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Ok, I don't hate Gary Fong, but I hate the inventions that he has made for the camera flash. There are two that are just horrible: the Lightsphere and the WhaleTail. If you don't know what these are, here is a picture:
Essentially they go on top of the flash to make the light softer so that you look prettier. I have no problem with diffusers as they really help, but these completely suck. Not for the photographer, not for the subjects, but for all the people around these monstrosities.
Let me get my first beef out of the way: They are both ugly. Who wants a freakin WhaleTail coming out of your camera. This isn't some rice rocket Civic cruising down the street; this is a wedding, an event. The photographer is not suppose to stand out. It isn't suppose to look like Shamu is breaching from an ocean of guests everytime the photographer gets up from their knees. We are at a wedding, not Marine World.
My second beef with these things are: They light up like a lightbulb. Seriously. The whole thing lights up like the sun. Not only do they light up the subjects, but they light up every one around it. They light up Mom to the left, Dad in the back, and Grandma up top. Every time the photographer takes a picture, you think it is distress beacon. You immediately look for a raft and life vest until you realize you are at a wedding. (Of course you are drunk, so this realization might take a minute or so.)
I have been to two weddings with photographers who use these beasts. The first one, I was just in awe because I have never seen anyone use it before. The 2nd, I was just plain annoyed. Mainly because I sat in front and sometimes the photographer would come in front of me and take pictures. After a while, I just had to close my eyes because it was getting some damn annoying. I started hallucinating and thought I was in a X-Files episode and the aliens were doing experiments on me.
In general, photographers don't use these products, but I would just inquire when you are interviewing them so your guests are not subjected to constant strobe light.
So I admit, I took advantage of the bride and groom's photographer. You know those pictures that they take as they go around the tables toasting and what not. You never see those. Unless you got someone else from another table to snap a shot, you don't get those pictures. Soooo, I took my camera and ask the photographer if he would take a picture with it. I am sure the photographer was like WTF?!?! Now, I think he would have been less WTF if it was just any point and shoot camera. Those pics aren't going to be any good anywayz. But nope, I gave a him a pro camera, better than the one that his 2nd shooter was using. So I am sure he was like, "Crap, I am not going to make any money on this table." And I totally understand where he is coming from. It is how he makes a living. That is why I think he took the picture like crap. I looked at it after was like WTF. oh well. I tried.
What was funny was that people were taking pictures of the bride and groom cutting cake. It seriously was like paparazzi. I am thinking we should ban cameras from our wedding it was so bad. There were seriously like 40 people taking pictures. Not only do you got a lot of p&s and phone cameras, but there were a couple other pro bodies there too. The photographer is trying to take the picture and all these flashes are going off like crazy. You think it was Brangelina walking by. The 2nd photographer just laughed and started taking pictures of the people instead. It was a sight to be seen.
But in all seriousness, the reason I made the comment that we should ban cameras is because all these flashes are going off and the photographer is trying to take a picture. The photographer that you paid 1, 2, 3, 4gs for. All the flashes jack up his lighting. I took pictures when he wasn't taking pictures. That is just what you do. You respect the photog because in the end, you are just going to file those pictures away while the bride and groom are going to turn out to be ghostly white because of the 20 flashes that went off when he was taking the picture.
IT IS CHAOS OUT THERE!!!
So we chose the excellent Michael Norwood to do our engagement shoot. We would have taken him for the whole sha-bang if it wasn't for this pesky thing known as a budget. We decided that since we are saving on our main wedding photographer, that we might as well spend a little more for our engagement session. So in comes M Norwood. The dude is funny and fun to talk to. He is a foodie. He has chopsticks at a sushi joint just for him. Seriously, that is bad ass. But he is just comedy. Esp dig the model face poses to get the girl the way he wants them to be. But overall, he is just a cool guy to get you to put on your sexy pose.
Oh yeah, so where did we go. We went to Laguna Beach. No we didn't see LC, although I was on the lookout. But it was fun. It was actually a good day too. I mean you come from Pasadena area and it is all gloom and doom and then head out to the coast and it is scattered clouds so it made for some good times.
But man, people are interested when they see you getting pictures taken. I think we must have gotten hit by 10 people shouting out of the car "awww how cute" or "kiss herrrrr" or something to that effect. Or if we are doing something and a car drives by, then stop and say "Do it again." What is so intriguing? Stop wasting our time!!!! I only look this good once a year mang.
Oh yeah, so since we chose our wedding photographer, here is my super duper photographer spreadsheet. I know that it isn't all up to date and the the prices are probably all stale and moldy, but hey it is a starting point right. You can basically make the assumption that everyone raised their prices the same %. Plus these prices are only starting points for some serious negotiations.
Los Angeles Photographers
Oh yeah, in the out of budget area.
I think I screwed myself. Seriously screwed myself. Prior to actually getting engaged, I followed wedding photographers. You may be wondering why. Because they provide inspiration. See I like to shoot. No, not shoot like shooting Bambi, but shooting like capturing the moment. I have been going to all these weddings so it is good to get at least some good shots for my own entertainment and these photogs allow me to train my "eye". So before getting engaged, I followed a handful of wedding photographers, all of whom are out of my budget. Now after researching and getting engaged, I follow over 20+ photographers with only 3 in my budget. How has that trained my eye? It trained my eye to know who is not very good or not very experienced to who is what I want. How has this screwed me? Because everyone I like it massively expensive. Dammit. What have I done. I have created a monster called the "Wedding Photog Blog Stalker from Mars".
How do you push aside you expectations and try to find the good in these low priced photogs? You don't. To me there is no excuse for bad composition. That is the main thing. Bad composition = bad photographer. Give me a photographer who takes great composed pictures, but post processes them terribly and I will make their pictures look like a superstar. Shoot I will make myself look like a superstar. Make my fiance look like a superstar. SUPERSTAR! SPIRIT FINGERS!
Why am I still looking at photogs? Because I don't have one. Well, had one in mind, but can't book till end of April and that is cutting it too close so have to move on. Hopefully this revisit will yield someone, although that someone is going to be higher than our first choice. Yeah it blows like Free Willy's hole.
Here are some things that I think should be established before actually taking time out of your day to meet with a photographer.
1) Price. What is your price? How much are albums? How much for x, x, and x.
2) Time. How much time do we get?
3) Availability. Duh.
4) Mileage. Is your venue within their range or are they going to charge you for travel.
5) Work. This can be in the form of their blog if you haven't seen it or some recent slideshows. If at all possible, get a full album because the pics on their site, slideshow, and blog are all cream of the crop and doesn't get you the overall representation of their work.
6) If you're brave, Negotiate. I have negotiated with photographers before even meeting with them over the phone or over email. It can be done so it doesn't have to be done later.
1-3 you will most likely get in the initial email back from the photographer, but sometimes you don't. Some like to talk to you to get a sense in which case negotiations become a lot easier.
Don't waste time. Get the facts.
I went off on a rant before about someone's professionalism here and after the meeting I am 100% we are not going with them, so now it is time to reveal who the vendor is. Drum rolllllllllll please....and the winner is: Zenia Photography. So I got to admit, I wanted this to work, but it just couldn't. I even got a little sneaky and ran a test. I emailed her with another email to see how long it would take her to respond now that she is off her "baby vacation" and she responded within two days. So not bad, not spectactular, but reasonable. I hear she is a nice person. I her she is girly. If that is your thing, then she is your girl. But don't expect lightning responses. Except to wait. Except to be left hanging. Beware. I warned you.
Also her pictures on her site are nice. Nice enough to warrant an interview. Then you see the whole thing and it falls apart. You can never judge a book by its cover, always ask for a full album to see everything!
Seriously! Seriously? Seriously!
Yeah I know who I sound like, but seriously. I thought you died. I thought you went to heaven. Heck maybe you went on a world wide vacation. You don't email. You don't blog. You don't even phone. Where on earth could you go? Yes I know you are preggers and congrats to that, but you aren't giving birth or anywhere close to it, so why are you MIA. This is the modern world and you have a blog and a website so you must have a computer and an email program. Do you check it on a daily basis? I bet you do. I bet you check it 3, 4, or even 5 times a day. You are a professional right? Not an amateur I think. You will charge me money if I choose YOU, so shouldn't you impress me? Is business really that good? You make that much money that you don't want mine? I know you said that you won't be accepting new clients till Dec, but does that mean you don't respond till Dec either? I wrote multiple times on multiple dates. I even called. I feel like a stalker now. If I didn't like your work so much I would openly bash you twenty times over. Post after post about lack of professionalism. Maybe you should read the post about 3 old. Learn a thing or two. Take a hint. Improve.
Get this! I call and you don't call back. You email. Seriously? The only thing I got from calling you was that I learned how to pronounce your name. So you write, woo hoo! 9am meeting? At your place? Seriously? So now you don't write, don't call and I have to drag myself out to YOUR place early? And on a weekend when I should be sleeping in! Not even half way? You that lazy? Must be since you don't call or write.
3 months I have been in pursuit. Seriously? You better not f'ing disappoint.
Seriously?
I've got this phatty list of wedding photographers ranging from out of budget to in budget. I have left out the way out of budget because if you need that list then you are reading this for humor. So the question is where to you do find the dirt cheap photographers. Those photographers who will charge you less than $100 and hour. Where else do you go for cheap stuff? The Goodwill of the internet of course: Craigslist.org. Yes, hop over to the classified ads king of the internet and go to "For Sale" and search for "wedding photographer" or "wedding photography" and someone may pop up. Hey, if it don't work one week then try again next week. I did this a while back after I had exhausted my resources and didn't do it again until this week. In my search for camera equipment a wedding photographer with the right keywords popped into my RSS reader and the pictures looked good enough to warrant a look (I may also add that her price was pretty darn low also). So if you ever need to find someone cheap you might want to look at Craigslist.
Just another tip is that if you are looking for super cheap, check out your local photography, art or community college and post a listing outside the classroom door and some student who wants to build a portfolio may contact you. If anything they might give you a free shoot.
Also I don't recommend having a friend shoot your wedding unless A) you are dead ass broke and can't afford new shoelaces for your shoes in which case I don't know why in god's earth you are having a wedding that will put you in the hole FOREVER B) your friend is a studly photog who is offering his services as a wedding present in which case I want to befriend them on Facebook so hooooook it up C) your friend is a half stud who has done a wedding before and will willingly take the job knowing that he can't have fun at the wedding with his friends and will sacrifice his whole night of getting wasted on your dime for you D) well there is no D, so those 3 reasons are the only way I would let a friend shoot my wedding and so should U!
This post is for all those people looking for wedding photographers.
You can always distinguish a wedding photographer and how long they have been in the business or how much professionalism one has based on their mannerism and communication skills. I think it is very important for the photographer to exhibit some qualities of professionalism because it is that same professionalism that they are going to bring to the job. So bear in mind there are many things that can be deemed examples of professionalism, but these are some of mine that I am looking for and have found.
1) Responding to inquiries in a timely manner. If you are a professional wedding photographer who shoots digital you have one of thing: a computer (duh!) and you might have another: blackberry (or as like to call it some delicious crackberry). Both of which are hooked up email. If you are a pro with your own website, your website email is either hooked up to your webmail or outlook/thunderbird/stupid mac mail. Point is they are always hooked up to their email. So if you send an email asking for pricing, a week is a good amount of time for a response. If you want to set up a meeting, 48 hrs is a good response time. But no response is not a good thing. What is the point of posting the email address or having a form if no one is going to answer it? I have emailed tons and tons of photographers and yet I have people who don't respond. If they don't want the business, then at least respond saying so. Then I have 1 guy who responded with vague pricing and so I emailed him back and he dropped all lines of communication (I know he didn't die because he is still blogging [Matthew Saville Baldon you have just been called out!]). Respond to your damn email you high priced rip offs.
2) Follow up emails are always a pleasant surprise. I say surprise because not a lot of people do it. I mean I know for the top guys they get so many inquiries that they don't need all the business so letting it slide is not a biggy. You generally see this from the smaller fish who need to fill the books. This is a nice little thing. It would be nice to see the big fish do it because maybe they can send out some referrals if prices are too high or unavailable. It is always nice to get referrals from other people in the business because they know talent.
3) If meeting, it is nice to call if going to be running late. It is a meeting, it is an interview, so better to be on time. You want them to make as good of an impression on you as possible otherwise why would you want to work with them.
4) A beverage offer is always nice. They should be trying to impress you and most of the time you are meeting them at a coffee shop or outdoor deli. They should offer to buy you a beverage. Meetings can go from 30 minutes to 1+hrs. During this time you might get parched and so it would be nice if you could have something to drink. Most big name guys do this because they know. It is the smaller guys that you don't get this treatment. It is what separates the pros from the wanna pros.
5) Show off your work. So maybe bringing a laptop is overkill but it is always a nice addition for someone to see your work. You should see an album at least. A plus would be if you saw a proof book to see the entire wedding so you can get a look at all the photos and not just the best of the best.
6) Post summary emails of meetings. We may not always be able to take notes during meeting or may not get everything so it is always nice to get this. We have met with 3 photogs and 1 has done this. This is very professional and gives a follow up to see if there were any unanswered questions.
These are just some things that I look at beyond body of work, price, and offerings. Most important is that you like the person and they have drive and motivation. Like they say you will be spending the most time with them and if you don't like anything about them, then cut them loose.
P.S. If you need a cheap, but good photographer, hit me up and I will send you some people who I think are worth more than their money.
So I have emailed two photogs that I want to meet with. I emailed them a while back to get pricing information and started a back and forth with them a couple of times. Well then the line went dead. I was still collecting information and evaluating who we wanted to meet with. So now that we are all ready to meet with them, I sent them emails (b/c who doesn't check their emails) and now I never hear back. WTF? Do you not want money? So now should I email them again? Wait some more? Or just do it the old fashion way and call and ask where da F have you been?
This is how I view this. Sept is a slightly off season month. These photographers I am pursuing may not be full timers but looks like they want to be. So I would think most of them work little jobs not making any good coin so they pad the income by shooting weddings. Well why don't they take business 101 and if inquired, they shall respond. Hmm...what to do what to do...I will probably call them this weekend if I don't hear from them on Sunday because I want to meet with them and if we don't like them, then that just means a higher priced photog at my wedding and not necessarily better.
Blah!
I am officially out of photographers to find. I have found all the people that I possibly could have found with the resources available to me. I have found really good ones and really bad ones. Hopefully I end up with a better than good one for a great price. Only time will tell. Let the interviews begin!
going on. I think my downfall is too much research. Just when I think I am done, I think, hmm...I wonder if there is more. So I search out for more. Find some through photographers' blogs and other site. I just went on the Wedding Bee boards and was referred to wedding wire. Crap, another source. So going through 160 photographers so far, I got about 10 that I would consider. Now off to the races again.
One thing that is good is that I will have a monster list of photographers that I consider better than just average and borderline pretty good where most of them are under 3K for the fixings minus albums.
The list will be another resource for budget brides in Los Angeles.
After looking at the good, the bad, the new, the experienced; I have seen a few things that would make me more prepared to become a fulltime photographer. Here are my thoughts:
"Wedding photography is 50% composition, 25% post processing, 25% marketing"
You can always tell who is new by their web presence. Now a lot of photographers have BluDomain as their site creator and host provider. Ain't nothing wrong with that and it is a great way to get a web presence. The only problem I have with is the lack of branding. When you load a site you know that it is BluDomain by 1 of 2 things: there is a star as the website icon and the title of the page isn't branded. I know most people aren't the most web savvy, but you have to be in this day and age because people aren't going to pick up the phone book and call around for a photographer. People are not going to contact someone unless they know what they can do. Also, most of the top photographers have a blog. It keeps the audience engaged. You post the newest of the new and let them see how your style and skills are changing and improving with each wedding. This is a great tool to interact with your customer base. The best part of about having a good web presence to hide the lack of experience. If your site is crazy good, then people might think you are a seasoned vetern who knows what they are doing. For example, Jasmine Star, has only been shooting solo for 2 yrs, but her sites look like she has been doing it for awhile. Get some portfolio building shots from being a 2nd shooter with some of the big dogs and then use them on your site. Another thing is being personable. Everybody loves and remembers a photographers who gives the impression that you are inviting and friendly. They can get the same feeling through a website through videos or goofy pictures.
Another way you can tell is by the post work. The newer photographers can't achieve what the better photographers can achieve because their skills in Photoshop and Lightroom aren't as good. There are plenty of actions available to aid you in creating a style that will appeal to lots of customers. Spend the equity and by Kubota, Totally Rad, MCP, or Red Leaf actions. The creativity and time savings that these give you can take the presentation of your photography to a whole new level.
Composition is the key to a great wedding photographer. You either have it really good or you have it so so. Train that eye and you too will be pulling in 25k a wedding.
So during my time emailing photographers, I have gotten some big quotes and some more budget quotes. Some of the people that I have emailed I knew that they would cost a lot of money, but little did I know how much some of these photographers are charging. Here is a sample email that I got from one photographer:
Thank you for your interest in Joe's Really Good Photographers. As of right now we are available on 9/12/2009. We customize every package
after we discuss your needs, but just to give you an idea of our
services I'll list a typical wedding packages below:
Joe Photographer
Engagement Session
Rehearsal Dinner Coverage (up to 4 hours)
Wedding Day Coverage by Joe Photographer and 2 assistants (up to 10 hours)
The Japanese Album (100 images)
Online Proofing with Pictage
Bound Proof Books
Package Price......$25,000
So this guy charges more than my whole budget and his photos aren't even that good! Talk about bloody murder. I could hire 2 photographers from my top list and still come out ahead. What a douche.
When you are on a budget, you have to make compromises. One thing I thought wasn't possible was to go under 5K for a photographer. I just thought that is how much it cost. The wedding photographers range anywhere from 6K-20K for your great day. Is it worth it? Hmm...maybe. Well because I am a cheap ass, no it ain't. But if I was Joe Blow Millionaire, then heck yeah I would drop some coin on Villa, Becker, the Bebbs, Jessica so some people like that.
So I have gone through Project Wedding, WPJA, WPD, and friends and come down to a list of 60 photographers that are acceptable and start within our price range. From that I am down to about 49, half of which haven't returned my emails, so say half of those are out of range, I will end up with about 30 photographers to choose from. From what I have been looking at, there is a complete difference between those who start at 4k to those who start under 3k.
After looking at over 100 photographers, once you hit their website you can just tell if they cost bux or not. Just the website is fantastic. The picture quality is great. It is in the details, got to tell you, it is in the details.
This is probably one of the better sites that I stumbled upon: Jasmine Star
You think I can barter for a discount on someone's services. With photography, it is always about the latest gear, the newest body coupled with the best lens. Since lenses don't get updated that often, offering a photographer a lens to borrow doesn't really interest them. But if I could offer them a new body that they might not be able to afford, maybe they will entertain me? Say I was going to get the new 5D Mark II and offered to someone who only had the first 5D or even someone shooting with a 40D (I would never hire them). Maybe use it for a couple of months or a few months and give me 500-1K off?!?!?! Sounds like a plan. If you don't know what the new 5D is couple of check out this video by Vincent LaForet.
I know this is the digital age with photography. Everyone basically has a camera. My 2 month old cousin has a camera, but keeps frying it because of all the drool. With a digital camera, a lot of people are getting into photography. Amateur photographers are taking pieces of the pie that used to belong soley to the professionals. As you attend more and more weddings, you start to see more and more Digital SLRs out and capturing memories.
This is why I wouldn't let friends shoot a wedding:
1) If they are your guest, then they don't enjoy the wedding because they feel that they have to impress you. Granted you may say that there is no pressure b/c I told them to relax and just shoot some of the moments and that the friend is still having fun. B to the S. If I were to shoot a wedding, I would totally feel pressured because this is your friends big day, the day that they hope only to go through once and live forever. That is a lot of pressure to capture those moments.
2) Most (almost all) friends don't have pro gear.
Photos just don't look good because they have an SLR with a kit lens. That stuff takes massive investment. You see pros with 2 bodies costing around 2700 each, one wide angle lens costing 1300 and another telephoto costing 1400. Then you got flashes one each costing 400 a pop. Just for the basics you are talking about a 8K investment. Unless the friend has money to blow, they ain't going to have all that gear. The right equipment shows.
3) On board flashes suck
Google it. On board versus external. Direct vs Bounce vs Diffused. Stuff makes a big difference.
Now your friends may get a lucky shot or two, but the pro will get like 400 or so.
Go pro!
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