School Photos are a Sham

No doubt, out of self-interest, there are many photographers working the school photo racket, and in any other kind of photography, that would disagree with my opinion. I’ve even argued with a professional photographer about whether or not the client should own the rights to the work that they paid them to do. It was a dead-end conversation and simply resulted in the hiring of a different wedding photographer who did not insist that they owned the photographs that I paid them to take. But I digress.

The other day I went to pick up my son at his pre-school and they had a setup for school photos. My son, being precocious, did his part and was even presentable in what was taken. Then, I saw the prices. One hundred and forty dollars for eight pieces of paper with my hijo’s likeness on them, along with negatives! I certainly understand that the labor involved in taking the pictures, editing and producing the things and then dragging them back to school incurs a cost. I do wonder though, exactly what the mark-up on those pieces of paper exactly are. I also learned that I had only that afternoon to decide whether or not I desired to purchase the already printed images. That’s right, not only do they overcharge, but they also presume that you’re going to purchase. The representative of the photographer was rude and pushy. Fantastic salesmanship for an overpriced presumptively produced product.

Can the industry be saved, or at least become more honest? Of course it can. In today’s digital photography world, there is no reason to ever produce completed pictures before the customer even sees them. Why not set up a website with the images previewed for customers with the option to purchase all the high resolution results on a disk for $45 or digital download at $40? Savvy customers can then order prints from their preferred provider. Additionally, the photographer could partner with a picture printer, to offer prints and many other photo-related products, shipped directly to the customer’s home at a 100% mark-up. Partnering with Walgreens the photographer could charge 40 cents for 4 X 6, $3.20 for 5 X 7 and $6 for 8 X 10 photos. And what if the customer cannot or does not want to go online? Then send a representative for an afternoon with a couple laptops with the website as a standalone program available for customers to review and make purchases. Done, and done. No more ticked-off customers, wasted prints and because costs are lowered, demand will go up enough to make up for the previous price structure. It could even increase photographer revenue. Would it work? I think so. I could be wrong but so long as they continue as they have they will not get one cent from me.