revealed that as little as 4% of their business time is spent taking photos. Pressing the shutter button is eclipsed by tasks such as emailing and organizing ahead of the big day, culling pictures, editing and retouching, as well as other business administration.
UK-based platform Your Perfect Wedding Photographer is responsible for the latest stats. It’s the fourth year that the site, which connects wedding photographers with potential couples who are looking to get married, has conducted their annual survey. They also produced some results detailing the camera brands photographers are currently using.
So, if only 4% of a wedding photographer’s time is devoted to taking photos, where is the rest of it spent? According to the survey, the majority is, perhaps unsurprisingly, spent on editing (55%). That’s right, most of our time is spent doing something the client doesn’t see, and people wonder why we charge the rates we do! Next up is business and admin at 18%, while culling comes in at 11%, and communication, such as emails to set up jobs at 7%.
Other interesting stats included pricing and the number of weddings the average photographer shot. The average was 28 a year (down one on the previous year), with full-day packages starting around £1,590 ($2,050). As for expenditure, the mean was £1,253 ($1,610) for advertising and marketing their business.
Canon and Nikon ruled the list of camera brands, weighing in at 40% and 31%, respectively. Sony followed, then Fuji.
It should be noted that the stats were compiled from a relatively small number of participants, but what do you make of it? Does it mirror your own personal experience?
If you’re intrigued to see more of the results they found, which includes facts and figures on inquiries versus bookings and online awards, you can do so over at the Your Perfect Wedding Photographer website.
Numbers seem off, on an 8 hour day people are spending another 160'ish hours on the backend?..
I agree. Certainly, a lot more time is spent viewing a computer monitor and the other stuff than the actual photo shoot, but running the numbers, it doesn't add up to just 4%.
4+55+18+11+7=95%