Lets talk about the nuts and bolts of wedding photography
Nov 30, 2017 00:47:07 #
Some years ago, I was on the “speaking circuit” with my professional photographer's association. I was working toward accumulating “brownie points” for my masters and I had to get a certain amount of service points for lecturing, teaching and giving workshops. Didn't get paid much but they supplied transportation and expenses when traveling. It was a fun and educational experience for me traveling away from my home base and taking with photographers in far off cities and towns. Most of the workshops I conducted were on wedding photography. So...I would tell them of my wild and crazy ways and most of my students found me very entertaining and informative but at the end of a two day session the reaction was oftentimes – kinda like: “ You do some pretty neat stuff but it won't work in my city with my customers”! A few of theses photographers, however, would contact me later and report that the have adopted some of my methods and ideas and are doing well with them and called to ask me for advice or clarify a few details.
My advice to most of theses folks is that the don't have to adopt all of my methods or policies but to just pick out the ones that they can use to improve their work and most importantly the ones that can improve their sales and profitability. It's also sensible to not make radical changes based on anyone's advice but to ease new methods or policies into their existing system on a gradual basis and see how clients react. Folks shod put their own spin on new things.
My assistant thing goes way back many decades- back to my New York days. I worked for a studio that did 2,500 events per year.- a so-called wedding factory! The studio was affiliated with many busy catering establishments as the “house photographers”. There were always staff turnovers so we were continuously training new shooters. We also always worked with multiple lighting so I usually had at least one assistant to handle lights plus a new trainee. When I finally started my own business I did not have that kind of volume but I did need staff so I continued the sane system and as my lighting became more sophisticated, all my gigs became a two to three man (or woman) job. On big jobs, I really like to have a second shooter as well.
I certainly do not want to foist my opinions or policies on anyone else or claim that my system is better than theirs. Also, when I go from one geographic area to another, granted, if find there are different buying habits, socioeconomic conditions, traditions and wedding styles. What has worked for me, however, when I move into a new area or extend my service area into other communities, I tend to go against the grain and offer services that my competitors do not. In communities were folks were used to mainly formal and traditional imagery, I introduced photojournalism as a add on service and it went over well- bigger jobs with better sales. Where the trend was all grab 'em and bag 'em- strictly gun and run, I introduced elegant formals, the fashion look and romantic casuals and again my minimum orders expanded exponentially! I am selling more wall portraits in addition to albums and other items. My theory is that you can't sell what you don't show I can also remember a time when everyone was shooting black and white only and so many reluctant to go into color thinking that prints will fade and/or folks won't spend the extra money, however, the studio that went head first into color photography took over many local markets by storm.
Some of my friendly competitors call me “old school” etc. Perhaps, but to the younger folks getting married- the clients- some of this old stuff is NEW- especially if nobody else is offering it. The most powerful word in advertising and promotion, believe it or not, is still NEW!
I am no crusader, I do what I do, I share what I do and respect what everyone else does for themselves and their clients. I do however hate to see some wedding photographers working hard at it- ain't easy work- and not maximizing their profits or somehow making the work harder for themselves. I hope that even a little of what I write or teach at seminars actually helps someone somewhere.
Best regards, Ed
My advice to most of theses folks is that the don't have to adopt all of my methods or policies but to just pick out the ones that they can use to improve their work and most importantly the ones that can improve their sales and profitability. It's also sensible to not make radical changes based on anyone's advice but to ease new methods or policies into their existing system on a gradual basis and see how clients react. Folks shod put their own spin on new things.
My assistant thing goes way back many decades- back to my New York days. I worked for a studio that did 2,500 events per year.- a so-called wedding factory! The studio was affiliated with many busy catering establishments as the “house photographers”. There were always staff turnovers so we were continuously training new shooters. We also always worked with multiple lighting so I usually had at least one assistant to handle lights plus a new trainee. When I finally started my own business I did not have that kind of volume but I did need staff so I continued the sane system and as my lighting became more sophisticated, all my gigs became a two to three man (or woman) job. On big jobs, I really like to have a second shooter as well.
I certainly do not want to foist my opinions or policies on anyone else or claim that my system is better than theirs. Also, when I go from one geographic area to another, granted, if find there are different buying habits, socioeconomic conditions, traditions and wedding styles. What has worked for me, however, when I move into a new area or extend my service area into other communities, I tend to go against the grain and offer services that my competitors do not. In communities were folks were used to mainly formal and traditional imagery, I introduced photojournalism as a add on service and it went over well- bigger jobs with better sales. Where the trend was all grab 'em and bag 'em- strictly gun and run, I introduced elegant formals, the fashion look and romantic casuals and again my minimum orders expanded exponentially! I am selling more wall portraits in addition to albums and other items. My theory is that you can't sell what you don't show I can also remember a time when everyone was shooting black and white only and so many reluctant to go into color thinking that prints will fade and/or folks won't spend the extra money, however, the studio that went head first into color photography took over many local markets by storm.
Some of my friendly competitors call me “old school” etc. Perhaps, but to the younger folks getting married- the clients- some of this old stuff is NEW- especially if nobody else is offering it. The most powerful word in advertising and promotion, believe it or not, is still NEW!
I am no crusader, I do what I do, I share what I do and respect what everyone else does for themselves and their clients. I do however hate to see some wedding photographers working hard at it- ain't easy work- and not maximizing their profits or somehow making the work harder for themselves. I hope that even a little of what I write or teach at seminars actually helps someone somewhere.
Best regards, Ed
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