Many thanks to all who replied to this thread.
Those replies gave me useful information as well as the spectrum of
opinions and views from other people (who know about photography).
I was especially thrilled to hear detailed stories from the "insiders",
Bill and Doug, who know the situation "first-hand". Thank you!
Cheers,
Igor
Doug Brewer Wed, 21 Feb 2018 09:24:11 -0800 wrote:
Igor,
I am a survivor of the school photography grind as well as other strains
of the volume portrait biz. In schools I was primarily involved in
individual sets, but also tasked with group wrangling until I moved into
shooting groups as needed. Interestingly, my other duty was to track down
and photograph those members of the faculty/staff who had not shown up for
their sittings, which was fun, in a stalkery way.
But anyway, yes, quality varies. I was fortunate to work for a pretty
large outfit with current equipment and plenty of it; at larger schools,
we'd have a crew of eight shooters, each with lights, backgrounds, stools,
and cameras fitted with magazines holding two hundred feet of film.
Later I did some contract work with smaller companies and it was a matter
of showing up on site with whatever stuff you could find at the office.
And of course a newer one-person shop may not yet have all the goodies.
So it depends on how the school bid out the contract, whether the contract
holder subs it out or has a crew on hand, etc. Plus, the biz has a pretty
high turnover rate due to the mediocre pay, the travel, and the sometimes
18 to 20 hour days of drive, set up, shoot, break down and drive back, so
you might have a brand new hire thrown out there to cover the shoot after
a few hours of training.
I found it effective to shoot three frames of a group. I'd tell them I
needed two good, smiling, eyes-open shots and reward them with a
do-whatever-you-want frame. This got me a high percentage of keepers and
ensured a welcome next time I showed up.
That tactic also worked with the tougher, at-risk kids. Give me a straight
up portrait, and then you can flash whatever gang signs or stabby eyes you
want.
As far as making money on this, you can, but it's in volume. You have to
hustle a lot of schools, keep a tight schedule, and shoot, shoot, shoot,
in sweaty gyms or wherever they can fit you, and you have very little
time. I remember sitting in my motel room one night after a big shoot,
filling out the paperwork. I did some quick math and figured out that I
had had a little under a minute per student, eight to ten for a class, and
whatever I could carve out for the stalker shots.
It's a tough dollar, for sure, and it may sound horrific, but I had a lot
of fun and I'm glad I did it. I learned a lot about lighting--I bet I
could still do one company's standard set up in my sleep--and I learned to
make quick decisions, something I still depend on for some things I shoot.
I don't think your expectations are too high, especially in these digital
days, and I'm sorry you're disappointed in the group shot. You might want
to let the school/school district know, because the feedback they get from
parents could affect their decision regarding future contracts.
Hope this helps.
--
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