How much could one expect to earn?

If I shoot weddings and portraits, and if I market well, how much can I reasonably expect to earn?

I'm trying to decide whether I want to aim to make photography my primary career, after I earn enough money as a software developer to invest in substantial marketing.

Three decades ago, I recall that while many pros in my area advertised at wedding shows packages about $1500-2000, there was a guy named Denis Reggie who could command 10 times as much money for a wedding!
IOW, you are what you make of it.

And that very much depends on where you live and where your clients live. Waco TX has a median income of $33k, while San Jose, CA has a median income of $83k...so the 'average wedding' would be much higher priced in San Jose than Waco. They would laugh at you if you tried to sell San Jose wedding packages in Waco! But then again, it would cost YOU far far more money to rent a place to live in San Jose than to live in Waco.

Wedding photography now is a very tough business. Brides expect you to 'give away' all the photos on a DVD.

I just priced 8 hours of wedding coverage in September, in San Jose, CA and I came up with multiple folks in the $1700 - $2400 range! And there were quite a few listed in the $1000 range, thirty years after what I saw quoted 30 years ago for $1500 - $2000! The listings max'd out at $2600 - $3000, in an area with an $83k median income! And a 2BR rent averages $3200 per month.

Meanwhile, I priced out wedding coverage of 8 hours in Waco TX for the same date...multiple folks $200 - $400, and the highest was $800. in an area with $33k median income.

So where you live, and what the median income is at that location, and the cost of living at that location has a HUGE bearing on your ability to thrive.

Wilt wrote in post #19025084
Three decades ago, I recall that while many pros in my area advertised at wedding shows packages about $1500-2000, there was a guy named Denis Reggie who could command 10 times as much money for a wedding!
IOW, you are what you make of it.

And that very much depends on where you live and where your clients live. Waco TX has a median income of $33k, while San Jose, CA has a median income of $83k...so the 'average wedding' would be much higher priced in San Jose than Waco. They would laugh at you if you tried to sell San Jose wedding packages in Waco! But then again, it would cost YOU far far more money to rent a place to live in San Jose than to live in Waco.

Wedding photography now is a very tough business. Brides expect you to 'give away' all the photos on a DVD.

I just priced 8 hours of wedding coverage in September, in San Jose, CA and I came up with multiple folks in the $1700 - $2400 range! And there were quite a few listed in the $1000 range, thirty years after what I saw quoted 30 years ago for $1500 - $2000! The listings max'd out at $2600 - $3000, in an area with an $83k median income! And a 2BR rent averages $3200 per month.

Meanwhile, I priced out wedding coverage of 8 hours in Waco TX for the same date...multiple folks $200 - $400, and the highest was $800. in an area with $33k median income.

So where you live, and what the median income is at that location, and the cost of living at that location has a HUGE bearing on your ability to thrive.

Those prices are very unexpected. Where I live, in lowly southwest South Dakota, I believe that the popular wedding groups charge 1.5-4k (this year I should be working under two of them). My rent is $575 and includes some utilities. I have a small apartment with three bedrooms.

Data collected over the last 20 years by the Professional Photographers of America indicate that the modal net income of full-time wedding/portrait photographers is about $20,000 annually.

icor1031 wrote in post #19025103
Those prices are very unexpected. Where I live, in lowly southwest South Dakota, I believe that the popular wedding groups charge 1.5-4k (this year I should be working under two of them). My rent is $575 and includes some utilities. I have a small apartment with three bedrooms.

That's actually a bit on the high side and quite good. Are those established brick and mortar photographers?

As Wilt says the wedding business is now very tough because "everybody is a photographer" and the brides have tremendously high expectations since all their friends at the wedding will be giving them their cell phone shots anyway. This is what you'll be competing with. Before you get home from the event dozens if not hundreds of wedding photos will already have appeared on Instagram and FaceBook. Also people don't realize that wedding photography is more than just taking pictures. The days can be very long and you need to be in good physical shape. It's so much about managing people and crowds, relaxing them when they are stressed, and getting them excited for the great emotional portraits. If you're uncomfortable with large numbers of people I wouldn't recommend it.

When I first began shooting my film weddings years back I was getting around $1k-$1.5$ per wedding and sometimes a lot more with additional enlargements and extra books. I had a regular full time job which paid the mortgage, provided healthcare and fed my family. Photography was my second job. It would gross $10-$30k BEFORE taxes. As such I would recommend it as a decent, supplemental second job as long as you had a decent-paying primary gig. Without my primary job I could never have survived as a Wedding & Event photographer. Your s/w gig is probably your best bet for a steady, reliable income.

Few people seem to want albums today. Today I do very few weddings and they are typically quite small, older couples or really young folks with little money. We're talking around $600 maybe with a few hundred printed proofs in an econo album. That's all most want to pay anymore, in general, since there will be so many images available from friends, quickly and for free.

I do know some high end pros who still do very well. These are people with excellent interpersonal skills, get along very well with a lot of folks and sell themselves without even thinking about it. They make their clients feel GOOD. The customers really want them. It comes down to this: We'll assume you have the technical skills to deliver a good product, but are you comfortable working very closely with large numbers of strangers in what could be a high stress environment?

I'm a full-time photographer earning a comfortable living and have been for around a decade. I'm also not someone who is overtly charismatic nor that good of a sales person. I recognize my strenghts and play to those instead. I haven't shot a wedding/event in a very long time, but I used to. Weddings/events went very well and that was my full time job for a couple years, but it didn't scratch my itch. So I took that same formula and started doing other photography, and with some practice and tweaking I had even more success.

There is a certain mindset you need to have in order to create long-term success in this field. You are in the service industry, and with that, you need to provide exceptional customer-service. That is what makes people want to work with you, and tell all their friends about it. It also doesn't need to come naturally, although it becomes a reflex with practice. You just need to be very well prepared for each situation. You can structure interactions with a goal in mind and be prepared with answers to any question you can brainstorm, all with exceptional customer-service as the underlying idea.

The biggest hurdle is getting to point of it being a solid part-time job. Admittedly it does take some luck, but being opportunistic and correctly positioned will help push that luck in your direction. Some ability to market a business and a willingness to invest in a little advertising will go a long way as well. After that it's on you to go above and beyond with every person you work for, and have an absolute belief that it will work.

Persian-Rice wrote in post #19026444
I'm a full-time photographer earning a comfortable living and have been for around a decade. I'm also not someone who is overtly charismatic nor that good of a sales person. I recognize my strenghts and play to those instead. I haven't shot a wedding/event in a very long time, but I used to. Weddings/events went very well and that was my full time job for a couple years, but it didn't scratch my itch. So I took that same formula and started doing other photography, and with some practice and tweaking I had even more success.

There is a certain mindset you need to have in order to create long-term success in this field. You are in the service industry, and with that, you need to provide exceptional customer-service. That is what makes people want to work with you, and tell all their friends about it. It also doesn't need to come naturally, although it becomes a reflex with practice. You just need to be very well prepared for each situation. You can structure interactions with a goal in mind and be prepared with answers to any question you can brainstorm, all with exceptional customer-service as the underlying idea.

The biggest hurdle is getting to point of it being a solid part-time job. Admittedly it does take some luck, but being opportunistic and correctly positioned will help push that luck in your direction. Some ability to market a business and a willingness to invest in a little advertising will go a long way as well. After that it's on you to go above and beyond with every person you work for, and have an absolute belief that it will work.

With the understanding that A. It's a service industry and B. As a full-time job, most of that time will be spent in customer service/marketing, not clicking the shutter.

Clicking the shutter should be the easy part if you are good at it. Great customer service doesn't take any more time than any other interaction. Tbh marketing is important, but I barely do any at this point, outside of spending money on ads in social media. Word of mouth and the reputation/market presence I have built does most of the work. I spend all my day shooting and managing staff.

Persian-Rice wrote in post #19026752
Clicking the shutter should be the easy part if you are good at it. Great customer service doesn't take any more time than any other interaction. Tbh marketing is important, but I barely do any at this point, outside of spending money on ads in social media. Word of mouth and the reputation/market presence I have built does most of the work. I spend all my day shooting and managing staff.

Do you mind sharing (even if by PM) what your genres are, and about how much income you have each year -- minus marketing expenses?

icor1031 wrote in post #19025081
If I shoot weddings and portraits, and if I market well, how much can I reasonably expect to earn?

I'm trying to decide whether I want to aim to make photography my primary career, after I earn enough money as a software developer to invest in substantial marketing.

Just depends on what you charge and what you spend.

I worked for a long time as a solution architect managing software teams. I now am a full time photographer. I'm right around what I would make as a qualified solution architect, +/- 10% given the year. I work less though, and get more free time at home. It also took about 5 years to make that happen, though with some hustle and savvy marketing you could probably get to a more than livable wage in a quicker time frame.

Like if weddings are between $1,500 and $4,000 where you live 20 weddings a year is $40k net (at $2k per). There are some expenses in there of course, but thats a good starting point.

I don't know that there are lots of new opportunities in family portraiture, I see fewer and fewer people doing that every year.

You'll also have to figure out what works for you. People say don't do trade shows, or The Knot/Wedding Wire or social media as an example, but for me I've done really well in those environments. You just have to figure out the best way for you to communicate with your prospective customers.