Lights, Camera, Action… The Changing Wedding Photography Industry
The Wedding has always been a gala event in an Indian society. From the day a child is born, parents save every penny, especially for his or her wedding. Today, weddings in India are a lucrative business industry in itself with a turnaround revenue of approximately $30 billion. Food, Venue, Decoration are the usual huge chunk of wedding expenses. However, in the past decade, the industry has witnessed a huge increase the cost of wedding photography. What was once a sidelined cost, has now become a substantial expense of the Indian wedding affair.
Rising costs and a slowing economy has zero effect on the Indian wedding photography market. In short, couples and families, are more than ever ready to spend lakhs of rupees for the wedding photography and wish to frame their memories. This new outlook of the consumers along with the poignant and exceptional creativity of the Indian candid wedding photographers has paved the way for young niche wedding photographers to make a living through clicks.
Gone are the days of staged photography, where the couple along with their loved ones pose for standard picturesof the stage, as a mark of remembrance of the presence of the person. Today, a wedding photographer is more than a vendor who just logs the events of your big day. A wedding photographer, sails through the entire journey of your wedding preparation and ensures your big day is perfectly pictured with a right balance of colors, lights and emotions. The Indian wedding photography has been tweaked as a candid business. From the classic traditional colorful frames to modern pre-wedding and post wedding shoot, out-door shoot etc., wedding photography offers every opportunity to create a wonderful memory with your loved ones. Definitely, one must not miss this out.
A comprehensive Indian wedding photography package usually depends on the number of days and type of shoots opted by the customer. Nonetheless, it might range from Rs 60,000 (per day) to Rs 3,00,000 depending on the brand and style of the photographer. This includes the end to end package, which will also be inclusive of shoots, videos, wedding albums, coffee-table etc.,
Undeniably, wedding is the most important and awaited chapter in one’s life, filled with hustle and bustle days. Having said that, irrespective of the time constraint, the couple and families must definitely make time for certain types of wedding photographs such as clicks with bridesmaids, an outdoor click with your partner, a mid-night couple-shoot, aerial wedding attire photo, bridal silhouette, getting ready pictures, hand and feet Mehendi clicks, modern selfies, the grand entry of the bride and groom etc.
Look at the vastness of how the Indian wedding photography industry has grown. A decade before who would have thought about such off beat photographs would add such colorful memories of our wedding. The history of Indian wedding photography might be black and white, but the present is categorically colorful and thriving. From the 35mm cameras, to the DSLR camera, to exceptional creative software, has certainly enabled the nourishing of the art.
The glossy and glamorous industry has its own bitterness stringed to it. Many presume that these photographers work only on the weekends, hardly work few days a month and live a luxurious life. Unfortunately, it is not so. The wedding photographers capture the images on the few selected days of the month, but the creative photograph editors and video editors, work the rest of the month, giving the extremely impressive output as per the timeline. A team effort, which involves not just, clicking and editing pictures, but also marketing, customer relationship management, planning and executing the assignment and financial management. Taking pictures have been just 10%, rest all goes in the back-end, forming the wind behind the wings.
With advent of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, twitter, etc., marketing of the business has definitely been more channelized. The entrepreneurs are able to reach their customers in a faster fashion. However, this has also added a stiff competition among the artists to be on top, deliver highly qualitative product and above all, showcase exceptional stint of creativity each time. Because their work with every client is a sample product for every new consumer.
The boom of a personalized and persuasive industry, offering an extremely satisfying career for all the passionate wedding photographers, is in its upward and growing stage of the market. Many young professionals have picked this profession as a full –time career and have created a mark for themselves. The most striking and appreciative aspect of this journey is the strong support of the parents, who are keen on standing by the decision of their children, irrespective of the grumblings of the society.
The industrial growth reflects that anyone could buy a DSLR camera and start her social media page, pick up the business right there. A professional course on photography might instill the technical knowledge of the lighting, camera handling and editing. What it cannot teach is, creativity, which needs to be brushed only by the artist. The reality is, a well-established wedding photographer, grooms oneself with patience, perseverance and practice of the craft. A seasoned photographer will immediately know what to look for and how to capture the moments with the available time, lighting and people. More the experience in the field, better polished is the output of the product.
The shift from the mode of recording style to documentary style of the wedding photography, having a classic, artistic, dramatic etc., look and feel, has been one of the major reasons for the shift and growth of the industry. A mix of modern and traditional artwork is what we get to see in this industry. This has also changed the strategies of marketing and promotion because of the presence of stiff competition in the market.
What was once a favorite hobby, has become a serious career path and business in itself. Presently, the industry is in its boom phase and every artist is trying to carve a niche for oneself and make the maximum returns out it. No matter how much the cost or number of weddings you do, it’s your creativity of the craft, which will get you to your clients and make you stand out from your competitors. An eye for detail and innate creative instinct for lights, camera and action is what will help you climb the ladder of this career path.