Camera phones lead to decline in party pic business

Local owners attribute decrease to digital camera, phone technology

By By Adam Land

Monday, February 7, 2005



Kit Leffler / Photo illustration

Students at the University are not picking party pics as often as they used to.

Businesses that supply the photographers for parties have seen a decline because of the boom of digital cameras and cell phone cameras.

Party photography companies, such as University Photography, have seen a decline in business over the last two years, Bud Stagg, owner, said. University Photography brought in about $600 for a party two years ago, he said. Within the last two years sales have dropped to about $250 per party. Stagg said business had dropped almost 60 percent.

Business has also declined for Jayhawk Pics, Dan Ray, manager, said.

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Private parties and functions hire the photographers from the businesses. The photographers show up and shoot photos of the attendees. The party patrons then go on to the Internet to select the photos they would like to purchase.

Photos are left on the Internet for different amounts of time. Photos from University Photo stay on its Web site for 30 days, and then the pictures are erased. Jayhawk Pics keeps pictures up for the entire semester before the photos are erased.

The problem, the companies contend, is that people just look at the photos — no one buys. The small amount of people that buy photos does not compensate the business for the cost.

A 4 x 6 photo, which is the most popular size, costs the company about 75 cents to make, Stagg said. The cost includes printing, and a percentage goes to the printer of the picture. University Photography charges $1.50 for the photo, and Jayhawk Pics charges $2.

Digital cameras and cell phone cameras have allowed students the ability to take many of their own pictures wherever they are. Larger memory cards allow students to take up to 400 pictures.

The digital photos students take can be sent, by way of the Internet, to their friends and peers with little to no cost to them. Students with digital cameras no longer have to pay or wait for photo developing.

Greek houses still hire photographers for parties and events.

“We still try and use Jayhawk pics at many of our events,” Tracy Pearlman, St. Paul sophomore and social chairwoman for Sigma Delta Tau sorority, said.

They will now be charged $100 for a photographer, Stagg said.

“We have to bring in some money on the event,” he said.

Photographers from Jayhawk Pics still do not charge a one-time fee unless the event is outside the Lawrence area, Ray said. The cost of a photographer outside of Lawrence is $25 for Kansas City or surrounding cities. Outside that range the cost is negotiated.

If business does not pick up, the company will look to new ideas for sales.

“We’ve looked into selling the JPEG file on the Internet,” Stagg said. “We’ll just have to see if this trend continues.”

E-mailing the pictures to customers may also be a practice the companies use in the future.

Edited by Nikola Rowe

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