Clueless Photog makes a fortune off Clueless Clients

[Bruce Dempsey]

I live streamed a regional figureskating competition last weekend in which over 200 young skaters showed their best moves on the ice.
Next to my filming station was set up a photog with all the gear, a dozen monitors and a pretty good printer.
During a break I went over to have a look see and was flabergasted at the crappy photos that the folks were buying of their kids.
Shooting in an arena can be challenging but as you can see from these bluebaby shots I took off a facebook page of one of the parents, They are completely unacceptable. Neither the photog or the tecc doing the printing had any clue about white balance. Yet by my estimation they dragged in about 6 grand over the weekend
If there is a point to this it is that quality doesn't seem to matter when content is king

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Bruce Dempsey

If there is a point to this it is that quality doesn't seem to matter when content is king

If all this photog ever wants to do is film kiddie events for their parents who will buy anything, then yes. If this person ever dreamed of using their skills at a professional skating event, then no.

[Andrew Smith]

Just tell him that if he white-balances then he can save a fortune on cyan ink. :-P

Then again, with earning $6k he might not really care.

Andrew

[Paul R Johnson]

Different world, different game. I've seen plenty of ice skating images like these, and also the same issues on shots taken in holiday centre venues while people are watching the shows and events. They pay the money for immediacy. Having the pictures there and then is what they pay for. They get slapped on Facebook and that is it. Content not quality rules. On the other end we have the wedding people who spend ages in photoshop and again, know their audience and charge a fortune, which people happily pay.

All my video work ends up on DVD, or tablet devices. I shoot HD not because I have to, but because I have leeway in framing in the edit. Quality is always high on the price justification when you buy new kit, but not one client for my type of work has ever asked for a BluRay! We3 see quality issues, like in these image examples - consumers do not!

[James Manford]

He probably gets on well with people and secures work very easily so people tend to look past the quality.

There is more to business than just being good at what you do.

[Josh Bass]

I wish I had like 25% of that skill, with my current level of talent. I'd be rolling in it. ROLLING, I say. "It" might be a see of pennies, but hey. . .

[Steven Davis]

Originally Posted by Andrew Smith

Just tell him that if he white-balances then he can save a fortune on cyan ink. :-P
Andrew

Word. That's funny.

[Dmitri Zigany]

"The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubt and the stupid ones full of confidence" (think it was Charles Bukowski)

Could be replaced with talented/talentless in this case.

He either doesn't understand himself that what he's doing is crap or he's jus unscrupulous and don't give a f*ck. Me, if I film something for €100 and it doesn't look like a Ridley Scott movie I want to kill myself ;)

[Noa Put]

He either doesn't understand himself that what he's doing is crap or he's jus unscrupulous and don't give a f*ck.

That sounds like one of the candidates that is running for president now in the US, he is also making a fortune :)

[Rob Cantwell]

obviously he's not that clueless, if he's making that amount of money!!

and yeah for some stuff content is king. I'd admit to something like this myself, i've done magazine work in the past and I'll have the lights, reflectors, fast glass the works! oth if it's for a local rag, it wont really matter if it's a crappy mobile phone shot or a grab from less than stellar video.
I do try and keep an amount of quality but I just don't sweat it any more, life's too short
;-)

[Bruce Dempsey]

Dmitri you and I agree and made me smile tks

[James Manford]

Originally Posted by Dmitri Zigany

"The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubt and the stupid ones full of confidence" (think it was Charles Bukowski)

Could be replaced with talented/talentless in this case.

He either doesn't understand himself that what he's doing is crap or he's jus unscrupulous and don't give a f*ck. Me, if I film something for €100 and it doesn't look like a Ridley Scott movie I want to kill myself ;)

Haha !

We share the same mind set.

[Dmitri Zigany]

It's actually a problem, money is never a motivation in itself for me. All I care about is making great things. This makes me a very bad businessman... Always charging too little and working longer than necessary on things...

[Noa Put]

money is never a motivation in itself for me

It becomes one of you need to pay the bills :)

[Chris Harding]

It's all very simple ..the problem with most photogs and videogs is that we tend to try and get the quality that makes us happy not what makes the client happy .. the client simply want a shot of the kid on the ice and they can buy instant prints too. This guys is simply a brilliant marketer ... no one else was doing it so he cashed in big time! Very clever!! If the people thought the prints were crappy they would buy them would they??

It's a cunning niche market and the quality is second to the marketing method .... When you look at weddings even where everything goes wrong, the rain is pouring down or the sun seems to be straight into your lens and you dread even handing over the footage and the bride is so happy you cannot believe it!

We are simply too fussy about what goes out for the price we charge! It's all about content and nothing more ...I did a Samoan wedding where we were in a 40knot gale ..guests were blocking the camera and a multitude of other things that didn't go to my planning ..the bride is a lot happier than most because we captured her wedding day not because it was a technical masterpiece!! She has just ordered a pile of copies too

Maybe the lesson here is to put more time into marketing rather than pixel peeking!