Choosing a Wedding Photographer (I don't wanna).

[Darkhorse]

Hi all,
I'm marrying my lovely lady next May. We were taking a look at some photographers last night, and I'm just so bemused by the whole thing.

Firstly, from my snooty photographer's standpoint, no pictures I saw last night were that exceptional. Secondly, MAN are they expensive. Most average at least $2k. And for what? I don't need them to make prints, retouch photos, or make a book. I can do all of that myself.

Sometimes I question even having one since everyone has a camera, and I can loan out my cameras to relatives with a good eye. Candids from friends and family members are good because I'm of course comfortable around them, and they'll be in the thick of it enjoying the celebration with us and not some detached eye on the sidelines.

However, having some nice professional shots after the ceremony (maybe a couple of the ceremony) wouldn't be bad. But what is that? An hour of work maybe?

Any married photogs out there have any advice for me?

 

[ferider]

Let her pick.

If you need to save money get cheaper wine.

 

[sojournerphoto]

Let her pick.

If you need to save money get cheaper wine.

Very good advice

 

[Merkin]

if you have a local university, talk to the photography professor or professors. there may be a senior photography student or someone who has just graduated who could do as good or better a job at a more reasonable price.

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Don't try to use reason where the wedding is concerned. 🙂

 

[Gumby]

Very good advice

Taht's waht I was going to say.

So here's another thought... your wedding isn't a good time to get cheap. I paid a little less than $2K over 10 years ago for a "traditional" wedding package: formals, informals, book. It was well worth it. Out of all of the disposables we put on tables at the reception I think we only had one pict that we even remember. Of all of the family/friend shots there was only two that we actually framed and displayed. The most memorable are the pro shots taht we paid dearly for... and after many years of wedded bliss I now know how good an investment that really was.

 

[Thardy]

Get someone proven. I'd hate to read about problems you had with your photographer
on the photo.net wedding sub forum.

 

[Roberto]

Very good advice

YES! I second that.. 😀

 

[FrankS]

i understand how you feel. it's tough to give up that control when photography is so important to you/us. but you do have something more important to do that day. good luck!

 

[oftheherd]

I can't fault any of the advice above. When my wife and I got married, I had a lady from my office take shots with a camera I provided. I don't recall for sure, but I think it was a RF P&S rather than my Fujica. Of course, all the people in my office were trained investigators who had training and experience in using cameras. As it turned out, I had taken photos at her and her husbands wedding as well. We were well satisfied, but I didn't know what we would get until they were developed. The one thing you don't want is a lack of wedding photos you are happy to hang on your wall.

 

[photogdave]

I have been helping some friends choose a wedding photographer over the past few months. (I'm the best man so thankfully I'm not in the running!)
The hardest part has been to convince my friends that the more expensive photographers are worth it.
The cheaper photographers are often doing it as a "second career" and are undercutting the full time pros because they don't need to earn an actual living. Their work is clearly not as good because they are not investing the time (and money) into developing their skills.
My friends are not the types who want to frame and hang large prints of themselves on their wall, or have a big fancy album to look through. They just want to make sure the event is captured competently and they will have decent images to show friends and family who can't attend the event.
Therefore I counseled them to go with one of the pros who offer a basic "time only" package where they shoot the event and provide converted digital files on DVD. The couple can go through the images as they like, email photos to those who want them, and make their own album through any number of sources.
For those who are looking for high end photography with the option of obtaining fine quality prints and albums I think it's well worth it to pay the going rates of the full time pros who know their business and put their all into every wedding.

 

[gavinlg]

pay the money and get a good one. The good wedding photographers are expensive, but brilliant. Don't go cheap.

 

[Andrew Howes]

yes what Gavin said. Hey Gavin, you are in Brisbane too!!! Some world class wedding togs in brisbane and they are not even the expensive ones.
I used to be a wedding photographer and $2000 is too freakin cheap, up the budget and get someone really good, or dont pay anything and get someone you know to do it and dont expect too much. Not many good photographers will want to do it as a work for hire and just hand over files, its a hard and very responsible job which takes experience to be good at, and while not rocket science, does require some hard aquired skills (mainly people skills) and they want to maximise profit and a nice album is easier to justify a multithousand dollar price tag than a dvd of untouched files.

What I dont get is why experienced amateur photographers dont see the value in the images.
A good wedding photo package should have most of the important moments photographed well, some flattering portraits and a small handfull of WOW photos. It is unreasonable to expect even a very good photographer to produce a whole wedding full of competition gold award winners. There is the time constraints, lighting will often be a compromise between whats available then, and what the photog can reasonably set up in the limited time, and of course the stress levels of those around him and the usually ridiculously long list of must haves for the given time frame.

I like the idea of getting a good pro to just do some formals and family photos, I do that myself now. The operative is "good" pro, there are so many so-called or self appointed "pros" that many of the amateurs here and on dpreview could photograph rings around

 

[Darkhorse]

My fiancee is rather rational and, having grown up quite poor, knows the value of thrift. It's part of the reason why I love her, and such qualities are a rare commodity especially in Southern California.

It's going to be a small wedding. 50-60 guests. A very nice but modest and attractively priced venue for the ceremony and reception. We are a young couple and would rather spend more on a subsequent honeymoon in the South of France or going towards her education.

Neither my brother or my parents had photographers at their wedding. I see a little 4x6 print of my parents framed in their room taken by my uncle Jim that I bet they wouldn't trade anything for in the entire world. It's a sweet photo.

I'd hire the best if I could, but there other considerations.

 

[jasonhupe]

Well, just to be devils advocate here. I used to say I would never do weddings, no way, no how. And yet I am now doing wedding photography as my main source of income and my main photographic expression. So many people think we are so overpriced, but when you break down the expenses and take out the taxes out of the profit, what is really left. Even a shoot-n-burn 2K job really is not much. One wedding a week, plus the gear to shoot it, the computer and software to edit it, the insurance payment, the electric payment, the website hosting fees, the cell bill, ect, ect. In the end even if you have 1K left, 30% of that is going to self employment taxes. Bear in mind this is saying the photographer is trying to truly "run" a business and be a "professional".
Not to mention the inquiries get a little slower each year and the competition gets that much tougher because so many think they can hire cheap, or have family do it. It boils down to what is really important to you. My best advice would be to search out some photographers who work is really top notch to get an idea of what wedding photography can be. Check these photographers out
www.benchrisman.com
http://gabe.perspectiveye.com/
http://www.aperturaphoto.com/blog/
http://www.jasonqtran.com/index2.php
http://www.seanflaniganphotography.com/
http://www.brooksweddings.com/

Granted these are top tier wedding photogs, but I tell you what, if I had to do it over for my wedding, I would be giving someone like the guys above a call. I too thought my friends and family could do it. Wrong, never going to happen. No to mention, when you need someone to capture a perfect moment that requires a D3 with an 85mm F/1.4 wide open at 1/60 handheld to get the shot that will forever cherished, your cousin/uncle/friend will not have the gear, the eye, or the skill to get it.
Find a photographer that moves you and go get them. Although May is very short notice for anyone worth it.

I wish you luck.

 

[Paddy C]

I think this is a tough issue.

I might begin by determining how valuable photographs of your wedding are going to be to you. If you think (even a little) that they will be, write the cheque, hand over the coin. Because if you get people at your wedding, or the recent grad, or the guy who's into nature photography but does weddings to earn a little extra cash, you will get crap. Absolute crap. And you will be disappointed. I've seen it first hand. It can cause fights between couples.

The catch is, a lot of wedding photography, even the good stuff, tends to be very of-the-moment in terms of style, posses, and post-processing (IMHO). I really wonder how well this type of photography is going to hold up over time.

This guy is fantastic (and in SoCal):

http://www.josevillaphoto.com/

And another one:

http://jonathancanlasphotography.com/

Both shoot film oddly enough. And I feel that this approach is as timeless as you're going to get.

 

[Riccis]

As a wedding photographer, I appreciate all the great advise given here. I will be more than happy to provide you with a few names if you can be more specific about the style of photography you are looking for...

Cheers,

 

[Riccis]

Well, just to be devils advocate here. I used to say I would never do weddings, no way, no how. And yet I am now doing wedding photography as my main source of income and my main photographic expression. So many people think we are so overpriced, but when you break down the expenses and take out the taxes out of the profit, what is really left. Even a shoot-n-burn 2K job really is not much. One wedding a week, plus the gear to shoot it, the computer and software to edit it, the insurance payment, the electric payment, the website hosting fees, the cell bill, ect, ect. In the end even if you have 1K left, 30% of that is going to self employment taxes. Bear in mind this is saying the photographer is trying to truly "run" a business and be a "professional".
Not to mention the inquiries get a little slower each year and the competition gets that much tougher because so many think they can hire cheap, or have family do it. It boils down to what is really important to you. My best advice would be to search out some photographers who work is really top notch to get an idea of what wedding photography can be. Check these photographers out
www.benchrisman.com
http://gabe.perspectiveye.com/
http://www.aperturaphoto.com/blog/
http://www.jasonqtran.com/index2.php
http://www.seanflaniganphotography.com/
http://www.brooksweddings.com/

Granted these are top tier wedding photogs, but I tell you what, if I had to do it over for my wedding, I would be giving someone like the guys above a call. I too thought my friends and family could do it. Wrong, never going to happen. No to mention, when you need someone to capture a perfect moment that requires a D3 with an 85mm F/1.4 wide open at 1/60 handheld to get the shot that will forever cherished, your cousin/uncle/friend will not have the gear, the eye, or the skill to get it.
Find a photographer that moves you and go get them. Although May is very short notice for anyone worth it.

I wish you luck.

Great points... Also, I'm good friends with some of the folks in the list who definitely are at the top of their game but also way north of $2k...

Cheers,

 

[Riccis]

I think this is a tough issue.

I might begin by determining how valuable photographs of your wedding are going to be to you. If you think (even a little) that they will be, write the cheque, hand over the coin. Because if you get people at your wedding, or the recent grad, or the guy who's into nature photography but does weddings to earn a little extra cash, you will get crap. Absolute crap. And you will be disappointed. I've seen it first hand. It can cause fights between couples.

The catch is, a lot of wedding photography, even the good stuff, tends to be very of-the-moment in terms of style, posses, and post-processing (IMHO). I really wonder how well this type of photography is going to hold up over time.

This guy is fantastic (and in SoCal):

http://www.josevillaphoto.com/

And another one:

http://jonathancanlasphotography.com/

Both shoot film oddly enough. And I feel that this approach is as timeless as you're going to get.

Hmm, why oddly enough. I guess you'll think I'm a weirdo since I only using film Ms for my work 🙂

I wouldn't say that Jose and Jonathan's work is not timeless, though... Also great photographers and close friends.

 

[jasonhupe]

Great points... Also, I'm good friends with some of the folks in the list who definitely are at the top of their game but also way north of $2k...

Cheers,

The list was just meant for me to show the scope of the variety of wedding photography, and the brilliant work and beauty of what wedding photography can be.
In no way did I mean to imply that one of these photographers should be viewed as "potential" hires. I wouldn't expect one of these guys to even reply to my email for 2K. LOL.
This is my short list of the wedding photographers that inspire me and have shown me what wedding photography has the potential to be. By the way, I have viewed your work and website before Riccis, I really enjoyed all of it. You are a very good photographer.