Archive for Wedding Photography
Tying The Knot: 5 Preparations For The Wedding Day
Posted by: | Comments 
There’s a popular saying: failing to prepare is preparing to fail. And this is true.
I have my own take on it which goes: have you seen 127 Hours?! Do you realise that failing to prepare could mean the loss of your freaking arm?!
Ok, hopefully nothing that drastic will happen to a wedding photographer! But then again, screw up someone’s wedding photos and they might want to tear more than just an arm from you – without the use of knives!
So here, for your health, are 5 essential preparations for any wedding day:
1: The run sheet: this is so important it starts with a “The”! The run sheet tells you where you have to be at what time and all the little nuances of the day. Without it you’re working blind.
Ideally you should have a first draft a few weeks before the wedding so you can familiarise yourself with the day and plan your driving routes, timings, and equipment requirements. Some of this you may have already covered off if you’ve been diligent and performed a location scout.
There will be tweaks leading up to the day which the couple should keep you abreast of but the first draft will allow you to map out 95% of the day.
On the day don’t take any chances; be savvy and have a printed copy in your pocket and a backup sitting in Dropbox so you can access it on your iPhone in case of emergency.
2: Batteries: goes without saying but it’s easy to put this simple task off until you realise you don’t have time to charge them all! Camera batteries are crucial and you should have a spare for each body you’re using plus ideally a charger for each body to reduce charging time. I use two bodies and have two chargers but with 4 batteries to charge that means I still need a few hours to top them up!
And if you’re using speedlites then the batteries and spares for those will also need to be charged.
Connecting With Potential Clients At A Wedding
Posted by: | Comments
Weddings are great ways to gather new business. For one, the wedding couple has already placed their stamp of approval on you by hiring you to capture their special day. You have instant access to lots of potential clients from expectant moms, to high school seniors, to newly engaged couples, to family photos. Every potential client in one place. So how do you reach them? There’s a few different ways to do this without being disrespectful to your paid clients, the bride and groom.
One method that I like to use is the couple card. I take a few photos that I have taken of the couple and I create a 4×6 image with their photo as well as my information at the bottom. I also include my website and album information for the event. I normally print anywhere from 60-100 images and have them displayed somewhere around the sign-in table. They are 4x6s so they are inexpensive and they make great keepsakes for the wedding guests. Many times if you print more than one image people collect them. Its great branding for your business and inexpensive advertising.
Another great way is to talk to the guests. Get to know them a little bit. If you see some children dancing on the dance floor and children’s photos are your things, get a little creative with your images. Many times guests will go to the album and order photos of them from the event. Getting great shots of their kids keeps you in mind when they are thinking of new family photos.
Another great advertising piece is Facebook and other social media outlets. I know, I know, everyone uses Facebook but really it works. I have received quite a bit of repeat business and new customer business via Facebook from other events that I have posted. By posting images of your events and tagging yourself as well as your clients it gives their friends the opportunity to visit your business page and look at your work. It increases traffic to both your business page and your website. I try to only post a few images of events on Facebook and then provide a link to the entire album on my website thus driving traffic to the site. The key here is timing. You need to be quick. I always post a group of “teaser” shots from the event no later than 4 days after the wedding. This keeps the event fresh in the guests mind and the couple is usually still on their honeymoon so when they return to internet surfing they get to view some of their photos right away. This is a great advertising took and costs you nothing other than time. Read More→
Tying The Knot: Managing New Clients
Posted by: | Comments
It’s easy to get caught in the trap of assuming that clients know as much as we do about wedding photography and styles, how much professional photography should cost, why albums always rule over CDs, or which are the best wedding blogs and magazines. In reality many of them, quite understandably, don’t have a clue about wedding photography or how to book a photographer and are possibly terrified by the prospect of approaching a professional artist.
I mean, I have no idea how much sculptors charge or how to approach one for a commission. Do you? I’d probably say something like “Er, hi, I’d like a sculpture please. Nothing too big, something around 12” x 8” with some wood in it will do. How much will that cost? And does it come with a CD? Wait, why are you pushing me out of the door?!”.
So when you receive an email asking how much 3 hours of wedding photography costs and if a CD is included, exercise patience (ok, after you’ve had a deep breath and bitten your tongue!). You don’t know who’s at the end of the email or what their budget is, and the last thing you want is to end up looking like that sales assistant in Pretty Woman!
I had a similar situation very recently. An email flew in from a couple saying they’re planning a small wedding of just 25 guests and how much would it cost for 2-3 hours of photography to cover the morning ceremony?
My initial reaction was mixed. As an emerging wedding photographer I need to book as many weddings as possible for experience and for my portfolio and their ceremony was going to be at a really pretty location. But at the same time my business head said that reducing my cost based on just 3 hours of shooting would lose me money on a precious Saturday and therefore I should turn this down and hope that something on a larger scale would come along for the same day.
How would I handle the response to this enquiry? Read More→
Bridal Portraits and All The Fun That Goes With Them
Posted by: | Comments
I love doing bridal portraits. Its normally sometime prior to the event, the bride has their dress fitting perfectly; they have had hair and makeup appointments all day so they truly feel like a princess without any of the stresses of the wedding day. Bridal portraits make for beautiful images.
Bridal portraits are what brides look at and dream about their own wedding. They see a princess in every image and that princess is a reflection of their own desires. Capturing a great bridal session means preparation and research. I suggest taking the following steps to create a perfect bridal session.
First, meet with your client. In the day and age of online payments, email, and websites, sometimes we don’t meet our clients until the day of the event. If you are doing a bridal or engagement session for that matter I suggest meeting with your client and getting a feel for their personality, likes and dislikes. Many times they will rely on your expertise for location choice for the photos and you’d hate to choose a great western theme for a city girl who has never been out of town and doesn’t like dust. Personality shows through in your images especially when you are photographing subjects who are not used to being in front of the camera. If they are uncomfortable it will show.
Second, prepare your bride for the shoot. Make a list of commonly used items and send it to them so they know what to prepare for. Here is what I normally tell my brides. Read More→
Tying The Knot: Self Assessment
Posted by: | Comments
My workflow is pretty simple. I sit at my desk editing and blogging away on my Mac while it’s little brother the iPad sits next to it playing movies. I need that background noise to work. Silence freaks me out.
My iPad plays 6 movies on constant rotation, one of which is A Few Good Men. There are so many things I love about that movie, but at its core is an inspiring and motivating story about self-assessment and raising your game. Tom Cruise’s lawyer character Danny Kaffee is highly accomplished in churning out amazing plea bargains from the comfort of his office, but he ultimately takes on the challenge of a murder trial in a real courtroom, with none other than Jack Nicholson’s awesome Colonel Nathan Jessep as his formidable and aggressive witness.
I’ve been going through my own stage of self-assessment recently (albeit without murder victims or courtrooms!). It’s the end of the tax year and also the end of my first year as a professional wedding photographer, so I’ve been keen to take stock of what I’ve achieved so far and figure out whether I’ve got what it takes to not just stay in the game but also move up to the next level. To that end I entered the Canon APPA awards which was judged just a few days ago.
If you’re reading outside of Australia, the Canon APPAs (Australian Professional Photography Awards) is the most prestigious photography competition Down Under. From this contest legends are made and a select few will have bragging rights to prestigious titles such as Photographer Of The Year, Portrait Photographer Of The Year, and of course Wedding Photographer Of The Year. There are also silver and gold awards up for grabs for all high scoring images, so naturally I wanted to get involved! I mean, I’ve had nothing but positive feedback since starting my business so surely I would have a chance of coming away with an award or two, right? Read More→
It’s The Little Things that Matter in Your Wedding Photography
Posted by: | Comments
Weddings are truly beautiful, expensive, lavish expressions of a couples personalities. They spend months and months and thousands of dollars on every detail to express their love for one another at one grand gathering. As a wedding photographer there are many responsibilities that we have and it’s important for us to get the major events of the day, the ceremony, dad walking daughter down the aisle, the exchange of rings, the first kiss as a married couple. All of these things are “big” important parts of their day but what we can’t forget about are the “little big” things like the name cards that they agonized over for hours or the flowers that they went to 12 different florists before they found the right arrangement or the programs that they stayed up late at night finalizing just to make the day perfect.
We sometimes forget about the amount of effort that it takes two people to plan a wedding who normally don’t plan such events. As professionals in the business we are used to the in’s and out’s,
where to go to get stuff done, and who to avoid. For most of our clients this is the only time they have ever experienced working with these types of vendors so their road may be very difficult for them. They pour tons of energy into this expression of themselves and we as photographers need to remember that and be sure to capture not only the “big” memories of the day’s events, but the “little big” memories too. Clients choose us because of our professionalism, our artistic style, and our attention to detail. Many times, some of my best photos are not of the event itself but of parts of the day that make up the event and clients love that attention to detail.
Tying The Knot: Three Steps To Networking Nirvana
Posted by: | Comments
I’m coming to the end of my first year as an emerging wedding photographer and what a ride it’s been! From seeking my first wedding to building a brand identity and website; from running promotions to blogging for Current Photographer, it’s been non-stop all the way and I wouldn’t change a thing!
I’ve gained a huge amount of knowledge from first hand experience of running a business as well as the hundreds of hours spent learning, training and networking online.
And it’s that last point that I’d like to focus on in this post: the need to network.
For a lot of photographers and artists, it’s about being an individual and expressing their thoughts, feelings, passions. They’re happy to spend all day alone and even enjoy having a reputation for being a bit aloof. But when you make that excited decision to turn your hobby into a business you have to realise that, like it or not, it’s the business side that becomes a priority. Sure you can sit at home after shooting your first few weddings and expect that one day you’ll be discovered by a celebrity couple who are dying to have you shoot their six figure wedding. Good luck with that! The reality for the rest of us is that you have to get out there are make yourself known ‘cos bills don’t pay themselves!
Looking back on my first year there are three clear ways that I’ve made networking pay off for me and I’d like to share them with you.
1: Network with suppliers
Committing yourself to a life in the wedding industry means accepting that wedding gowns, hair styles, flowers and table decorations are going to feature a lot in your day to day conversations (in addition to “cheesecake” of course for me!). That means you need to gain the knowledge to speak intelligently to clients and peers as an informed wedding professional. And if you’re a guy this means you’re heading for one steep learning curve! So look out for regular supplier meet-ups in your area where you can get to know local celebrants, planners, stylists, florists, stationery designers and other photographers. Meet-ups are quite often organised by wedding planners as they have an intrinsic need to know suppliers who can be matched to their clients’ requirements. I go to the monthly Thursday Throwdowns in Sydney organised by Girl Friday Weddings which essentially involve catching up over a lot of red wine! But that’s the fun of networking; not only do you make useful contacts and learn loads about the various industry niches, but time builds trust and pretty soon you find yourself part of an invaluable referral system. And on top of that you also make awesome new friends who actually understand what you do! Read More→
Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – Wedding Fairs
Posted by: | Comments
Traditionally this is one if those marketing campaigns that are essential to many photographers wedding businesses.
Wedding fairs or fayres can be fruitful when it comes to getting leads but at the time they can be costly and hard to get into. You do have a couple of options when it comes to how you approaching a wedding fair.
- Play the numbers game and try and speak to ask many people as you can and collect as much data as possible.
- Try and spend time with each couple you talk to and really sell your personality as well as your work.
Both approaches work and it is possible to do both. I’ve found that at some of the bigger wedding fairs photographers go for too much of a hard sell too early. It’s just a case of creating a balance that suits your personality.
Here are a few tips to help you along the way.
- Make sure your stand screams “This is my USP!”
- Dress immaculately. A smart appearance goes a long way. In fact make sure your table is dressed to impressed, a nicely ironed table cloth is just the start.
- Don’t hide behind tables, it’s always better to be visitor side of the table even if it means moving round when people approach you.
- Don’t sit. It makes you look bored and disinterested. Read More→
A Wedding Photographers Camera Bag
Posted by: | Comments
There are a few major tools that I keep in my wedding photography bag. They are essential and necessary at every event I shoot. The first one doesn’t fit in the bag but is a necessity especially when you are shooting a large event and that is a qualified assistant. An assistant doesn’t have to be a second shooter but it definitely helps. An assistant can help carry and keep an eye on equipment. At a family member’s event in downtown San Antonio, the photographer’s second camera was stolen in the middle of the ceremony. You can never trust that your equipment is safe and an assistant can help with that. They can also help with getting the wedding party and family ready for the formal shots and can assist with second shooter responsibilities if necessary.
As far as the equipment I carry I try to keep things as light as possible. You have to remember that you will be on the move and the more stuff you have to carry the more likely you will miss a great shot. I take a small Canon shoulder bag. It’s up to you to have two camera bodies. It never hurts to have a backup and while expensive, it can save your job if one goes down during an event. I have my trusty Canon 30D, one 18-35mm Canon EF f3.5, one 70-300mm Canon EF f4, two Canon 430 EXII Speedlites, and one 580 EX Speedlite. I carry at least 30 AA batteries, a spare camera battery, and spare CompactFlash cards. Two slave flash stands. I also carry lens toilettes because you always need to clean your lens, a pen, and business cards. Read More→
Tying The Knot: TripAdvisor And Testimonials
Posted by: | Comments
Today’s post came from a pool-side sun lounger at the gorgeous Outrigger Resort in Koh Samui, Thailand. I’m here to recharge my own batteries as the Australian wedding season winds down for winter, which means I shouldn’t really be blogging but I was inspired by this wonderful place and so just had to put fingers to iPad!
If I was to list the criteria for identifying paradise, this place would tick a lot of those boxes. It’s a beautiful island with fantastic weather, but the clincher is the food! I LOVE Thai food and arrived with tastebuds deliriously salivating in anticipation of sampling the real deal!
This being my first time on the island I wanted to make sure I used my time visiting the best places to eat and so I turned to my second most favourite travel companion: TripAdvisor (my number one favourite obviously being The Lady!).
I’ve been in love with TripAdvisor for some time now. Its ability to identify the best hotels and restaurants in any area is incredible and it certainly puts your mind at rest, which is exactly what you want when you’re spending a lot of money on a relaxing holiday.
If you’re familiar with TripAdvisor you’ll know what makes it so reliable: the user generated reviews. In this time of social networking the consumer is king and wields the power to make or break companies in the time it takes to type out their customer experience in 140 characters. And due to the increased take up of user generated location based networks like Foursquare, Instagram and Foodspotting, customers are also getting into the habit of acting as brand advocates – leaving helpful tips and advice for others, such as their favourite dish or that free room upgrades are possible if you ask. It’s what I call social love.
And social love is exactly what you need your clients to show you after you have completed their work. In other words: testimonials. Read More→
