The choice today is not between a local photographer and an international one, the choice is between locally based, and foreign based photographers. It’s no longer true in these parts that a local photographer is without international acclaim.
So, do you import your destination wedding photographer, or do you buy local? Well, You import your photographer if the quality of service you seek is not available locally.
And growing out of that issue is the matter of the cost-effectiveness of the importation. Let’s be frank about this, if a significant percentage of the cost of your photography is, in fact, the expense you pay for your photographer's travel, then the product must not only be better than what is available locally, the quality difference has to be significant enough to justify the cost difference to you.
So, do you import your destination wedding photographer, or do you buy local? Well, You import your photographer if the quality of service you seek is not available locally.
And growing out of that issue is the matter of the cost-effectiveness of the importation. Let’s be frank about this, if a significant percentage of the cost of your photography is, in fact, the expense you pay for your photographer's travel, then the product must not only be better than what is available locally, the quality difference has to be significant enough to justify the cost difference to you.
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The difficulty there is accentuated by the fact that some packages available locally would, in some cases, be less than the cost of a foreigner’s air travel to the destination. Now it’s not all about money! Your wedding pictures are too important for it to be simply about cost. But one has to be wise. If you can get a comparable product - or better - for less, then the choice is a no-brainer.
That’s one of the realities I face concerning the question of my own travel into foreign markets. The knife cuts both ways. Now, I could try to use the old bait and switch routine - I could promote myself as if I’m local within a foreign market, bait the client and then hope that by the time they find out what they have to pay for my travel, they’re already sufficiently hooked and go through with it anyway. I consider that a dishonest thing to do. I’m local only to St. Vincent and the Grenadines; I’m an importation into every other market, and to claim otherwise is a lie.
That’s one of the realities I face concerning the question of my own travel into foreign markets. The knife cuts both ways. Now, I could try to use the old bait and switch routine - I could promote myself as if I’m local within a foreign market, bait the client and then hope that by the time they find out what they have to pay for my travel, they’re already sufficiently hooked and go through with it anyway. I consider that a dishonest thing to do. I’m local only to St. Vincent and the Grenadines; I’m an importation into every other market, and to claim otherwise is a lie.
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I think the solution is simply to provide a service and a product that soars high enough above the alternatives to justify the final cost to the client of getting me to do the job. And if and where I come across the photographer whose work truly justifies the cost of importation, I bow the head humbly and step aside – in a manner of speaking.
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