The importance of choosing the right kind of Photographer

Every week there seems to be new tales of couples booking a Photographer to capture their special day and taking a gamble on price versus quality and being found wanting.  Here is the latest I have seen, although it's source can be questionable as is the detail in the report, it highlights what appears to be a growing trend: 

Couple-sue-snapper-for-big-day-woe

What it does show that people are willing to take a gamble on what is likely to be their lasting physical memory of the day, arguably your conscious mind will retain the events of the day and last you a life time, but you can't pass on a memory items as a family heirloom, where as you can pass down the physical Wedding Album or DVD slideshow.  When looking at the selection of your Photographer for the day, do your research well and do not book on price alone.  Planning your Wedding should be fun and exciting, although there will be times of stress and anxiety thrown into the mix.  Here are some points to consider as you work your way through the mine-field of the Wedding Photographer selection.

What experience do they have?

Ask the question, do they have examples of real Weddings for you to view or are they all examples from Model Bridal shoots.  Whilst Model Bridal shoots are fine, we all started somewhere, it would imply they have limited experience in real Weddings and therefore should be telling you such information, it does't mean you shouldn't book them, just be cautious of the price they ask versus the experience they offer.

What is included in the Price?

This is a very challenging question as most Photographers sell their services in different ways, I personally charge for my time and my Albums/products separately so it becomes an A La Carte approach.  What you must make sure is that you understand what you are getting for your money.

 Details of how the Photographer will work for you?

After all the Photographer you are ultimately paying for, is there for the day at your expense, how does he/she go about the day, what advice can they offer for the day to run more smoothly from a Photography perspective.  What involvement will they have with you in planning this auspicious day, will they deliver what you think you want, how can they enhance your expectations? 

What happens if the Camera breaks on the day?

The answer to this is that they will bring out the spare one!  People who are serious about capturing your special day will try their utmost to ensure that nothing causes you concern.  As a minimum they should have 2 camera bodies and lenses to cover this eventuality and they should also have insurance to cover the really unfortunate event that multiple equipment failures occur.

What about insurance?

All professionals should have in place Professional Indemnity insurance and Public Liability insurance to award you some piece of mind that if things do go wrong, then there is somewhere to turn.

The things that get overlooked!

Unfortunately like many other trades, people only ever look at the cost and say wow thats going to be expensive, what they don't consider is the true cost of running a Photography business and the time and effort to attend the Wedding day.  When I turn up to a Wedding I bring many thousands of £ worth of equipment to capture the event, the images are then processed and stored on many more thousands £ equipment.  There are the insurances, equipment replacement costs, transport costs, the extensive training undertaken to be skilful in capturing your event.  The actual time it takes to capture the Wedding, whilst the Wedding Day is just one day, depending on your cover options it last for anything up to 12/14 hours, add this to the pre wedding activities, pre Wedding shoot, the post Wedding processing, album design, image delivery and the Post Wedding presentation, it clearly covers more than just one day.  Also remember the Photographer is probably the only supplier from your Wedding Day that will supply you with something to hold, beyond the Wedding Day. i.e the church will no longer be available to you as your event, the flowers are likely to have died, the reception drinks consumed, the food eaten, the cake demolished and the DJ moved on to their next event. 

Photography may not be the highest priority for you, that's fine.  Stick to your guns and book something that you would be happy with for the budget you have allocated to that service.  If you take the gamble with this service, be prepared for it to go wrong and remember the potential outcome and the loss you may incur.

A New Year begins

So here we are then 2013, last year seemed to fly by.  With a new year comes an updated Web Site, the main changes are the inclusion of a Boudoir section due to the rise in this Genre of photography for me and by customer request, I have now added an on-line Voucher purchase facility.

Many Brides and Grooms these days, have lived together and have a place of their own, long before their Marriage and as such the old traditional thoughts of kitting their home out as part of their Wedding presents has been largely superseded.  With this in mind a number of people have said they wanted to contribute towards the Couples special day by giving a Voucher that can be redeemed by the newlyweds towards the creation of something special to remember their day by, be that a piece of wall art or a Photographic Album of the event.  These vouchers are not solely designed for Wedding Couples, they are equally as valued for someone to have a Portrait Experience.  If this is of interest to you then pop over to my website today and purchase a gift that will keep on giving for years to come.

http://www.jbmphotography.co.uk/vouchers.html

Heidi and David pre Wedding shoot

After a miserable week on the weather front, it came good for us to be able to get out and have a bit of fun in the sunshine to take some pictures of Heidi and David on their pre-Wedding shoot and discussion.  With only 5 weeks to go to the big day, all the plans are coming together nicely, lets hope the weather is kind to us on that day as well.  I look forward to capturing your Wedding and thanks for being great fun today!

Michael & Katy

Michael and Katy were in the studio and out on location today as we had the final pre Wedding discussion ready for the big event next month.  For a change the weather was on our side and having finished the paperwork part of the preparations, we were able to go out to a local spot and capture some lovely images of the happy couple.  I look forward to the Wedding in September. 

Claire and Dan pre Wedding Meeting

Despite some atrocious weather, Dan and Claire came down for their pre Wedding discussion last weekend. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the details of their day as well as talk about the style of images I offer and the images they would like. We did manage to get outside, as the studio is still under construction, under a covered walkway and whilst the surroundings were not great we got some lovely shots done. I am really looking forward to their Wedding in August.