Photoragher - Are We Crazy?

My photog was just starting her DW business and she happened to be a PV local. I got her from not much more than $1000. You can def find someone decent for that price.

Just wanted to say thanks for posting the link to my article! I posted that about two or three months ago on our website and have literally had thousands of hits from people posting it all over the web like this.

Thanks! It's always amazing how most people think that eight hours of wedding coverage means that the Photographer only works for eight hours!

I was so nervous at the start of my wedding day. I'd have to say that our photographer Matt Adcock and his assistant Diego made everyone relaxed, especially me and we got amazing photos. He was already familiar with the area, resort, etc., knew the best lighting at what time and in what area.

 

If your friend's son already has those people skills and can confidently give direction to a unsure bride, her family, bridal party, etc. then it would be worth it.

 

But if he didn't, then I'm nervous just thinking about it!

 

Two of my guests are professional photographer/videographers and they were also taking pictures/video but knew I wanted someone like Matt, he's a professional, knows weddings and the area.

That's also a very important factor. On the wedding day the B/G are basically told what to do the entire day. In many cases the Photographer and Wedding Coordinator (if there is one present) end up running / directing most if not all of the day. If you have a Photographer who is wishy washy or just hangs out and waits for everything to happen, it can lead to a pretty chaotic day, and you may end up with less good photos from your day.

 

Small weddings aren't nearly as bad, if it's just 20 people on a beach, probably not a big deal. But for an all day wedding, my Wife and I are often the ones running the show.

 

One other thing to consider is the conditions. If you're getting married on a beach in bright sun, that is one of the most difficult conditions to shoot photographs. If the person shooting doesn't know what they are doing, the quality of the photos may suffer greatly. It's very difficult to get the lighting right in open sun.

 

Good luck!

Oh you are SOOO welcome! Thanks for writing it, it just says it all... better than I could ever explain it. Your right people just assume that the images are magically put onto to a CD, Website, or printed... Weren't wedding photographers rated by Forbes the most overpaid profession.... lol!!!! Yeah right, I do weddings to pay my day bills because with the studio alone I can barely do so....

Yeah, and the original article went into even greater detail, covering things like mortgage / rent for studio space, utilities, insurance (which many Photographers don't have), travel expenses (hello, gas is over $4.60 a gallon here) and silly frivolous things like health insurance.

 

But I was told by several people that it was too much because those things are not tangable to the customer, so they're not sympathetic to them. So I took those out.

Here is a update... Thanks for all the feedback. I first off can not believe that my FH really is still considering this as he is the one who says pictures are very important 10 out of 10. For me it is not that important. The problem is not money I mean we are not looking to pay 10's of thousands as my FH just started a business I do well at work but we plan on trying to have a baby right away after the wedding so I think it would be better to save some money on it. I do not have a problem paying a couple thousand for it as we will have the pictures forever. I am still looking at other photographers and I told my FH that on Monday I want to book someone as time is flying by and its our last big decision and I want to check it off my list. So we shall see if our friends son can do the demo for us this weekend otherwise we will go with one of the other photographers. I will keep you posted!!!

wow really?

Thats not my style at all. Its not my wedding, Im not telling anyone what to do, I don't get paid to direct the wedding, I get paid to document it. Its the bride and grooms special day and Im not going to spend the day directing them. I simply let the bride and groom do as they have spent countless hours planning to do and Im just there to capture it. Im not bossy, in fact I hate bossy people. There are only two parts of the day where Im gonna assert myself some what, during the family formal session and then I give the bride and groom some direction during the "couples session." Other than that, Im a photojournalist that's having fun. I love to laugh and joke as much as the next person, and I love being around people having the best day of their life, but Im not going to try and control it. I've learned from some very well respected photogs and thats how they do it.

Ok, example. We meet the B&G at their hotel prior to the wedding to shoot photos of them getting ready, and then formal photos of the B/Bridesmaids and G/Groomsmen outside before everyone leaves for the wedding location.

 

Who's in charge of telling them when it's ok to come down for formal photos, and making sure that the Groom doesn't see the Bride?

 

After the wedding is over, who's in charge of organizing all of the people who are supposed to be in the formal photos? Do we just tell the B/G "Ok, time for group pictures, you get everyone together and we'll just stand here and wait for them".

 

Heck, 90% of the B/G that we've photographed don't even know what to do when it's time to cut the cake - and they ask us "what do we do, where do we stand?"

 

If we want to be sure to get a good angle and a good photo of the boquet toss, don't we coordinate with the DJ to make sure that we're in position when it happens, or do we just hope that we get the shot from wherever we happen to be at the time?

 

I think most people want direction on their wedding day, at least to some degree. The whole thing is so overwhelming and it goes by so fast, everything is a blur.

 

Again this is more true for big, all day weddings than the small destination beach type of wedding where everything is done in one hour and there are only 25 people.

 

The OP was asking if they should hire a friend's Son who "has taken a few classes in photography". While I don't doubt his abilty to take a decent picture, I think people should be aware that there is much more to wedding photography than just pushing a button on a camera.

I agree. You don't want to be bossed around, but the B&G do often turn to the photographer for guidance. I've been a BM many times & a good photographer really makes the evening run smoothly. maybe it's just having someone around who totally knows how a wedding runs to help you out. I have only been in one wedding with a day of WC & she did that.