Wedding video or photo?

joshhuntnm

If you google "wedding photographer my home town" One of the first listings is weddj.com you can buy ads on this site, and I got my first wedding from this.

but, I notice I am one of 6 people in the Gold section for my town.

If you google "wedding videographer my home town" the same (or sister) sister site shows up. the same add can display in one catagory or the other. BUT, in the case of video, I am the ONLY person is Gold, Silver or bronze. There are some free listings.

My question is this: from a strictly business perspective, is this a hint that wedding photography is a bit of a flooded market, where wedding videography is wide open?

I understand this question assumes you were interested, capable and had the gear to do both.

Anyone out there had any experience in shooting wedding video? Was it easier or more difficult to get the business?

heatherfeather

Interesting question. My brother shot wedding video for 5 years. And then he got sick and tired of weddings and switched to corporate video production only. He discovered that while wedding video was a great place to start, he couldn't really charge what his time is worth from individuals to make it work... (and his prices were up there in the "twinge, mortgage the house" bracket) But still he was really busy all the time.
The whole time he was doing it, there wasn't many qualtiy video photographers around. That might be because we are up here in Alaska, but who knows? There were a couple of mom and pop outfits that were still using vhs and all that, but not really any competition with quality emotional stuff, like my brother used to put out.
Meanwhile I know of tons and tons of wedding photographers in this area that put out some pretty good stuff. My brother has always pushed me to do video, but gosh, I just love stills. At this point, he is making some pretty amazing money (in several tax brackets above me) and is bidding stuff to not get it, but gets it anyway. Of course, he is one of the most intelligent, creative, buisness minded people I have ever met. So I guess up here in Alaska, I would have to say there is a definate lack of quality wedding video production companies compared to wedding photographers. His website: http://www.stage2studios.com/

As to getting into videography, the tools are quite a bit more expensive too.
And the editing is just killer. You almost have to be a brain surgeon to understand all the programs and stuff he uses on a day to day basis. Plus his cameras are quite a bit more expensive. But, like I said, there is money to be made in it. If you want to invest in learning all that stuff and shelling out some pretty big capital.

I don't know? Does that answer your question? Just a bit?

joshhuntnm

heatherfeather wrote:

Interesting question. My brother shot wedding video for 5 years. And then he got sick and tired of weddings and switched to corporate video production only. He discovered that while wedding video was a great place to start, he couldn't really charge what his time is worth from individuals to make it work... (and his prices were up there in the "twinge, mortgage the house" bracket) But still he was really busy all the time.
The whole time he was doing it, there wasn't many qualtiy video photographers around. That might be because we are up here in Alaska, but who knows? There were a couple of mom and pop outfits that were still using vhs and all that, but not really any competition with quality emotional stuff, like my brother used to put out.
Meanwhile I know of tons and tons of wedding photographers in this area that put out some pretty good stuff. My brother has always pushed me to do video, but gosh, I just love stills. At this point, he is making some pretty amazing money (in several tax brackets above me) and is bidding stuff to not get it, but gets it anyway. Of course, he is one of the most intelligent, creative, buisness minded people I have ever met. So I guess up here in Alaska, I would have to say there is a definate lack of quality wedding video production companies compared to wedding photographers. His website: http://www.stage2studios.com/

As to getting into videography, the tools are quite a bit more expensive too.
And the editing is just killer. You almost have to be a brain surgeon to understand all the programs and stuff he uses on a day to day basis. Plus his cameras are quite a bit more expensive. But, like I said, there is money to be made in it. If you want to invest in learning all that stuff and shelling out some pretty big capital.

I don't know? Does that answer your question? Just a bit?

It affirms what I have been thinking these days. I do think the prices of good gear are coming down all the time. And, computers are finally fast enough to edit video.