SHOOTIME
SHOOTIME SHOOTIME

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global, national economies are no doubt significant, but perhaps one of the biggest impacts have been experienced by wedding photographers and their businesses all around the world. Shootime Alsaboory is a wedding photography company based in Australia South Western Sydney, NSW. The owner of Shootime Alsaboory wedding photography Amjad Alsaboory states that the work has been seriously affected by the pandemic; “we’ve been affected financially so much, we stopped and completely shut down the entire business”. He said. Due to restrictions imposed by the national and state governments in NSW, people are currently banned from having any large gatherings, which is why weddings and other social occasions have seen their cancellation rates skyrocket. As a result, NSW weddings photographers have been hit hard as weddings should be limited to five people, including the couple, the celebrant, and witnesses.

“Couples spend thousands of hundreds to prepare their wedding, so they will not limit it for five attendees only, especially it is a one-time occasion”. Alsaboory says. However, rules have to be followed as per the NSW Government Services that photographers are listed on a highly impacted industries list. Shootime Alsaboory has consistently ranked in the top 10 in Sydney, which has been impacted the most in this situation. Accordingly, the wedding industry has seen a severe loss, including the livelihood of people who work for those industries such as wedding photographers, caterers, decorators, and planners, who have reported substantial income losses. Few businesses have reported that if the current situation continues for a prolonged period of time, it is impossible to survive the business. In contrast, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, people have either cancelled or postponed their wedding for a much longer date.

Alsaboory also stated that several wedding photography businesses have run out of resources and have gone out of business already, which stand to lose 50% of their revenue in 2021, as the number of weddings drop by half. He also stated that the loss to the business was nearly tens of thousands and continuing as clients continue to cancel or postpone their inquiries and sessions. Shootime Alsaboory is officially the winner of the Fairfield Local Business Awards for wedding services in 2020, and the finalist in the Australian Business Champion Awards for wedding services in 2021. Shootime Alsaboory handles the planning of all the major elements any couple could want for their big day, including a Luxury Wedding Package that includes everything from flower decorations, to fireworks, to limousine rentals, reception hall bookings, and many more.