I am fortunate enough to have worked in the photography industry for around 30 years and for the last 25 years have built a successful wedding photography business with a solid reputation.
In that time I have witnessed dramatic changes, not only with the advent of the digital camera, but also in the way market trends and the boom years transformed “wedding” into a major industry in its own right.
When I started, in the film days, the marriage market was very traditional. Photographers would cover the shots in one set, typically packing them into an intense, rather over-the-top hour-long session, keeping everything very stagey and formal.
Life for photographers was simpler then. The film (a fairly permissive medium in terms of exposure latitude) would be released and the prints would be delivered a week later.
The best way was to show the customer a fixed number of images to choose from those taken which would be pasted into a finished album. Neither the photography nor the final presentation were very inspiring, with little choice of albums and frames to offer customers.
The whole image of wedding photography was considered quite dated and cheesy. Times have changed, thankfully, and today there is a whole new generation of photographers working in a much more creative style, offering a wide range of intelligently designed wedding albums and finished works of art.
Of course, now we also have digital. People often remark how much easier it is with digital. I certainly found the freedom to take an infinite number of shots and instantly review them incredibly liberating, and my knowledge and understanding accelerated a hundredfold.
But the downside is that we now have to do the lab work in post-production and this is a new skill base that photographers need to understand and equip themselves with. Fortunately, technology has progressed and the new generation of digital cameras and software has made our jobs easier.
Quality concerns are much less of an issue than in the early days of digital, and the entire post-production workflow has improved significantly. In my studio I have a glass case containing a couple of old medium format cameras.
I recently added a tablet to the studio to show images of the latest weddings photographed.
Unfortunately, digital technologies become obsolete in a very short time. The objectives remain, but the camera body must be changed every 5/6 years. How things have changed and so quickly!
We've all attended weddings as guests, but being there as an official photographer requires a very different perspective. The business of being a wedding photographer is also something very unique: how to market yourself, meet a potential couple and secure a commission.
The process of preparing for the big day, including writing the plan is certainly the most important thing, your blueprint for successfully shooting on the day. On this website you will find many examples of my best work: in our gallery I offer some examples of completed weddings.
This will help you to get some ideas and hopefully inspiration as to what shots can be attempted and how much there is to consider as a photo shoot within a very short space of time in often difficult conditions.
Also consider that our work also includes post-production work, the presentation to the client, the creation of a finished album and an in-depth look at the shooting techniques, equipment and software available.
Our job is also to maximize sales by offering additional shots to the couple before and after their wedding day.
In short, the wedding photographer is a real entrepreneurial activity. Following this path is not for everyone, but if you want to try, read our blog to get some idea of what you are dreaming of becoming.
If you are a client, contact us now to book a wedding photo shoot.
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