A Study On Contemporary Changsha Wedding Photography

Traditional wedding photography serves not only as a proof for the socialization of marriage, but also a symbol and souvenir in daily life for the wedding ceremony. With China’s opening up and improving living standards of Chinese people,wedding photography, as a way of recording love, has become a must-do for fresh couples. Since 21 stcentury, more and more new couples choose to take wedding photos and wedding photography industry prospered as the infant market grows into a consumption market in the service sector with large scale and unique Chinese characteristics.Nowadays, wedding photography agencies have encountered unprecedented opportunities and challenges as the younger generation embraces changing ideas on consumption. Economic development encourages not only consumers’ pursuit of luxury,but also their longing for customization. According to the theory of industry life cycle, currently, wedding photography industry in Changsha enters into a maturing phase. Due to falling number of newly-weds, late marriage and popular use of camera, management problems, low profit and high marketcompetitiveness become common in wedding photography industry.In such a competitive environment, it becomes urgent for wedding photography businesses in Changsha to develop their unique photography style which suits their own development and meets consumers’ demands of customization. Therefore, this dissertation reviews and analyzes theories and history of photography, photography styles and consumer behavior and takes Changsha photography businesses as the subject of study.The history and status-quo of Changsha photography businesses are reviewed and then customers’ psychological appeals are surveyed. It is found that the main problem of Changsha photography businesses is homogeneity in their photography styles, which leads to customer dissatisfaction. Solution to the problem is that the style of Changsha wedding photography should be explored and application of photography techniques should be studied. This dissertation aims to be of reference for the trend of Changsha wedding photography styles and help younger generation of entrepreneurs in Changsha wedding photography industry find a suitable position in the market.