Why is it no one understands how much money a successful studio can make? I am surprised. Does anyone not own a studio with a store front on here? If you talk to a owner of a studio that is busy, they tell you that their studio brings in way more than $50-60 Thousand a year. If you only brought in that, how do you pay your overhead and rent? If they do tell you that, they are doing something wrong or are new to the business and just starting out. It does take time to build your studio up though.

Those totals you are finding on the internet are not correct and is not for a successful studio. Have you went to any professional portrait photography conferences?  You will find alot of photographers that are successful and really busy and rake in a six to seven figure salary, depending on the line of work and the demand for the work.  Yes even in Kansas City. There is alot of business out there for a photographer to gain if they market the correct way.
It is all up to you and where do you want to be? It takes alot of hard work and determination. But if you are good at what you do ~ you could do the same as them. Marketing is the key.
 

lephotography you wouldn't  happen to be married to Randy?

I don't doubt you could open a very successful portrait studio. My bigger question is whats the net income. People love throwing out gross numbers while implying it's all profit. One thing I hate about assignment work is that it only pays once. I like having more investment grade material working for me. I think a studio style approach to stock is the best one really - you get the benefits of studio efficiency, yet the potential of a world wide market and material that pays out for several years.

Income levels aside, given the way things are headed economically in this country, I don't think any of these studios will see increased sales. If anything a sharp fall off is gonna happen, and probably going to become worse as we enter deeper into depression. Portraits are a luxury, and luxuries go out the window when things get hard. Ads on the other hand will persist - decline they could, but they won't just dry up totally and you have the advantage of selling online to other buyers in other nations with more sound economies and financial situations. It's totally unrealistic for a US portrait photographer to sell his work to a customer in Asia.

I was talking about net incomes .. aside from government taxes of course. Naturally studio owners can create large overheads but that is due to poor business management and not necessary expenses. Because you are dealing with such a large amount of products and options, compared to options in microstock, there is no magic number to base your markups on. However, each markup should fall somewhere in a 400%-2000% profit .. 400% on less popular items and going up from there. There are some exceptions. For example a standard studio markup on smaller prints like a 4x6 will be 8000%-17,000% .. These prints are so incredibly cheap to process you can place these extremely high markups on them and the general public will think nothing of it. The 2000% cap can also be raised in situations such as .. you want to lower your work volume in order to increase profits. So where a studio is charging an average price for an 8x10 with a 1800% markup they will increase it to normally somewhere around 3500% .. and all other sizes accordingly. This will weed out their low-end clients and make more time for the high-end clients which increase income .. or lessen the workload completely while maintaining the same income.

On the subject of the effects of the economy on portrait business, I can tell you it doesn't go down. The reason is this .. in america senior portraits are not a luxury they are a need. Senior photography in our society has become firmly rooted in tradition. I have never once in my life heard a potential client say they "want" to get senior pictures taken. They use the word "need" every single time. Not only do they refer to it as a need .. it's a HOLY CRAP I NEED TO GET THESE DONE NOW !!!!! Which is awesome for us photographers. In some cultures when a child comes of age they go through a rites of passage .. they get ritualistic tattoos .. whatever. In modern america when a child comes of age .. they get senior pictures. That's no joke. Just like every graduate needs that cap n gown .. they need those pictures.
Yesterday, a seniors mom was telling me how she was glad her husband was going back to work because he had been laid off for 6 months. She mentioned how nice it would be to get all their bills caught up because they got so far behind. Then she went on to schedule a 2nd session because she said we did such an awesome job and they were having such a fun day (I think it's important to say she hadn't seen any pictures at this point .. you got to sell the experience) .. I think it also had to do with the fact that her daughter was friends with one of our senior reps .. we make those seniors special by giving them multiple sessions .. this mom is feeling the need to give her daughter what her friends have so that she is equal to them and the lack of money will not stop her from spending it. Human nature .. you gotta love it.

It only takes 400 seniors per year with an average sale of $2500 to equal a $1 million gross

Seniors are also not necessarily seasonal .. they come in all year long. The so called senior season is the 3-5 month peak where you have seniors running all over the city trying to get them done.

There's nothing in the rule book that says a senior cant throw down $2000 or $3000 or $5000 on senior pictures.

The biggest mistake is to think of possibilities as seeming extraordinary. Would you think it was unthinkable to have a senior who was driving an $80K Cadillac Escalade .. then hear them complaining to their mother how hard it was to drive .. then overhear her ask her mom if she though her dad was going to get her that cute little yellow corvette convertible they saw last week .. and then the mom say "yeah he's going to take you to look at it this weekend." ... that was a conversation that took place only a month ago on one of our senior sessions.

Never assume people can't throw down some cash. All you will do is limit your potential and end up targeting people who cant afford it because you assumed they couldn't in the first place.

Quote from: gostwyck on September 04, 2009, 04:45

$3M a year __ after taxes? As tax is usually the last thing deducted, after overheads, etc, you seem to be suggesting that that is pure profit.

This just gets better and better.  No wonder everyone is heading to photography school now!

Forget photography school, I'm heading out to Kansas ... now, I just have find the yellow brick road.

Maybe the recession here in Florida is worse than elsewhere in the country, but the studio pros that I am acquainted with are not netting anywhere near 7 figures a year.  Low six figures at best.  And they tell me they are being affected by the economy and having to add lower priced packages and explore new avenues of marketing. 

Of course maybe they are all lying, but if so it is a darned convincing show.

OTOH, Xposurepro, I applaud both your work ethic and your optimism.  Just not sure why it is so important to convince all of us, though?  Most of us on this board are mainly stock photographers anyway.

Speaking for myself, there is no amount of money you could offer me to deal with the tedium of running a studio and catering to the whims of portrait and wedding clients. (been there, tried that)  Shudder! 

LOL, "Bridezilla". It's the reason I DON'T do weddings.

Honestly, even assignment commercial work for television - which I've done (I was a cinematographer for a series of Court TV commercials years back) - isn't always fun. I had a never ending train of people trying to dictate the look, feel, angles, etc... I can understand the appeal financially of doing portraiture or weddings, but I also have meet many burnouts, lots, who used to do that type of work. Some really love it, and never get tired. Great for them! Stock work is ever changing for me, feels more "free".

As for stock photographer earnings, they can certainly compete or be higher. It all boils down to the photographer.

I dont know, we have done weddings and have had great experiences doing them. No one barking orders and no one refusing to pay (as they normally have already paid before the ceremony had started) It is stressful but with 2 photographers, we don't have any problems really.
I think it is all about what you have patience for and what fits what you want to do. Goes the same for the pay. You will get paid what you demand. We this year raised our prices on our packages again this summer. It is amazing how much people will pay. There is never going to be a decline in photography as long as people get married and graduate. These are too important for people to let pass up to keep photo memories and they want them professional and not snapshots.. so they will pay the price. Your website makes a great bit of difference. It is amazing what marketing techniques work.
Marketing is a big difference in success. It makes the difference in a low generating income studio to a very sucessful studio unless you have been in the same place for 20-30 years and established a name before websites were so important. Word of mouth also is a great advertisement.. maybe one of the best next to "the website". You are just fooling yourself if you say "studio's cant make that much money". You are wrong. There is potential for any great photographer with the know how.

By the way.. I read someone said kids have to go to school. Well, they come at all times and skip school to get their pictures taken.. and the parent sometimes takes off work as well so they can come too because they want to watch.  It is more than just getting your pictures taken.. it is a life time experience. Over 20 years ago.. my parents paid ALOT of money to get mine done and I remember everything about it. It was an important thing to me. To a senior and their parent.. it is an exciting experience. I always talk alot to the moms and dads and they just talk about they cant believe they are a senior and time has went so fast.. they talk about when their child was small and reminisce about them. The parents always tell us how much fun they had too. They sometimes bring their entire family.  The other day, this senior had brought 2 friends, a cousin, her mom and then afterwards I was told that the friends were going to be calling to make appointments with us and so was another family member. They not only will spend ALOT of money because they had a great time and the pics were good.. they are out telling everyone about us and how much fun it was. Creating a good experience means generating a higher income.