I picked up an old book of Sandra’s the other day, it was written in 1964 and it is about how to run a successful photo studio. For those of you that don’t know we’ve been going to Las Vegas for the past 4 years to attend WPPI, a convention for wedding and portrait photographers.
Well the first chapter in the book started out by pointing out the “recent concern” that the availability of cheaper camera equipment (35 mm Cameras) was going to create more competition for photographers because more people would be able to afford equipment good enough to compete with professional equipment. It struck me as funny because that is always mentioned at WPPI except they are talking about cameras like the Digital Rebel which are very good, low cost cameras.
Then the book went on to explain that according to “recent statistics” 1 in 5 new businesses will last more than five years. Just this past Wednesday we went to the Orlando Wedding Guild luncheon which we have not been to in a long time and most of the people there are very new. They are not all photographers, but they are new businesses just the same. In fact, some of the sites we once linked to from our site are no longer in business.
I have not had the time to read more of the book yet, but so far the first chapter seems relevant more than 40 years later! Hopefully there are some things in this book that some of the newer photographers have forgotten about.
Before you go out to the book store to look for the latest book on … whatever, try looking at a local garage sale. You may find what you are looking for at a fraction of the cost and you may be surprised to find the same information!