Photographers bashing fauxs in their ads

[Sarah]

Is this really wise? I have always hated ads like this (ya know like the political ads when they attack each other). I think it makes the company look bad / desperate. This is the second time I have seen it (of coarse on craigslist).

“Tired of all of the ads for wedding photography from someone that bought a nice digital camera and with a few weeks experience believe they are now “Professional Wedding Photographers”.
Do you really want this most important day in the hands of an amateur with little experience, one camera body, one or two lenses and a flash?
It only costs a very little more to have a full time Professional capture your wedding in a creative way that records this most important day.”

[cameraclicker]

“It only costs a very little more…”  Is the difference between say $500 and $4,000 only a very little more?  If the budget for the whole wedding is only $5,000, then $4,000 is a lot.  If the budget is $60,000, then perhaps $3,500 extra could be considered a little.

I think putting a more positive spin on it would be better.

You want to remember your wedding day with the best photos available.  Your day can be captured in a professional, creative way for an investment of only $$$$$$$.

Or something like that.

[Sarah]

Ya I thought about saying something about that last line because fauxs would be charging like $300 or less. I like your idea. That line is good.

 

[brinneydee]

I really don’t like when photographers try to make others look bad in their ads. If you have skill, people will want to book with you and you won’t have to bash others to get business.

[Mrs Woo]

Well, I opened this assuming that this is about bashing a specific photographer.  It sounds like an ad placed by an experienced and frustrated photographer who gets the calls afterwards to have the really bad results from the cheaper photographer “fixed in Photoshop.”  We know that happens to a lot of pros.

“Fauxotgraphy” as it is called around here, has become common enough that it is something that many non-photographers are aware of.  This photographer is attempting to capitalize on that awareness and get an opportunity to at least market themselves against less experienced photographers and/or make possible customers aware that not everyone who has “a nice camera” is necessarily someone who can use it to produce exceptional images.

I don’t think this is all that terrible.  A lot of what is shared here is harsher than that ad.

[kbee]

I completely get where the tog is coming from. That said, I would personally refrain from snark like the one posted. Make no mistake, that tog has a completely valid point (this whole site agrees with him/her), but to point it out comes off to me as petty and snarky. It’s not professional to point at The Other Guy and bitch about them while trying to win popularity votes for yourself. Not good salesmanship or politics.

As for the comment “very little more”, I disagree. Many of the fauxs we’ve had featured here are asking for $$$. Pros start at $$$$, a difference between them of anywhere from $800 up into the many thousands. While we all hope for the best with whatever photographer we go for, the difference in price for someone like me in this day and this economy is far from “very little”. I paid $$$$ for my wedding, so I value a good tog; I just don’t underestimate the budgets of some people by dismissing the value of a good photographer as being small potatoes when a naive client might think $200 for a wedding is a bargain (and it is… just not when it comes to quality).

I’m with cameraclicker. Rather than down on the fauxs, positive spins help more than pointing out the flaws in the market and the competition. If I were a prospective client, I’d hate to think the tog I’m booking is a grumpy ass stomping around and grumbing about ‘amateurs with their Rebels thinking they’re all that’ while I’m doing a session with them. Just for their post alone, I’d probably give them a pass. I don’t want a tog on a soapbox.

By all means, a photographer helping to educate the public about the value of good photography is a good thing. But snark while trying to sell yourself as a professional isn’t the way to go about it, I feel. 🙂 /jumps off soapbox (I’ve had some

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