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Our analysis of users is partially based on discussions with a professional photographer (J.N.), a part-time photographer (C.Y.L.), and a person who went through the process of finding a wedding photographer (R.C.). We got very positive feedback from these people about the potential of a photographer-to-client connection website like ShutterConnect.
J.N., the professional photographer, pointed out that his main source of income is through the sales on his website. This is why, he remarked, that promotion of his site was very important for him. He said that many photographers directories are not up-to-date or have strict guidelines for listing, rendering word-of-mouth his primary method of promoting his website. J.N. said that a central website where he could list his services clearly to the entire market of photography clients would be a big help.
C.Y.L, the part time photographer, was especially enthusiastic about the idea for a website. He remarked that many people are not ready to pay for professional photo service prices and he could cater to that population by providing very good quality pictures for much less than the studio price. He mentioned that his main source of promotion was through word-of-mouth and his connections on facebook. He said that a central website would enable him to reach more people. He particularly liked the idea of location-based search.
R.C., a happy bride, went through the process of finding a wedding photographer. She says, she googled wedding photographers by location, visited each photographers' website, kept her own notes on their photography and prices. She said that comparing prices was difficult because of the individual packages of each photographer. She also said that the lack of objective reviews was very frustrating - she had to search on internet forums to make sure there were no complaints about the photographers she was considering. Also, she was never sure about the extent of her search, because she learned about some photographers by word-of-mouth, who did not show up on her google searches. She says an easily searchable website with reviews would dramatically reduce the time and effort spent on finding a suitable photographer.
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