Recently we are often asked by potential customers if we offer Taobao or Ebay photography service. At first the term “Taobao photography” or “Taobao photographer” seem completely new to us. We know about advertising photography and commercial photography, but what on earth are Taobao or Ebay photography?
With this question in mind, we then have visited a few photo studios who claim to exclusively provide “Taobao photography” service. According to our research, in terms of photography gear and shooting process, there is little difference between traditional advertising photography and the so-called e-commerce photography for Taobao or Ebay. The main difference lies in the staff: the Taobao photographers are all very young in their early twenties. They don’t have much experience, but do have the passion and energy devoted in the digital photography field. They normally offer very competitive price in order to win the e-commerce customers (online store sellers). They work very hard, sometimes shoot for over 10 hours continuously and they eat meals and sleep in the photo studio after work.
After these visits, it dawns on us that why they can offer such dirt cheap photography rates to the clients. They work as if they are labors in the sweatshop. They work day and night and have little break time. The results? You get what you pay for. Don’t complain if the photos don’t come out in the exact way as you expected, because these young photographers actually only make little profit.
