While most people were out complaining how bad the economy was, I started a new company. Here’s the entire story.
A few years back I began a slow transition into photography. Slav Zinger, a professional photographer with 30+ years of experience, and a good friend (we’ve been friends since he shot our wedding in 2005) saw something in me. I also saw something in him so “I let” him teach me everything he knows. In the last three year, my skills improved dramatically. As I entered deeper and deeper into the realm of event photography (weddings, bar-mitzvahs, corporate events, parties), I saw several trends.
The industry was changing. On the one side of the tracks, you had 50 and 6o year old photographers who were reluctant to change. They liked the good ol’ days when it was common for clients to pay $10K for an all-inclusive photo package that included proofs, albums, and a studio portrait session. This still exists today, just not on the same scale and not enough to sustain all the ready-to-retire pros.
On the other side, we had the 23-year olds that just came out of photography school and could not find a studio to work for or the 30-somethings that recently lost their job and decided photography was easy money. The rise of digital gave way to people who would have never considered professional photography as a career. Now, they could buy a $3K camera, print some cards and go knocking on doors. They were willing to work for practically nothing. Most of them produced mdiocre results. And they were completely killing the professional photography market (in terms of consumer trust).
The second trend I noticed is that, at least in the last few years, the frequency of people buying an all-inclusive package has decreased. This is mainly due to budgetary constraints caused by the shaky economy. What this means is that a bride and groom will come to a photographer, pay him $1400, have him shoot their wedding and then supply all the images on DVD (or a USB drive). And this is where (LEUXO.com) comes in.
LEUXO is a Photo Bookbinder. We craft hand-made luxury photo books. We sell direct.
Here’s a common scenario. A husband and wife who got a photo package I described above realize they don’t have an actual professional photo album of their wedding. Traditionally, they would have to contact a photo studio, who would then contact a photo bookbinder. Now, they can buy an album directly from us. All they do is provide their high-resolution photos, we do the layout, we consult them, and we make a perfect photo book that reflects their personality, style and mood.
LEUXO does not mass produce. Each book is made by hand. Photos are color and brightness balanced one-by-one, then printed one-by-one on professional photo paper. We then make the cover out of genuine goat leather or pure linen based cloth. Your names are then heat stamped on the front or the spine. Each book is perfect, or it’s not shipped. And this is what I want to focus on. At CustomUSB, I sell commodity products. We have great quality control and our products are top-of-the-line (I only work for companies I believe in), but NAND Flash is still a commodity. At LEUXO, we make art. Each book is truly unique, the layout is one-of-a-kind. Our quality and customer satisfaction promise is real. People that know me personally know how I work, and my customers know that I go above-and-beyond. I want to make this a standard at LEUXO.
I want to be clear, we are not the only ones making professional photo albums (not the $25 stuff like Blurb, but real professional photo albums). We are the only ones selling them direct, and also the only ones focusing on specific markets (see who we work with).
With this said, we have a long way ahead of us. Lots of bridal shows to do, lots of people to partner with. I will keep this a running discussion and post new developments as we move along the product life cycle. Thanks for listening. Spread the word.
Leave a Reply