Labor Day: Summer's End or Start of Seasonality in Photo?

© Maxim Pavlov

by Skip Cohen
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It's Labor Day, and if you're living in the US. It started in 1882 in NYC and was later adopted by Congress in 1894 when Grover Cleveland signed the bill making it a national holiday. It's always the first Monday of September. When I was a kid, it always marked the end of summer with school typically starting the next day.

I don't know about schools where you live, but here in Sarasota, the kids have been back at school for the last 2-3 weeks. But, even seeing school buses and kids with backpacks every morning weeks ago, Labor Day still seems to mark the official end of summer. It's also morphed into a great excuse for family barbecues, a burger or hot dog off the grill and let's not forget the endless Labor Day car sales. What President's Day has become to mattress sales, Labor Day seems to be dominated by the auto industry!

Regardless of what the day means to you, most of us are off today. It's the perfect time to wish you a safe holiday weekend.

It's also the perfect time to think about the start of seasonality in professional photography. There's a lot of potential business coming up in the very near future: 

• Giving Back: From helping United Way campaigns in your community to being involved in activities around the school system, there is an endless list of events you can be a part of. For example, Friday night football games create an opportunity for volunteers to help the schools' Booster Clubs. And, yearbook and school newsletters need help to raise the bar on the images they're about to start capturing of events. Then there's a long list of fund-raisers usually taking place in every community.
• Homecoming events on both the high school and college-level create a potential need for professional portraiture.
• October brings fall seasonality with harvest-themed photography and Halloween. From pumpkin patches to costumes, there's an endless backdrop for children's photographers.
• November continues the harvest theme and Thanksgiving, creating more potential for "Day in the Life" sessions and demonstrating your expertise as a storyteller. 
• The December holidays, and gift-giving creates a need for classic family portraiture. Now is the time for you to get "Mom" to start thinking about a new family portrait.

As I got older, Labor Day became the end of summer because the grill got put away. Then I started putting on a parka and firing up the grill in the dead of winter. Today, living on the gulf coast of Florida, the grill's used 3-4 times a week, all year long. So for me, the timing of Labor Day marks the kick-off of seasonality for you as professional photographers. 
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It's the start of the home stretch of 2019 and an opportunity for your business to thrive not just survive. Are you ready?

Wishing everybody a terrific Labor Day. Stay safe and hopefully stay dry!