Denis Reggie + Bella

Moogle Pepper

Thoughts? I only saw this, after reading John Mireles's status update that he was talking with the dude from DWF about this..

tenoverthenose

Vera Wang + David's Bridal. Go.

Actually, while I haven't read all the details to see what Dennis is doing, it sounds like a reasonable marketing decision for him. Think about it - there are a limited number of weddings a single person can shoot in any year. But what if you were able to make little clones of yourself? If done properly, he may even be able to distance the "Dennis Reggie Experience" at Bella from himself just a enough to keep his high end clients.

Personally, I dislike the idea. I'm much more of a craft rather than a mass produced person. I generally believe that in the world of art, keeping things unique and individual gives them value. This is why MicroBrews will always triumph over Anheuser Busch -- but I digress. The idea of bringing along creative people and severely limiting their creativity (only shoot like Dennis Reggie) makes me a little sick to my stomach.

Blurmore

I've gotten the details on this...but I'm not in a position to disclose...and 4 the record AB had one of the top rated Oktoberfest (Becks)of the season, beat the pants off a whole hoarde of microbrews...just sayin'.

Matthew Saville

I've said this so many times- the industry is changing dramatically and there's basically nothing we can do about it.

We've already seen the microstock industry turn into the iTunes Store of photography. Millions of photographers submitting millions of images, and profiting pennies... Many other photo industries have also bit the dust, and wedding photography is the last one standing only because of the issues of trust and quality. But if people are trusting their raw eggs and meat products to large corporations, I'm sure there's a way for corporations to gain consumer trust for wedding photos, too.


People think it's a great idea, that it's a great, easy way to supplement your income as a photographer. However I can clearly imagine what will happen in 5-10 years. There will be 10x more talented photographers than jobs to go around, and then it will be as simple as supply and demand- When supply goes up, the price goes down.

Just a simple example with numbers from thin air: When a company like Bella has 10,000 jobs and 1,000 photographers doing 10 jobs each, all is well. But what if 20,000 photographers apply for the 2011 season, and there are still only 10,000 jobs? Do you think a large corporation is going to look out for it's current team of photographers, and continue to pay them $$xyz, with the promise of 10 jobs per year? You must be high. Eventually, one way or another, it's going to blow up in everybody's face and the corporations are gonna start saying "oh, sorry, we're not gonna pay you $750 per wedding anymore, we're gonna pay $500 instead."

If you think I'm crazy, then I think you're blind...

However quite honestly, I don't really care what happens to the industry as long as brides still get awesome photos and a great experience. If the industry dries up and becomes a part-time job for college students and uncle bobs, then that's cool. I'll just change career paths. As Blurmore implied- it's not like Bella is incapable of delivering great images. In fact I'd RATHER have a bride hire a Bella photographer than some Craigslist hack!

And it's not like there won't ALWAYS be room for the "mom and pop" wedding photography boutique shops. I'm only saying that a shift is occurring. In 5-10 years, maybe 80-90% of the industry below $5,000 will be done by part-time photographers either struggling on their own pursuing (but never achieving) the DREAM of going full-time, or happily working for Bella etc...


Good luck changing the course of the industry and proving me wrong!
=Matt=