Uncle Harry the wedding photographer

 

 

 

                                                      

We are not talking about Dirty Harry, but Uncle Harry. The January issue of Rangefinder magazine has an article about Hallmark Imaging’s new campaign trying to educate Brides as to why they should use a professional photographer. The ad campaign is probably needed with the economy in a downward spiral. Some Brides are going to try and save money and one area a bride may look at is in the photography. Personally, I have never understood that some brides spend hundreds maybe thousands on floral arrangements, but only a couple of hundred on wedding photography. Flowers last only a few days but good wedding photography will last a lifetime. Now, don’t get me wrong I am not against amateurs trying to become professionals. At one time we were all amateurs. Thus we approach the subject of the aspiring wedding photographer.

  I visit several photo forums a week, and once a week someone always poses a question along the lines of I have booked my first wedding, or my niece has asked me to photography her wedding. The person then asks the forum for advice on how to proceed in photographing this event, or on what books they should read to help them prepare to photograph this event. The truth being unless, you have photographed a wedding before that: Weddings are as different as people’s personalities, weddings are hectic, and can be chaotic at times. Finally a wedding is a MAJOR event in the Bride and Grooms life.

   As I stated before that all of us started out as amateurs, no one is born a professional. It is the things that we learned along to the way to being a professional, that when we looked back we wish we knew way back when. I was reminded of this path the other week during a conversation with a good friend and fellow photographer Bobby Cochran. Bobby related the story of a friend of his who had gotten a DSLR two Christmas ago. The friend had gotten fairly good with his camera and decided he could make a little money with his camera. The friend found himself a small wedding and then went out and photographed the event. When the friend showed Bobby his photographs from the event, Bobby told him how lucky he was that it worked out. The friend wanted to know what Bobby meant by lucky.

1. How many cameras do you own? If the answer is one, what happens if it fails on wedding day?

The local camera store may not be open, you may be out in the country, or maybe you don’t have enough money to buy another camera. Most professional photographers have a back-up camera, when we photograph weddings we not only have back up cameras; we have back-up to everything we need. (Lenses, Flashes, etc.)We also have a second photographer, who also has a back-up camera.

2. What would you have done if you had gotten home and nothing was on the CF card?

Do you have a system for knowing which card has been used and which one hasn’t? Weddings are at times chaotic and can be fast paced, if you don’t have a system for storing full CF cards, there is the possibility of reformatting one you have already used. If it is not of the CF card because of hardware failure, do you own or have access to recovery software. This will allow you to try and retrieve the lost information.

3. For some reason the camera failed, or the CF card failed, you didn’t have a back-up or a second shooter what would you do?

Most amateur photographers would say I would give the couple back their money. Yes, you would, you would possibly also pay to restage a complete wedding, and reception. The odds are 80/20 that you would just pay the new couple several thousand dollars for ruining their perfect event. This is why professionals carry insurance.

Advice for the aspiring professional photographer

1. Find a job assisting or as a second photographer at a wedding.

Assisting in a wedding is very beneficial for the aspiring professional. As an      Assistant you follow the pro around, you can learn the ins and outs of posing. You get to observe various types of ceremonies. This allows you to learn to expect at a Jewish wedding as opposed to a Catholic wedding.

2. Go to a seminar. Seminars are valuable to the amateur and the pro.

 A seminar you get to learn new techniques and network with other photographers.

3. Don’t under price yourself.

In a lot of online forums, photographers complain about people charging $200.00 to do a wedding, and giving the couple a CD of the images. I don’t have a problem with giving the couple a CD. I believe that most couples would rather have a bridal album. I don’t know what the couple is going to do with a CD of 200 images. If you load them on the computer, it takes forever to view. If you print them at the local 1 hour lab, there aren’t that many 4×6 albums that look good. When a couple gets a professionally designed Bridal Album, their eyes light up. They enjoy showing it to there friends and family. This in turn brings you more business.

 I also don’t have a problem with an aspiring pro charging $200.00. I believe that you will go bankrupt at that price, but that’s for you to decide. Let’s look at the $200.00 wedding , the average wedding take about 8 hours. The aspiring pro photographer might say great I am making 16 dollars an hour, but are you really. Have you added preparation time, have you added in your drive time and automobile cost.    (gas, wear and tear on the vehicle) Equipment cost, your camera has a limited life span, have you figure the cost in replacing your equipment. Post processing cost, how long is it going to take you to down load those photographs off of your CF cards to your computer and then burn that CD? I have not even discussed the other cost involved in wedding photography. You have advertising (business cards), Bridal consultations, speaking to prospective clients; the list can go on and on. I would say that the time from initial contact to handing the bride her CD is 36 to 40 hours. That means the aspiring pro is making less than minimum wage. Actually it’s probably around $5.50 an hour. The majority of weddings are on Saturday, a few are on other days of the week. This question then has to be asked. If you are an aspiring wedding photographer is $5.50 an hour worth giving up family and friends time. Can you live on $5.50 an hour? That’s $11,000 a year, that income is less than most professional photographers’ equipment cost.

 

 If you are an aspiring wedding photographer, don’t arbitrarily come up with a price, sit down and think about it.

” A Bone to Pick”

“I have a bone to pick with you” these are so words that people usually don’t want to hear, especially me. The thoughts that ran through my mind were, what have I done now, I couldn’t think of any thing that I had said or done to cause J T to utter those words. J T led me aside and in a low voice  he said “You need to shoot tighter, let your subject fill your frame, quit thinking in terms of 8×10″

J T was right and I believe that my photography took a big step forward on November 9th, exactly 3 years after I attended my first SuperShoots event. SuperShoots is an event that helps photographers improve there skill sets. The Treasure Island SuperShoots event was held November 8 & 9th at the Bilmar Beach resort in Treasure Island, Fl. This was my 6th  workshop all of them have been Supershoots.

A better title for this blog might be ode to SuperShoots, and while my opinion might be biased, I wanted this first blog to pay tribute to an event which has help to dramatically improve my Photographic Skills.

The events leading up to my  first SuperShoots event was a desire to kick start my photography skills. I am not a newbie to using a camera. but my skills were rusty and my confidence was lacking.  I grew up with cameras, mostly Kodak brownies, and  instamatics. I didn’t graduate to SLR’s until my college years when I studied Journalism. My first job after a hitch with the U.S. Army was at Ft. Benning,GA. the job was a combination portrait photographer and photo journalist, the company I worked for photographed the basic training of recruits, the airborne school and ranger school. That job progressed to working in the school photography, weddings, and portraits. I made a living for 7 years with a camera. Then I stopped, I quit, I went cold turkey and did a 180 degree switch in careers. I became a paramedic, and went to work in EMS. In June 08 I celebrated 16 years in EMS.  Thirteen of those EMS years I did not even touch a camera. My desire to try photography again happened in 2005, while out at a bar one night I ran into a Photographer I had known many years ago, the photographer introduced me to his wife as “this is Kenn he use to be one of the best photographers I have known”.  The words best and use to, struck a cord and rekindle that desire to try and pick up a camera.

The ember that had started glowing that night continued to glow. I soon started shopping for that new camera, that thing called a DSLR. If I was going to do this, I was going to do it digital. In December of 05 I purchased my first new camera in 13 years a Canon 20D.  The journey ,or as I call it chasing the image had begun again. I learned everything I could about the DSLR, I reintroduced myself to f-stops, and shutter speed, etc..  In April of 06 I found a young lady willing to model for me. I went to the storage unit and retrieved my photogenic power packs and lights. I tested the power packs and retested, I was ready, but Murphy had other plans, on the day of the shoot the power packs died not just one but two. Here I was with a model and no lights, so I improvised, I turned on every light and upped the ISO to 800 and went to work. The young lady loved the photographs, but I didn’t. I needed  to learn, I needed some re-education.

The path to a SuperShoots event began on the internet, as I searched for educational opportunities in my area. I found one event called Hit The Lodge, it was being held in North Georgia in August. the event was well out of my price range, but the website showed another event in the Tampa bay area. I e-mailed   J T Smith about the event and what one might learn at this event. The response that I received convinced me to sign up for my first photography workshop.

It is hard for me to describe a Supershoots experience, the event is not only informative and educational, but I would classify it as photography overload. A person doesn’t recognize everything he learns at this event immediately, it could be weeks down the road.  You could be out on a location shooting and an idea comes to you  that weeks before you wouldn’t have thought of. The self realization of the idea makes you aware that a mentor had discussed a point of view or a different way to see, that spawned your idea.

The typical SuperShoots event is broken up into two parts mentor education and shooting. The morning hours are the mentoring sessions. On day 1 all of the photographers gather at the appointed site. Introductions are made. The class is then broke down into 4 groups, and the mentors go out with the assigned  groups to instruct. Example of this mentoring session is J T Smith, Seeing The Light, J T takes his group out and shows photographers how to see light quality, how to use buildings, sand and even cars as natural reflectors. He is a master of creating beautiful head shots. After  about 90 minutes the groups rotate. The second session usually  ends 90 minutes later followed by lunch on you own. The afternoon session is devoted to photography. The photographers are divided into groups of 4 and usually assigned 2 or 3 models. They are then allowed to go out and shoot on their own, a mentor is available for questions about posing or how to accomplish an idea that the photographer might have. SuperShoots also has a studio set up for use, and a mentor is also there to instruct in lighting and posing. The photography rotations are 90 minutes in length to try and allow everyone  to get a variety of photographs with different models.  The last session of the day is usually a sunset shoot. Where photographers learn to blend flash and sunset.

The suggestion that J T made about shooting tighter was correct. The lessons that I know I learned at this event was to try and compose the image you want in your camera. Its not about 8×10′s or 11×14′s etc. When putting a composition with the correct exposure, and  pose you can create a dynamic image.  The above image is of Elizabeth , It was my very last shot of Sunday night. The details of the image are listed below it, after I captured the image and look at the viewer with Josh, one of the mentors, it was immediately a keeper. Which goes to something that is always stressed at a Supershoots Event, Get it right in the camera, and the less post processing you have to do.

If you think you would be interested in a Supershoot event. You can visit their site at www.supershoots.com, If you like to participate in a great forum of Photographers, I invite you to check out SuperShoots.net.