How Do I Cope With The Winter Income Gap?: Dear Devlin
DEAR DEVLIN
The winter income gap isn’t necessarily a sign your business is failing; it can be a sign you need to review your approach to marketing and your payment structuring
Dear Devlin,
I’m only a few years into this career and while my first couple were OK for bookings and income, this one is looking a little scant on bookings either late this year or early next. I have nothing between mid October and May next year. I’m waking up in the night stressing about not having enough money over the winter.
I also know I’ll have tax to pay again in January but as it is I’m not exactly raking it in and don’t have savings. How do photographers cope with the big gap? I don’t see this being discussed anywhere and wonder if I need a job to see me through the quiet months?
From Concerned From Chelmsford
“If all you show is summer weddings, don’t be surprised that is all you book.”
Dear Concerned From Chelmsford,
Waking up at 3am doing the maths on a blank diary is one of the loneliest feelings in this job, so first, I want you to know you’re not doing anything wrong by feeling it. This is a genuinely great topic to talk about because our work is seasonal and unpredictable, and I don’t think it’s ever properly discussed. Plenty of us have found that business hasn’t really “gone back to normal” since the pandemic, and being self-employed in any trade is hard even in the good years. The good news is that photography is relatively well paid work, and there are a lot more ways to earn from a camera than shooting weddings on Saturdays.
But before we get into all of that, let’s look at whether you can actually fill some of that gap first.
Are you marketing for the season you’re in?
I’d start by looking honestly at whether your business is set up to attract winter bookings at all, because if you’re only marketing full day summer weddings, then a summer wedding diary is exactly what you’ll get. There are still bookings to be picked up for the rest of this year and into spring: winter weddings, last minute weddings, register office and town hall weddings, elopements. Are your packages set up to showcase any of that? Have you actually told anyone you still have space for the end of the year or for spring? If the answer is no, that’s your first and easiest fix, because you can’t book what you haven’t offered.
One of my industry pals, Shelly, has completely separate customer pathways and pricing pages for short coverage weddings, so the couples booking her for a full day never even see that side of the business. That way, she doesn’t dilute her main brand, but she still catches people who want three or four hours and a much smaller price tag. Worth thinking about whether a “quick and simple wedding day” page, kept separate from your main offering, might pick up bookings you’re currently invisible to.
What about other genres?
There’s probably never been more demand for photography, because every single business now needs to show up online. If I were in your position, I’d be offering brand photography for other creatives and small businesses near me. I do a bit of this myself and could easily lean into it harder if I needed the income. Something as simple as booking a local studio for a day and offering one hour sessions for profile pictures and content works well. And even if you think you don’t know many business owners, you know a whole community of wedding suppliers, and every single one of them needs images of themselves and of them doing their job. If you’re stuck on where to start, start there.
One of my mentoring students, Kayleigh, set up a paid business lunch and networking meet up for women in her area, sold as tickets. From that one event she picked up several branding photography bookings. Another wedding photographer I mentored, Sam, started a side hustle photographing properties and Airbnbs, and it grew so busy she eventually dropped weddings altogether.
If family portraiture is something you enjoy, Christmas Minis are a brilliant winter earner, both through session fees and print sales, and then in spring you’ve got Mother’s Day family sessions to fill that gap again. I know photographers who book these out again and again and they cover the exact months you’re worried about.
Could you change how you get paid, not just what you shoot?
This one’s less about new income and more about smoothing the income you already have. I mentored a photographer called Jo who protects her winter as proper off season, time to be present for her family and genuinely switch off. To make that possible without it wrecking her cash flow, she splits every wedding payment into a booking fee, then 50% of the balance at six months before the wedding, with the remainder due just before the big day. That way her income isn’t all or nothing across the year, and crucially, she’s always got money sitting there ready for her January tax bill rather than scrambling for it in the new year. If your payment structure is currently deposit then one big final balance, this is worth revisiting even outside of the winter gap question, because it protects you every year, not just this one.
Is there a role inside the industry you could take on, rather than a job outside it?
You asked whether you need a job to get through the quiet months, and I don’t think that has to mean stacking shelves, unless that genuinely appeals, no shame in it if it does. But look first at what parts of your own job you either love or you’re really good at, because there’s a good chance someone else in this industry would pay you to do it for them. Social media management, editing, album design, setting up CRMs, VA work for other photographers. If your network is mostly wedding suppliers and photographers, that’s exactly where to start looking, because they’re already primed to trust you.
A few more avenues worth putting on the list while you’re thinking this through: reviewing your print and product offering so existing and past clients have something to buy from you over winter, since print sales don’t need a shoot to happen right now. Looking at referral relationships with venues and other suppliers, so you’re the photographer they recommend when a late enquiry lands in their inbox. Batching your marketing and content creation during the quiet months so next year’s diary starts fuller earlier, styled shoots or collaborations are a good way to build a content bank while you’ve got the time. And keeping a genuinely separate tax savings account, moving a percentage across every time a payment lands, so January stops being a nasty surprise that eats into whatever you’ve scraped together over winter. for me than several balls in the air.
Have you tried paid advertising?
If I were mentoring you directly, I’d also be pushing you towards investing in some ads. We’re lucky in this industry because our clients have this one moment, getting engaged, where their browsing habits shift completely, and both Meta and Google can target exactly that. A lot of photographers rely solely on free marketing and then wonder why, like you, they end up with a gap.
Even a modest, well targeted ad spend aimed at that engagement window could be the difference between an empty off season and a booked one.
Our Meta Ads Bootcamp would be worth investing just £75 in as many photographers have been getting great results from it, including those much needed bookings and deposits.
I can’t know your exact business without seeing it, but everything above is built from what’s genuinely worked for other photographers I know or mentor, and photography, done well, usually pays better than most of the alternatives you’d be considering instead.
THE TAKEAWAY
The winter gap feels personal at 3am, but it’s usually a marketing and pricing structure problem, not proof you’re bad at this job. It’s a sign that it’s time to zoom out and try to see your bigger picture.
Look first at whether you’re actually asking for the bookings you need, then look at other genres and other roles within your existing network. Finally, look at how you’re getting paid so income and tax stop being all or nothing.
A job to bridge you through isn’t a failure if that’s what you choose, but it doesn’t have to be your first move; it can be your backup plan once you’ve tried filling the gap yourself.
PLEASE NOTE: THE IMAGES IN THIS POST DO NOT REPRESENT ANYONE MENTIONED
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