Choosing a Photographer

At some point during the early 1990's, I was at a relative's wedding and as I watched her pair of photographers, I became very impatient as I saw what boring and predictable photos they were taking. Nothing creative, no regard for what the background looked like, missed opportunities everywhere.

I felt bad because I knew her pictures could have been so much better - more striking, more beautiful, more romantic. She would probably be happy enough with them but I knew I could have thrilled her. There were incredible lighting effects all over the church - unnoticed and unused. During the reception, they ignored the colors in the sky and the swaths of golden light across the golf course that was visible out the door and kept shooting flash pictures inside, with a background of cinderblock walls painted a glossy "institutional beige." When they asked the couple to kiss, they never noticed how consistently the groom's hand hung limply at his side, not because he didn't really love his wife, but because he probably felt "on the spot," awkwardly "performing" something that he wasn't used to having scrutinized. All that they would have had to do was to ask him to put his hand on her arm or shoulder. 

Most of what they photographed, they themselves caused to happen, and meanwhile they missed what actually was happening when they weren't forcing artificial and incongruous set-ups on the people involved.

That was in the film-only days. The Internet has changed things dramatically, since everyone can now look at any other photographer's website and try similar ideas. That's why there are now 3,000+ photographers in our area - people who have even a "hobby interest" in photography can learn quite a bit from asking questions on various forums, and can copy compositions and poses from other established photographers' websites. They can advertise for free on Craigslist and other sites, and after doing a wedding or two as a favor for a friend or relative, eventually show a portfolio of images.

It's actually a common way to get started. Personally, I had 25 years of photographic experience before I realized how much happiness I could bring to someone with their wedding pictures, especially after hearing of so many disappointments. (For instance, the loser who shot my own wedding turned out to be a convincing liar about his "experience" and actually delivered only 22 badly-exposed and out of focus proofs. Twenty-two. One of them was almost as good as the snapshots my dad and father-in-law took.) 
 
Interestingly, in a little over a year, I've witnessed three incidents while browsing at Norman's Camera Store, where someone came in and asked a clerk something like "What's a good camera for shooting a wedding? I've got one coming up in two weeks!" In one case, I heard the clerk ask them if they were getting paid to do it, and they embarrassedly admitted that they were!

Some trusting person PAID for a "wedding photographer" who didn't even know what kind of camera to use! I hope their pictures turned out better than what my wife and I got from our photographer!

It's difficult to promote yourself when you are uncomfortable with anything that sounds remotely like bragging - it always seemed like an expression of insecurity to me, and I've noticed that the people who are actually good at something have plenty of people "bragging" (unsolicited praise) for them. I do however keep all of the thank-you cards and e-mails where people tell me that their friends, relatives and coworkers made comments like "These are the best wedding photographs I've ever seen!" and things like that. Then when people ask me for references I can give them way more than they expected. (The testimonials on this site are the tip of the iceberg and I have several better ones that my wife insists people will think I made up if I post them. Seriously, dude, she won't let me post them.)

By the way, I'm not even close to thinking that I'm "the best" - there are at least twenty photographers in this area whose work often makes me think, "Wow, I wish I could claim credit for taking that," but on the other hand, most of them charge much more than I do. There are also a lot who are just as good as me, many with notably unique styles, so the most important thing you can do, if the person is reputable and within your price range, is judge by how their pictures make you feel. You will be looking at your pictures for the rest of your life, so make sure you like a person's style.

You might also want to consider whether it's just a trendy-fad style that happens to be hot right now, since I guarantee you that it will seem very dated in anout ten to fifteen years. I personally try for a "classic" (as in, always looks good) style that won't embarrass me or anyone else somewhere down the road. 

One thing I do believe is that for what I charge, you get one of the best combinations of quality, skill, experience, artistry, customer service, flexibility, and final product. One bride who recently hired me said that she had thoroughly analyzed the pricing and products of 16 local photographers whose work she liked, and while some initially seemed to be a better deal, when pressed closely for details it turned out that the next-best deal was $200 more than me for providing the same coverage and final delivered product.

By the way, I'm a bit reluctant to post my album page layouts on this site, for the simple reason that I've already encountered some incidents of people copying me. I have WAY-Y-Y-Y more creative and unique album compositions than the few you see here, which are very ordinary. The only way to see my good ones and some other unique types of photographs that I don't want everybody and their brother imitating, is to meet with me and see all of my work.

I also don't blog. I spend my time looking for ways to enhance and improve the photos I take, since there are always things that can be cleaned up, retouched, emphasized, etc., turning photos such as this one, for example . . .