I've just been booked to cover a wedding in Cyprus, a lovely sun soaked island in the med, I guess that makes me an international wedding photographer now!
Really looking forward to it, lovely bride, wedding on the beach....ah lifes good!
Monday 24 March 2008
Monday 17 March 2008
Brides - Give your Wedding Photographer the right details!
It always amazes me how many brides give me incorrect details regarding their weddings.
Over the last few months I've been given the wrong postcode for the wedding service, the wrong address of the venue and the wrong name of the wedding venue.
An amazing number simply state. 'st Mary's church, name of town'. I even had one state the venue as 'the manor house' on her booking form! These are easy enough to spot, but wrong names, addresses and postcodes are not.
On Saturday it was the incorrect address of the wedding reception, which was a golf club, to confuse matters there was a golf course visible from the road given (a different one) but no entrance! Lots of time wasted trying to figure out what was going on and where I needed to be.
Over the last few months I've been given the wrong postcode for the wedding service, the wrong address of the venue and the wrong name of the wedding venue.
An amazing number simply state. 'st Mary's church, name of town'. I even had one state the venue as 'the manor house' on her booking form! These are easy enough to spot, but wrong names, addresses and postcodes are not.
On Saturday it was the incorrect address of the wedding reception, which was a golf club, to confuse matters there was a golf course visible from the road given (a different one) but no entrance! Lots of time wasted trying to figure out what was going on and where I needed to be.
Paint it Black...
No, this is not Daniel Lee from Joseph, this was last weekends wedding venue! Take a large room, with no windows, double height ceiling, clad the walls with wood and then paint it Black, the result, an almost perfect 'anti photography' room!
To be fair I was able to light the people fine using a powerful hotshoe flashgun but detail to record in the background was virtually impossible, even at 1/30th at F2.0 at ISO800. Everything had to be done handheld as they wanted the more informal shots so i couldn't go for the long exposure and drag the shutter as I normally would in dark situations like that.
Anyway, I think we are OK, but I do wish couples would consider stuff like that when booking wedding venues!
To be fair I was able to light the people fine using a powerful hotshoe flashgun but detail to record in the background was virtually impossible, even at 1/30th at F2.0 at ISO800. Everything had to be done handheld as they wanted the more informal shots so i couldn't go for the long exposure and drag the shutter as I normally would in dark situations like that.
Anyway, I think we are OK, but I do wish couples would consider stuff like that when booking wedding venues!
Friday 14 March 2008
The state of the wedding photography industry
It looks a little like at the moment there are almost more 'wedding photographers' than weddings. I've been approached 5 times over the last couple of weeks for work experience, sadly there just isn't the work around this time of year.
Recently I think photography has become one of those 'cool' jobs to have. The reality is while it can be fun, for every day shooting there is 4 post processing and another in marketing and admin. The reality, sadly, isn't that glam!
Recently I think photography has become one of those 'cool' jobs to have. The reality is while it can be fun, for every day shooting there is 4 post processing and another in marketing and admin. The reality, sadly, isn't that glam!
Wednesday 12 March 2008
The dancing photographer!
Years ago my wife and I used to compete in latin american dancing, we got pretty good, representing Wales and practiced an awful lot. Anway to cut a long story short my wife is a teacher and knowing her background, the local education authority asked her to teach a group of newly qualified physical education teachers latin dancing.
As the partner I was roped in, we hadn't danced together for about 5 years and was really surprised it was still there. We did about 20 minutes practice and threw a routine together for a demonstration and lesson plan. So much fun! The old dance bug is returning.
The amusing bit is that the lesson was being held at a hotel I sometimes cover as a wedding photographer and the staff were a bit like....isn't that the photographer? Fun days!
As the partner I was roped in, we hadn't danced together for about 5 years and was really surprised it was still there. We did about 20 minutes practice and threw a routine together for a demonstration and lesson plan. So much fun! The old dance bug is returning.
The amusing bit is that the lesson was being held at a hotel I sometimes cover as a wedding photographer and the staff were a bit like....isn't that the photographer? Fun days!
Tuesday 11 March 2008
Google confuses me!
Google really confuses me, one day my website is up in the rankings, the next it's down, way down, and I haven't made any changes!
Take Wedding photographer hampshire and wedding photographers hampshire for example, I was at number 7 for both for ages, all of a sudden I'm out 11 for wedding photographer hampshire and 5 for wedding photographers hampshire, huh?
Take Wedding photographer hampshire and wedding photographers hampshire for example, I was at number 7 for both for ages, all of a sudden I'm out 11 for wedding photographer hampshire and 5 for wedding photographers hampshire, huh?
Tuesday 4 March 2008
No Shows
Why do people do it? They book an appointment with you for a portrait session or talk to you about their wedding, you make a space in your day for them, make sure any jobs your in the middle of are put away so the studio looks nice and tidy, in this case the lights are also all setup ready to go and then....they just bother to turn up!
Why? A simple phonecall of 'I can't make it now', 'We've changed our mind' or even 'We have decided to hire somebody else' is fine, but to leave somebody there waiting is just plain rude!
Tonight they wanted to see me at 7pm, which means I missed giving my little daugher her bath and then putting her to bed, the highlight of my day as we always have so much fun splashing in the water and reading stories together.
Now if decided to not arrive at somebodies wedding or for a job?
Why? A simple phonecall of 'I can't make it now', 'We've changed our mind' or even 'We have decided to hire somebody else' is fine, but to leave somebody there waiting is just plain rude!
Tonight they wanted to see me at 7pm, which means I missed giving my little daugher her bath and then putting her to bed, the highlight of my day as we always have so much fun splashing in the water and reading stories together.
Now if decided to not arrive at somebodies wedding or for a job?
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