All your photos on a CD Wedding Photographers

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. Weddings and pin up / boudoir portraits sessions. The pin ups have become some of my most popular and favorited works. I have worked very hard at perfecting my wardrobe, outfits, props and the hardest part, the posing and instructing the girls on how to get the pin up look. I have invested almost as much money in this as I have into wedding photography alone

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. There are A LOT of things you should look for.

How long have they been doing this for? You should look for someone with at least 5 years of photography experience and 2 years of wedding experience.

Does their lighting look even? If it has harsh shadows in every photo... thats what you will get. Anyone with a digital camera can take an ugly, flat photo in a reception hall. Look at the lighting very carefully. Its taken me YEARS to perfect my technique and its still difficult to capture every photo perfectly.

Do they release your photos to you or do they pick a HANDFUL that THEY like and give those to you? This is a HUGE factor these days for people! Its the digital age, they should release all the photos from the big day!

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. Its no secret that a good wedding photographer is expensive. Much more expensive than most other kinds of photography. I would want to know why that is. And the answer is simple really.

Think about how much planning went into your wedding. Think about all the hours you are putting into it. We put a lot more than just the hours we are AT your wedding. We have to research the venue before we go, we have to set up our lights and backdrops (if you order them) we need to make split second decisions. And after that we spend DAYS sorting through and editing your wedding photos. And if we are making an album, it takes even longer than that.

By the end we are putting anywhere from 30 to 60 hours of work into your wedding.

That doesn't even include the constant upkeep of education, buying new equipment and fine tuning equipment as well.

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. How long they have been doing this. IF they have back up gear, an assistant, back up photographer. How many weddings they shoot a year, what types of ceremonies they have shot. If they have shot indoor and outdoor and when the best time of DAY to get a good shot is.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. You should have a clear idea of how many people will be in the photo. The best way to make sure your day goes smoothly is to know the largest group photo you will be doing and any special requests (a backdrop in case the venue doesn't have good lighting or a nice area for photos) Also, are photos of you and your spouse important? sometimes people forget to get nice shots of themselves because they are so worried about getting photos of everyone else! Be sure you have an idea of the products you want, albums, prints ECT

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. We offer full copyright release to our photos. Many photographers don't agree with this process but we feel that they are YOUR images of your big day. They should be release to you! You are free to customize your own albums and print your own prints but we do offer packages with basic albums and PROFESSIONAL quality prints.

We offer ALL couples who book a wedding with us a FREE In-Studio Engagement session. Why do we do this? Unlike other photographers we want to give you a taste of formal posing and our photographic style so you can feel 100% confident in our service.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. The variety! All weddings are different, all the people I work with are different. Different cultures, religions, customs and family units. I love meeting new people and I get involved with the day of your wedding as much as possible. I want to know ALL the details.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. Besides the standard how long does it take to get our images back and do you make such and such product... I guess people often ask me how I got interested in photography more than anything! I tell them that I've wanted to be a photographer since I was 16, it was just something I decided on a whim and went for it and became successful very fast because I am a very dedicated person

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. I have a very unusual first name. I had a bride call me and ask me if I was free on her date, I said yes. She lived in a different state but was coming back to NJ for her wedding. She said that my service was perfect for her and it was within her budget and that her sister had the same first name as me and she felt it was fate. She booked me almost instantly and the wedding was absolutely wonderful. I met her sister and talked with her and we bonded over having the same name. It was a wonderful experience!

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. Well... the profession of wedding photographer is fierce compeition. I think too often people pay far too much for bad service or do not get the service they truly wanted. You need to decide what YOU want from your photographer and go from there. Try your best to chose someone who is LOCAL to keep their costs down and in turn how much you are paying!

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. Photography itself always interested me since I was a teenager. But wedding came to me because I worked in a custom photolab and my boss would tell me about her experience with weddings and told me I should do it. I didn't do it until a few years after that and from the first wedding I did, I enjoyed it a lot!

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. The ceremony was running about an hour off schedule and I had to shoot all the formal poses in 20 minutes. I was able to do it and they looked fantastic. We got every single person we needed to and every single one of them came out. I was mentally prepared for it, most photographers wouldn't have been able ot pull it off without years of experience and a cool demenor!

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. Right now I can not afford to attend any work shops but I do have friends in the field who conduct them and always give me advice. I also listen to podcasts by professional photographers on a regular basis. There are not as many wedding deticated workshops as there should be! One day maybe I will change that!

Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?

A. The newest technology in cameras has really changed the industry, but not exactly for the better. It used to be you shot film and it took MUCH longer and you HAD to be sure you got it right the first time. When the digital age first started to become popular it was 2005. Since then many custom photolabs and older professional photographers had to drop out of the business.

nowdays you have people with money and no experience... buying the latest digital camera and calling themselves a photographer. Its the experience that makes you a photographer. Not your equipment.

Anyone can take a decent photo with a really expensive camera, but what you are really paying a photographer for is their knowledge and ability to pose you.

Q. Describe your most recent project, what it involved, how much it cost, and how long it took.

A. Most recently I decided to invest in a digital frame to show off my portfolio to clients and as well as showing the pics of the ceremony AT the reception. However this requires space for the frame to be displayed. It also requires the help of an assistant. I also invested in a portable outlet so it could be plugged in anywhere. It cost me about $100 which was better than the alternative of investing in a computer and large flat screen monitor!

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. your custom price depends on how many hours you require a photographer, if you prefer on-sight photography or professional lighting, the locations of your ceremony and reception, ECT to determine a price, typically the price range is from $600-1200. This will help you understand how I determine my pricing and how I do things:
We shoot about 75 photos per hour on average
Our style is Modern Photojournalistic which means that your photos will tell a story and are generally candid but also has quite a few formal posed photos as well. We have received awards for our photojournalistic work in sports photography.
We provide you with 1 CD (or DVD) that contains EVERY image in High Resolution all numbered for easy ordering.
Online proof and ordering gallery for three months
We choose several of the best photos which we turn into Black and White and also Black and white with color accents. These images are also put on the same CD in a seperate folder for easy ordering as well!
We offer albums AS AN OPTION, we choose our favorite photos and put them into an album of your choice. We will email you a "proof" of the album that you can approve or re-arrange if you'd like. This works much better than having to constantly meet up and go back and forth. Since the pictures on the CDs are numbered you can easily tell us which photo you want on a certain page.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. People often ask me how do you get into the wedding photography business. Well, honestly start off as an assistant for someone... if you are lucky enough to find that, with CONSTANT practice you could go off on your own within a year. Otherwise you would have to go the other route and set up a shoot with friends and stage the shots. It's not an easy field to get into. It is very stressful for someone who is not prepared and does not know what to do when the unexpected happens!

Q. What are you currently working on improving?

A. We are always researching online, in books and talking to other professionals in the business about what the best practices for getting great photos in challenging conditions. Right now our entire staff is working on improving their lighting system which takes countless hours and money.