Archive for Wedding Photography – Page 3

Tying The Knot: Managing New Clients

By Milton Gan
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

One thing we must never forget as wedding photographers, is that while we gain more and more experience and knowledge about the industry with each wedding we shoot, every new enquiry we get is from a couple going through the planning process for the first time.

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→

Categories : Make Better Photographs, Wedding Photography
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Bridal Portraits and All The Fun That Goes With Them

By Robert Hillis
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

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→

Categories : Make Better Photographs, Wedding Photography

Tying The Knot: Self Assessment

By Milton Gan
Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

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→

Categories : Make Better Photographs, Wedding Photography
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It’s The Little Things that Matter in Your Wedding Photography

By Robert Hillis
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

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.

Read More→

Categories : Make Better Photographs, Wedding Photography
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Tying The Knot: Three Steps To Networking Nirvana

By Milton Gan
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

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→

Categories : Make Better Photographs, Wedding Photography
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A Wedding Photographers Camera Bag

By Robert Hillis
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

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→

Categories : Make Better Photographs, Wedding Photography
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