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In business class I learned that you have to have a specialty. My teacher pounded it in our heads. And it made sense to me. In fact it continued to make sense even after I left school. I found out that, as she had said and other photographers could confirm, that if you have a specialty, you have something to become known for, you have something that you "do", but then randomly people will come up and ask you to shoot something completely the opposite of your specialty. She called this "specializing to generalize".
In Los Angeles my specialty was Photography of the Performing Arts. This meant that I shot anything that had anything to do with Performing Arts. My customers were stock agencies, editorial, PR, the musicians/bands/dancers themselves, etc. It was a good way to work and narrow myself down to a focus. It also was convenient as my Saturdays were not available for weddings at that time, and becoming known for something like that in LA gives you a lot of clout- there was a time that I never paid to go to any club or any concert. I also found that I got asked to do a lot of other things than just Performing Arts, which worked out well for me.
However, now that I have moved down here, have my Saturdays back, and I'm married, I am really thinking that I should get a new specialty. I'm thinking weddings and family portraits. This, though, is really daunting to me. I can do it, that is not the issue, but it is getting my brain back in that mode again. Aside from that, I have scars from the time when I lived in Orange County (it was brief, but it was enough).
In Orange County, there are about 5 or 6 million wedding photographers (I exaggerate, but only a little). Everybody did weddings, and the competition was cutthroat. So ironic, the most beautiful delicate, romantic images from people who would see each other at wedding expos and wedding planner expos and totally smile at each other and turn around and talk smack about each other. Sometimes there was a blatent tension in the room between studios as they would walk from their studio's booth to another (at a wedding planner or bridal expo) talking in hushed negitive tones about the other's work. And it wasn't even my studio that I was there for. That is another reason why I like San Diego. People here are far more relaxed.
I know that I'm really breaking that "don't say anything bad about anybody" code here, but the thing is, I'm only referring to certain people whom I don't intend to name. Don't get me wrong, not everybody is evil in the wedding business in OC. In fact, I met a lot of really wonderful people who helped me in my career and taught me things I really needed to know.
Anyway, that being said, to illustrate exactly what I mean, I worked for a wedding photographer in Orange County who charged "on the low end" starting his packages at $4,000 and then he was competing with the higher end people whose packages started at $20,000. The prices alone should explain to you what kind of serious business all of this was, and why people fought so vehemently for clients.
All of that experience, of course, is not necessarily what I would experience here. I have already spoken with someone who worked for a wedding studio and when I told him how much it cost, just for the low-end package up there in Orange County he thought that was amazing, so that tells me the market is not so cutthroat here.
I guess its the same old thing, the unknown. I know how to do Photography of the Performing Arts and I know how to market myself in that field, I know how to play that game. This is just a new game.
Strange, I actually wrote this intending for it turn out differently. I was going to address my insecurity about starting a new specialty and see if I should maybe try and keep my old one, but as I have here written it I worked out what I needed to do.
Cool. I like this blog thing.
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