4 Reasons to hire a professional wedding photographer

[lone pilgrim]

I wrote an in-depth blog post on my website explaining why I think couples should hire a professional wedding photographer rather than ask Uncle Bob to take their photographs.

Here's the blog post.

What do you think? Have I covered everything? Do you agree?

[paulr5604]

Re: 4 Reasons to hire a professional wedding photographer

Looks good but I have spotted a mistake sorry

"Professional wedding photographers can charge anywhere from £500 up to £3000 or even more, so why now just ask uncle Bob? He has a big camera and he posts some good photographs on Facebook so he can photograph my wedding, right?"

[GORDH]

Re: 4 Reasons to hire a professional wedding photographer

I think you've covered it there lone pilgrim, the only question I'd ask is what constitutes a professional wedding photographer?, I used to work full time for a local studio doing portraits and weddings and we had two extra independent photographers work on Saturdays to cover extra weddings, their work was exemplary yet neither were college trained they were just competent amateurs who over time had developed their skill and style, they could be relied upon to produce the goods professionally week in week out yet would they be classed as professional just because they were getting paid ???

Three years ago I attended my nephews wedding and the photographer was a friend of a friend of theirs who did the wedding, she said she'd do it cheaper as she sort of knew them so she charged £800, she came recommended by friends, she had a pair of 5D MKII's and a plethora of "L" lenses, I was watching her go about her business and was astounded at what she was doing... as it was a dull day and a slight drizzle so she took all the images indoors with flash, not only that she didn't bounce the light of the white ceiling/walls nor use a reflector/modifier just sat it on top of the camera pointing directly at the subjects, every one was taken against a white wall with lighting sconces behind, sadly I didn't have my camera with me and was too far to go back but my brother did, so I borrowed his and had a word with the couple to explain what I was doing, I managed to redo a lot of them some out doors using her white brolly (shot in raw) ie getting out of taxi, bridesmaids, groups etc

It took her 11 weeks to give the pics back to the happy couple all with a colour cast,virtually all were crap, I had mine back to them within 3 days edited, they never used a single one of hers, not because I'm good no because she was crap they were more than happy with what I'd done, I gave them a disk with all the images edited for free as its my brothers son, they had originally asked me to do it but its not something I particularly enjoyed then even less so now, there's a lot of pressure at a wedding you cant go back and repeat if something goes wrong

Moral to this story, do the research look at various wedding photographers work, go visit them ask to see their latest wedding pre edited so you can see how competent they are, a wedding is an expensive investment and it is an investment as these images are the record of your very important life changing day don't ruin it by listening to someone who says they used someone whos' cheap and good as the two dont usually go hand in hand, be sensible and do the research, Just realised......... I was the uncle Bob lol

Kind Regards
Gordon

[ColytonJohn]

Re: 4 Reasons to hire a professional wedding photographer

My daughter is getting married in September but I don't know what plans she's made for a photographer. Dress, veil, shoes, bridesmaids, their dresses, flowers, reception, table decorations, food, drink, hen night and transport are all sorted but the photographer she's been ominously quiet about.

I hope she (or her bloke) have something in hand because I've attended enough weddings to know how hard the pros have to work as Lone Pilgrim says so I'm not going to do it. No, I'll be at the back of the room arm-in-arm with her new father-in-law killing a bottle of Talisker

Cheers,
John

[lone pilgrim]

Re: 4 Reasons to hire a professional wedding photographer

Thanks for reading!

Some people define being a professional photographer is earning at least half of your income from your field. I disagree because that doesn't cover most of the points I made in my blog. In my opinion a professional is someone who takes all that I've written about into account and decides they can deliver what the couple wants. In that respect an 'amateur' may be more competent than a 'professional.'

I was Uncle Bob too and I'm transitioning to a professional so all of this is flying around my head.

PS I've corrected the typo.

[bobowen]

Re: 4 Reasons to hire a professional wedding photographer

Absolutely spot on!

As a part timer proof reader can I point out 2 more typos -

Repetition

If you want a wedding album then your photographer will need to select the photographs that best tell tell the story of the day in the space available and design the album, which can take another day or two.

Missing apostrophe

There's not just gear to consider, though. What if one of your guests tripped over your photographers tripod and broke a leg? They might sue your photographer for damages and if they aren't insured they could go bankrupt.

And why take my name in vain

Bob

[Paulstw]

Re: 4 Reasons to hire a professional wedding photographer

The word 'professional' in photography is thrown about an awful lot. Some buy a DSLR from Argos and create a site and just slap 'professional photographer' on their site for added credibility. In order to full fill the necessary criteria for some journalist press passes you must prove that you earn more than 50% of your salary from photography. I think this has been thrown in by folk to gauge who is pro and who isn't, but it's not a bad measurement to go by, because you're what they call a 'working pro'

Having a blog on your site is good. I have one too. It adds substance to what can be a vast array of shots in galleries. However, the post you've linked to, for me, gives the sense of "I'm a pro and this is what it takes" and looks like you're trying to put off any would be 'Uncle Bob'. If I had gone into the gallery and seen 10-20 galleries of different weddings spanning years then I'd be like, yeah that's a solid bit of advice right there.

However, from the outside it just looks like a bit of a scare tactic for new folk getting into wedding photography, and also a wake up call for those thinking of using Uncle Bob or someone less experienced. The latter might actually be the purpose to the blog post. Nothing wrong with that.

It's not a criticism in anyway to how you do things. You go about it how you like, however, it was just how it came across to me. We were all Uncle Bob at one point, even the best were. Some one gave them a chance, a place to start and it grew from there. Spending thousands on gear is not a ticket and most clients don't care or even know about half the gear we use.

I think you have a very professional approach to it, it shows in your images for the clients, not to take anything away of course. I know a few photojournalist staff photographers in glasgow who do weddings as a sideline. They don't really tend to mention professional in any of their online media, it's usually a label that's given by others based on the whole package rather than a personal milestone to get to.

[antoeknee]

Re: 4 Reasons to hire a professional wedding photographer

Words like 'professional' really don't mean a great deal. Its like food items that have 'improved' plastered all over them, does that mean they were rubbish before and just because they are improved are they any good?

I think anyone getting any form of photography done should look for recommendations from someone who has used them and see examples of their work. After all its usually quite a substantial outlay for wedding photography and normally a one time event (hopefully) so do some research and don't let labels and flashy websites be the only criteria.

[Fr1so]

Re: 4 Reasons to hire a professional wedding photographer

There is another reason why you should not take uncle Bob. If something goes wrong, you have troubles with the familiy. And what do you pay him?

And I think that invited family members should enjoy the wedding without the stress of taking the officaial photo's. At the evening party of our wedding, I asked my brother in law to take that evening photo's. And he maked almost more than 500 photo's. He is a pro-amateur, with all the 'big' lenses from Nikon.

[lone pilgrim]

Re: 4 Reasons to hire a professional wedding photographer

I've corrected the typo's there Bob, thanks for reading so closely! Sorry for picking on your namesake.

Great points Paul. I am/was Uncle Bob and as I am transitioning to professional a lot of this stuff has been on my mind as I ask myself if I have what it takes. I wanted to write it down and get it out there. I have already been asked why I charge so much for 1 days work and I am at the low end of the charging scale, so if that happens again I plan to point people to this blog.

I am also making a more concerted effort to blog, and opinion pieces are the ones that tend to have the greatest reach which will hopefully help my visibility. Unfortunately I don't have 20 weddings worth of images to display, so I have to interest people in different ways until I can just promote myself through my images.

Good point Fr1so. It's a lot of pressure on Bob and if he feels obligated to take it on there could be trouble. He should point people to this blog post so he doesn't explain it all.

[DeeGee]

Re: 4 Reasons to hire a professional wedding photographer

Like the blog. Uncle Bob might have an argument with Auntie Muriel that morning and decide he is not into weddings at all and just want to get pie-eyed.

[Chris J]

Re: 4 Reasons to hire a professional wedding photographer

I've always thought that amateurs are people who practise until they can get it right whereas professionals are people who practise until they can't get it wrong..... I'm sure that applies to wedding photographers.


Cheers, Chris.