State of the Industry

It is probably fair to say that photographers, as a group, are better able to handle the current downturn in the economy than many other professionals. Why? Because we have been going through dramatic changes in the industry for the better part of a decade and have learned how to adapt.

On the product side, the overall switch to digital is obvious. But digital in its broadest sense has also affected photographers producing work for publication as they have seen print publications decimated by the Internet. Long time wedding and portrait photographers have seen their businesses affected by the influx of newcomers who have entered the business because the bar—for cost of entry and ease of producing good photographs—has
been lowered.

Old-timers may reminisce about the good old days when it was far more challenging to be a successful pro photographer. The same also applied to writers, artists, actors, models and musicians—anyone producing individual works. The rewards for those who were at or near the top of their professions were greater than they are nowadays.

However, in the big scheme of things, what we are seeing is the democratization of these professions—where anyone can enter more easily. Naysayers will bemoan this fact, but it is something we have to live with. The saving grace: The best photographers will be the eventual winners, as always.

Market Trends
From a camera manufacturer’s point of view the recent growth in digital photography has been a boon. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many people who have dreamed of being pro photographers are taking the chance to become one as they are laid off and/or have to cut back on spending money for such things as expensive cars or second houses.

Donovan Janus, CEO of ExposureManager, supports this theory: “One of the side effects of the economy is that more people consider themselves professional photographers. Often their skills leave much to be desired but they are competition to other photographers nonetheless. The hard truth about event photography is that the quality of the photo and, even more importantly, making sure the customer knows where to find the photo(s) to order is secondary to there being a photo in the first place.”

Eliott Peck, Vice President & General Manager, Sales, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A., Inc., when asked how the turmoil in the economy is affecting the photo industry responded, “In the coming year we may not see the dynamic growth we have been seeing in recent years, but we can still be optimistic and expect to see the SLR market in the U.S. grow by five percent in 2009. To understand what is driving the market, it is important to remember that a total of just under 30 million point-and-shoot cameras were sold in 2008. The household penetration for point-and-shoots is at an all-time high now—around 80 percent—and the average consumer is a repeat buyer, on their second and third cameras. By contrast, the household penetration for digital SLRs is still less than 10 percent, which means that there’s a lot of room for this segment of the market to grow. What we continue to see is that many people are stepping up to SLR cameras because they want to be able to do more with photography.”

The same, relatively positive outlook seems to hold true for smaller companies as well. “We are not being hit hard like the automotive industry, housing issues, retail giants, etc.,” says Tony Corbell of Nik Software. “We are seeing photographers being more cautious about their buying decisions but they are still making purchases for products and services that they truly need for their businesses and that make sense.”

Fortunately people continue getting married during a recession. Perhaps more so as they postpone other dreams. It’s difficult to determine how much the economy is affecting demand for wedding photography as the influx of more wedding photographers is skewing things.

“Yes, the economy is in turmoil and people are tightening their belts,” says Mike Colón, a photographer in Southern California. “Fortunately for wedding photographers, we are in an industry that never stops. People are still getting married and good photography is something that most are not willing to compromise on. Does this mean you should just keep doing business as usual? Absolutely not! Now is the time to work harder than you have ever worked. Pound the pavement and make more connections. Answer your phone when it rings. Close the deal! Offer a higher level of service and personal attention. Shorten your turnaround times and exceed expectations. Create an experience for your clients that they will never forget!”

Fellow photographer Kevin Kubota echoes Colón’s sentiments: “When business is down for photographers, they tend to be more picky about their business expenditures. They need more convincing that the product or service they buy will contribute to their prosperity in a shorter amount of time. They want immediate results, whereas in the past I think they were more receptive to longer-term benefits from the products or training they purchased. This has shifted our focus when we share our product line with our photographer clients. We now emphasize more the immediate sales benefits to them and give them examples of how others have testified to increased sales as a result of using our products. On the flip side, a few photographers are doing better than ever and I think it has to do with two factors: 1) They are using the tough economy as a “wake-up call” to fine-tune and re-focus their businesses. They are educating themselves on business, marketing and relationship building, and making the necessary changes to their business models now. For many businesses, recessions are times of growth because we have to take a harder look at what we are doing right or wrong and make immediate changes.”
 
Likewise Craig Minielly of Craig’s Actions, another photographer/teacher/action maker like Kubota, says: “With my photography clients, while the order may be scaled back a bit, the prices have been constant and discounting has not been a discussed issue. With the Actions software, sales have actually increased as photographers are now taking the extra time to consider the value in the product as compared to others, and appreciate how it can better benefit their need for a more efficient and profitable operation.”

Tech Trends
When asked about trends in cameras, just about everyone we asked sees hybrid cameras that can shoot stills and video as the future.
“I see the use of high-definition video features on our SLRs becoming more popular in the next couple of years,” says Mike Colón. “Mixing video clips with our images set to music when done right can be mind-blowing! With the convenience of the iPhone and other handheld devices, I believe clients will be requesting digital products like slide shows and low-res images to share with friends online. I still think traditional prints and albums will have their place in our homes as art pieces. However the media in which we share our life is quickly changing to an all-digital world.”

But it’s not all about cameras. “The increasing ease of creating razor sharp, well exposed images has left many photographers hungering to create images with more feeling, more emotion,” say Sam Pardue (co-founder and CEO) and Craig Strong (co-founder and President) of Lensbaby. “The reaction to the perfection of the digital photo seems to be similar to the reaction that Impressionist painters had to the emergence of photography in the 19th century. Right now one trend we see is toward efforts to move beyond the technically perfect image with more personalized images created with alternative optics or with software tools in post processing.”

Andrew Flagg, Executive Director, Product Marketing, Olympus Imaging America, supports this thought: “If you had mentioned creativity a year ago, even I would have laughed at you. Today, even the most serious photographer is having fun with the in-camera Creative Features available in our newest DSLRs. Our competitors have already started to jump on the bandwagon. We love it, because ultimately, it’s good for photographers.”
Of course Adobe does not intend to lose out on these trends as many editing functions move in-camera. “Though desktop software will continue to be critical,” says Kevin Connor, VP of Product Management for Digital Imaging professional products at Adobe. “Web-based services will become increasingly important for self-promotion, collaboration and even for some level of professional photo editing. The democratization of creation and distribution tools will continue to put extra pressure on professional photographers to distinguish themselves in a crowded market. What we’re most excited about, though, are some of the technical breakthroughs on the horizon that may fundamentally change how we think about photography.

Research in computational photography has already influenced some of the features you see today in Adobe software and in some of the latest cameras, but we see a future where you’ll capture much more of the moment and have greater capabilities to manipulate what you’ve captured after the fact.”
The final word on future technology must surely go to Jon Sagud, Straight Shooter at RED Digital Camera. Prior to joining RED, Sagud was a video consultant for Canon; he has also been heavily involved in the retail side of the business, as his family owns a well known camera store in Southern California.

“There is no question, in my mind, that photography, in the traditional sense, is due for a revolution of great proportion,” says Sagud.

“Technology has provided dramatic changes in this last decade and I think we are only looking at the tip of the iceberg for what is to come. Advances in image processing, sophisticated capture tools that out-resolve film and challenge its dynamic range, and the blurring of the line between still and motion, will create a new generation of ‘image-capture’ or ‘moment-capture’ technologies. We are seeing, on a daily basis, photographers moving to video as Web-based content becomes more and more demanding. Ultra high-resolution sensors in the hundreds of megapixels will compete with retinal resolution and, with bursts of hundreds of frames per second, we’ll capture the ‘moment’ in a way that will challenge, forever, the concept of a single shutter release.” Sagud continues, “The layering and processing of multiple frames for HDR, best focus, best expression, low light and other parameters will provide images that photographers have only dreamed of. I think that it is very possible, even within the next few years, that the promise of stereo 3D photography will be realized. The beauty of this revolution is that it will still depend on the photographer’s eye, vision, technical knowledge and artistic expression. The art of photography will be enriched by these new technologies, as new doors for creativity and exploration are opened.”

John Rettie is a photojournalist who resides in Santa Barbara, CA. Readers can contact him directly by email at [email protected].