DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Survey shows that wedding photographers spend most of their time not taking photos

Feb 20, 2020 by Dunja Djudjic 12 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

So, you take great photos, especially of people and events. Friends keep asking you if you’ve thought of shooting weddings. Perhaps you’re closer and closer to jumping into the waters of professional wedding photography. Well, then this may surprise you. A recent survey from Your Perfect Wedding Photographer shows that professional wedding photographers actually spend most of their time not taking photos.

The website conducts this survey every year and shares some interesting statistics. Over 300 professional wedding photographers take part, and their answers help to follow the changes in the industry. Your Perfect Wedding Photographer notes that all results are based on full-time wedding photographers. What I must add is that they’re all in the UK.

However, although the answers are from UK professionals, there are still many aspects that I believe are applicable to photographers from other countries. The one that I find most curious is the time spent taking photos. Or should I say, not taking them?

According to the 2019 survey, photographers spend the majority of their time editing photos, on average 14 hours. Then comes the business/admin work, followed by culling the images. Communication with clients is second to last, and it still takes up more time than actually shooting. Wow!

The survey shares some other useful and interesting data. For example, a professional wedding photographer in the UK shot 28 weddings per year in 2019. Compared to previous years, this number hasn’t changed significantly. The average price of the full day starting package is £1,590. The most expensive photographers are located in the southwest of the country, charging £1,700 for this package. The cheapest region is in the northeast, where the same package costs £1,100.

What I also found interesting is the number of inquiries wedding photographers got in 2019. There were on average 110 inquiries from potential clients, and the percentage of bookings from the first inquiry varies greatly, as you can see in this graph:

Some of you may be wondering about the gear use. Canon and Nikon seem to be the most popular among UK wedding photographers, with 40% and 31% users respectively. It’s interesting to see mirrorless cameras on the third and the fourth place: Sony takes up 22%, and Fuji 7%. I remember people claiming a few years ago that Sony cameras were terrible for all-day wedding photography because of their poor battery capacity. How times change!

Finally, I found it interesting to learn about the gender, average age and years of experience of photographers. According to the survey, there are 44% of women and 56% of men in this industry. The average age of professional wedding photographers is 39, and the majority of them has between five and ten years’ experience.

There is plenty more information on Your Perfect Wedding Photographer, so make sure to head over to their website and check out the full results of the survey. I found it really fun to read overall. But, I definitely found the statistics about the hours spent shooting to be utterly surprising. And if people ever ask me again “Why don’t you shoot weddings?” I’m just gonna show it to them. Because out of all these skills, taking photos and sometimes editing them are the only ones I enjoy and actually know how to do.

[via Your Perfect Wedding Photographer]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Interesting survey shows just how important photos are in online dating Most people want better night time capabilities in their next phone camera, survey shows Photo industry is coming back to life after COVID-19, survey shows Instagram now tells you how much time you spend using it

Filed Under: news Tagged With: business, business of photography, Wedding Photography

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« Twitter for photographers, you’re almost there
These are the only three lenses you need for shooting landscapes »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Sony unveils three wireless microphones for content creators
  • This is why you should stop shooting music videos
  • First look at the Laowa Proteus Flex interchangeable flare optics
  • The Fotodiox RhinoCam Vertex shoots medium format images on L mount cameras
  • San Francisco filmmaker tracks stolen camera gear, police do nothing

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy