Is the photography industry dying?
This is a genuine question we’ve received recently and have been asked for many many years. Lets chat about it…
“isn’t the market for photography shrinking and shrinking as digital cameras become so easy to use by anyone and the results achievable by amateurs become so much better?”
So, I want to write this as honestly as I can because I know this is a genuine worry for some people, but some of the things I have to say are going to sound harsh. The first part of my response is going to be… do you know understand what you do as a photographer?
You might say, “Yes, Hannah of course I understand what I do, I take nice pictures of people with their horses” Is that what you do??? Im here to shout at you…
“NO, THATS NOT WHAT YOU DO, YOU DO SOOOO MUCH MORE!”
OK, i’ve finished shouting. Let me tackle the question regarding phones and better digital cameras on the market.
If you give someone a nice oven, does this make them a chef? Even if they have all the ingredients? Even if they have the recipe? Nope.
Whats missing is the creativness, their own spin on the dish, adding something extra, taking something out, giving it a different flare, presenting the dish in a different way, using similar ingredients but upgrading them, the list goes on.
Now replace this with photography.
Thats my first point, my second point is, “what about you?”. Have you sat down and asked yourself what you bring to the table that no one else can. If I give you a horse, owner, location and styling do you think you would produce exactly the same images as me? Do you think you would choose the same backgrounds, styling, lighting, posing and then the moment to take the shot? No, of course you wouldnt it’s impossible to get the exact same results.
Before the shoot I have already prepared my client with styling for them and their horse, what the timeline looks like and found out all about the characters of them and their equine friends. When Im actually on the shoot I choose where we’re going to photograph the horse and owner, what outfits they will wear and how they wear it, what natural or artifical light Im adding or subtracting, what pose I put them in and then I choose the moment my shutter closes. If you turned up to a yard with a camera without ANY of the above what do you think the results would look like?
My clients love being in my hands, they feel cared for, they feel confident and when they see the results every single client says ” Ive never seen my yard like that” or “I would have never thought of doing that shot” No, thats because Im the expert not just a camera owner.
One final thought… theres way less of us that you imagine. Because we’re in the industry we feel like there are equine photographers popping up all over the place. I’m going to challenge you, go and ask 10 equestrians to name 5 equine portrait photographers. I bet they can’t! Do you know how small our competition is? How small our industry is? We are so lucky that we do such a unique and speciliased job.
So, I feel like I have written this loudly for everyone to hear me, even those filled with fear that the photography industry is dying, but believe me, its genuinely growing.
One of the reasons is that people are valuing photography and special moments on a whole new level. Now, when our attention spans are short, the experience of slowing down and being photographed with your horse or family is something hugely cherished.
Remember this is what you are bring to the table:
- The full, handheld, guided experience
- Finding the right locations at their yard
- Finding the perfect backgrounds
- Posing of horse and rider
- Styling of horse and rider
- Using the best available light or even adding artificial lighting
- Composition of the shot
- Technical know-how of your camera
- Choosing the right lens for the job
- Choosing the right time of day for the shoot
- Reading the horse and rider and when they need to move or change
- Editing of the shots
- Presenting the images
- Printing and framing of the images
- Taking care of all the above while the client just has a relaxed session
AND MORE!
If you have any other thoughts on this topic we’d love to hear from you, whizz us an email or ask us questions in the Equine Creative Community.
Love Hannah x
