“My style? You can call it the art of fighting without fighting”. Cool huh? That was how one of my movie idols Bruce Lee very eloquently described his style of martial arts in Enter The Dragon.
Alas I can’t describe my style of wedding photography quite as philosophically. Call me pessimistic but I don’t think “The art of wedding photography without wedding photography” is likely to win me much business!
But as we know, having a style is crucially important. As photographers it helps us to define who we are, what we stand for, and what drives us. And it helps our clients to identify and differentiate us from other photographers. So knowing your style is a fundamental building block for your new wedding photography business and it’s certainly something that I’m refining all the time as an emerging pro.
But how do you know what your style is? Is it the way you visualise, shoot and edit? Or do you go down the Bruce Lee path and consider what you don’t do as much as what you’re good at? Or is it a combination of all of the above? And if you think you know what your style is, how defined is it?
Try writing it down. Just three words will do. Oh you’re struggling? Tricky isn’t it?! Well fortunately if you want to be a wedding photographer you have three starting points already set up for you.
Brides inevitably turn to wedding magazines or websites for tips, advice and research. After all, it’s their first time being a bride (well, for most of them anyway!). Plus it’s quite possibly the first time they’ve had to hire a professional photographer and so their level of knowledge of photographic jargon is likely to be pretty low. Therefore photography advice sections of these resources aim to make things simple and so they generally use three terms to describe the main styles of wedding photography brides should consider: photojournalistic, traditional, and contemporary (or words to those effects). Consequently these are the terms that your clients are likely to search for or enquire about when they contact you, and hence you should strongly consider aligning yourself with one of these styles to match their requirements. Read More→
I’m a born and bred Londoner who decided to give up the rat race, move halfway round the world to Australia and live by beautiful Bondi Beach.
But that’s not all. I also bought loads of cool camera gear to play with then realised I could use it to make a living, and now I run a successful wedding and baby photography business.
My background in media and marketing has been invaluable in quickly establishing myself, particularly through social networking, and I’m keen to help others do the same. I also strongly believe in giving back to the community, so look out for my blog posts where I’ll be sharing thoughts, insights, and tips about life as an emerging wedding photographer.