Comments | ryhned: Business Idea

ryhned

Business Idea

Dec 10, 2008 10:40

So I was thinking of something new to offer through D.R. Photography & Design. The idea is to design a custom designed album from people's travel photos, such as a honeymoon, or other large (and most likely expensive trip). Do you think this is something people would go for ( Read more... )

Comments 6

Scrapbooking - some thoughts.... dottavio December 10 2008, 15:53:47 UTC

The best business is to offer what people are already buying, and then do it better by addressing some fear or aspect that the current vendors fail at. Professional scrapbooking has been embraced by the printing on demand websites, and the failure there is that people don't like to mess with computers, and they have trouble deciding just how they want the book to look page by page.

You might want to look at event planners, as well as your original market in wedding planners and see if they feel like their clients would love gift books with images from the events they attend.

Re: Scrapbooking - some thoughts.... ryhned December 10 2008, 20:41:24 UTC

Well, question for you in return - what are your clients looking for in terms of deliverables? I know you work with a lot of people for publicity shots - but like for the themed photo shoots you're running, do you think you could sell a bound book of their favorite shots to them?

And oh man, do I know how badly the print on demand companies are doing with making it easy to make a photobook. They're really pushing them, but their software is horrible and allows for very little creativity. Thank goodness that Aperture allows you to edit (not as completely as I would like) their templates, but as far as I can tell few other companies/software allow that. But I imagine that there are enough people out there now taking vacation photos with a DSLR who would enjoy a coffee table style book that looks more professional than what's currently out there - it's just a matter of find those people.

I have a very dark disposition.... dottavio December 11 2008, 16:52:21 UTC

a dark disposition, in a tough city, and definatley tainted with biterness... so I may regret this, but here goes ( ... )

Re: I have a very dark disposition.... ryhned December 11 2008, 21:43:32 UTC

Very informative response. I'm currently trying to figure out the PIttsburgh market, and it's going to be a tough sell here - most photographers have our basic business plan and similar prices. Plus add in a recession and no one wants to spend money. So I'll probably be trying a bunch of different things in the months to come and see what sticks.

As far as making more money on our past wedding clients, unfortunately none of them are close to us - we mainly dealt with couples that were planning long-distance. I think our clients are in CT, NJ, MD, PA and OH and the PA clients weren't the type we can plan on future sales with.

We'll see if we're shooting weddings in a year - I have a feeling I'll be doing more of some other type of photography (maybe finally getting serious about macrophotography) than weddings and portraits.

Re: I have a very dark disposition.... dottavio December 12 2008, 00:30:51 UTC

Weddings is one of the best paying markets.

ok... so the clients were not great and far away. That's valid...

Weddings and funerals don't stop when the economy changes.

Macro photography is perhaps gallery and fine art? Well... any history professor can tell you that fine art only exists in a prosperous empire - a growing economy. From The Mayans, to Rome, to Louis XIV... so for the next year or two gallery work without nakked bodies won't do too well.

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