Author Archive for Robert Hillis – Page 4

Creating A Beautiful Engagement Session

MOYL EngagementEngagement photo sessions can be a very rewarding experience for your wedding photography clients. I like to tell my clients that engagement sessions are great for them because it gives them a chance to just take a break from wedding planning and spend a couple of hours focusing on each other and remembering that the whole reason they are doing this crazy event is because of each other. Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating a wedding engagement session for your client.

Make sure the environment is a reflection of the client. These photos are really for the client to enjoy and send out to friends and family before the wedding. They should be a reflection of the clients personality and interest and not the photographers. Talk with your client. Throw out some suggestions of places you like to shoot and see what they think. Many times they will surprise you with ideas of their own. I am based in San Antonio and we have a beautiful downtown area. I love to shoot there because no two shoots are ever the same and the client will get a fun, energetic, one of a kind engagement session.

Let their personality show through. Let them just have fun together and capture those moments. Don’t be too strict in your positioning as that will come out in your photos. You want to let them be as natural as possible. Lots of kissing, lots of touchy feely. You’ll find it makes them relaxed and your photos will have a truly emotional connection show through. Read More→

Dealing With Amateur Photographers During a Wedding

I’ll never forget the first time I had to deal with other photographers at an event. I was standing next to the altar waiting for the ceremony to start. As soon as the music stopped suddenly there were 15 other amateur photographers up at the front taking photos. I literally had to fight for space and for shots. It took me by surprise and I had to adjust my thinking with how to deal with other photographers when I am the hired gun. Here are a few tips that I use.

Talk with your client. Explain to them that they are hiring you for this event and while you want your guests to enjoy the photos they also want to make sure that guests don’t disrupt the event. Ask them to have an announcement made that you will be the photographer for the event and to please stay in their seats during the ceremony and that you will make the photos available for purchase to friends and guests. Doing this can eliminate having to fight for space.

Work around other photographers. Remember that even though you are the professional you  don’t want to step on the toes of the guests of your clients. Politely ask if you could switch positions with them. Many times they are unaware that they are in your way and are more caught up in the event and have no problem moving. Read More→

Why You Need a Professional Wedding Photographer

Wedding photography is the most important part of any wedding event.

We as photographers know this to be true but how do you convince your client? How do you sell them on the idea that if they are going to spend money anywhere they need to spend it on a good photographer? There’s several ways you can do this like throwing a few packages at them and see if they go for anything. Try and figure out their budget and work something into the amount that they feel is reasonable, or you can try my approach. I try to sell them on the fact that what I offer will outlast everything else.

A wedding is a once in a lifetime event. You may get married more than once but every wedding truly is a once in a lifetime event. Think about it for a second, never again at this moment, at this place in time, will these two people be standing in the same place, repeating the same words, with the same love and intensity as they do in that exact moment. This moment is a memory to be cherished for their entire lives and they are sharing that moment with their closest friends and family. A wedding photographer captures that moment to be shared by generations of this couples family to enjoy. What I, as a wedding photographer, offer my clients will stand the tests of time itself. Read More→