Wedding Photographers in Lucknow are having a hard time
As a wedding photographer in Lucknow, I have nothing else to do other than retrospect right now so I am writing this article based on my retrospection.
My situation is the same as other wedding photographers or people related to this 70-billion-dollar industry.
When India enforced a nationwide lockdown on March 24th, 2020 to curb the spread of coronavirus pandemic, the country’s flourishing wedding industry worth over 70 billion dollars was intensely affected.
The fear of virus and lockdown restrictions on gathering of people have shattered the plans for those who were planning to get married this year.
Weddings have been postponed, with a few couples restricting their events to a small at-home wedding or simple online ceremonies.
For those who were earning their livelihoods from the Big fat Indian wedding industry, which was once believed to be recession-proof is also facing challenges like every other industry.
The “Mahurats”
The wedding Photographers’ lives are dependent on the calendar. The list of canceled wedding events for April, May, and June 2020 is long and now there is no certainty of getting bookings shortly.
This uncertainty in a business that is dictated by the “Mahurats” has put a lot of us in tension in this unpredictable situation.
The main problem is that the input of revenues has come to a halt and the expenses also need to be compressed accordingly and people in this industry can’t do that.
Since this global pandemic started the event industry around the world has been affected, either all the events have been canceled or postponed and everybody related to this industry is experiencing the same problems.
We still have to pay for rent, bills, and food. It is still getting tricky for many businesses and probably you have been or will be affected too.
To get through this situation we need to think out of the box to work and create a business model or collaborate with other businesses to find a way to generate income.
These days whenever I receive any calls from clients it’s only about that they are going to postpone the event and I can just say okay and hang up the call and feel sad about it.
What to do now?
This is the best time to work on your backlog if any. Finalize the work of the client for which the photoshoots were done before this pandemic as the main wedding photography service consists of three parts.
30 percent is the communication part where you finalize your contract and understand the requirements.
Just 20 percent is the actual Photography part and the rest 50 percent is the post-processing part which is editing and even here communication plays a major role.
Till March, we did 50% of our work for some clients but 50% of work is still pending and post-processing work can be done at home.
Now many must be wondering what if we are done with all our work, what to do now? First of all, congratulations if that is the case with you.
Secondly, now is the time to improve your skillset. We, humans, are imperfect beings.
There are a lot of things to learn and there is no harm in upskilling ourselves.
One must keep brushing up the previously acquired skills and start experimenting and learning new skills in which they think have a scope of improvement.
The wedding photography field is very diverse and there are many things to learn. For example, Photo editors using lightroom or photoshop can try their hands-on Video editing and vice versa.
There is no harm in upgrading ourselves. The freelancers can work on their digital portfolio and if they have the sources they can invest and create a website and establish their online presence.
This is the right time to add a skill to your bucket and as our Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi said convert crisis into an opportunity.
As every dusk is followed by dawn so will be the situation for us after these tough times there will be a rush where you have to help yourself or others to speed up the workflow where you can help your photo editor and video editor both and create a balance and lessen the burden.
As we can guess the scenario can lead us in two different directions.
Either there will be small gatherings with less wedding for a year or two or the gatherings will be more special for the couple. But weddings are not going anywhere. It’s just a matter of time.
The Discomfort in handling the shoot.
With the containment zones and changes in restriction guidelines every 2nd day, professionals related to this industry are thinking about how will the pandemic change the wedding business scenario in the years to come?
Even when all the precautions are taken in the wedding venues and the guidelines are being followed, there is still some discomfort in the industry as many asymptomatic cases are also tested positive.
So far, many weddings have been postponed during the lockdown period.
With government restrictions, couples who wanted to get married on the initially planned dates had no choice but to do so with a smaller gathering and some even had to change locations for some unforeseen reasons.
But we didn’t lose those contracts as they wanted us to capture their memories for a lifetime.
Not to lose hope Wedding Photographers.
Wedding photographers are still required to capture the memories of the couple and close family members.
The demand is less but it’s still there and the couples still want to make their D day memorable with close family members and friends.
Less work as of now, as many people are still waiting for the situation to get better with ease in restriction so that they can have their dream wedding and make it a memorable event.
The vendors and daily wage earners associated with this industry have fled to their hometowns to feel safe from this pandemic and arranging the workers for the assignments is getting a bit difficult at this time.
My workers ask me if there is any work currently and I tell them the truth that there is no work for the coming three-four months.
The main objective as of now is to survive by cutting down the expenses to nil.
We hope that the pandemic will get over soon as many scientists and medical companies are working vigorously to invent the medicine to fight the Corona Virus.
Meanwhile, we need to remember that some events may get canceled due to the situation but we cannot cancel love.
