Wedding Photography

(Photo courtesy Camera Masters)

So you’re planning your wedding with your budget in hand and looking at hiring a photographer. It’s an important decision as you’re only going to do this once (right??) and your wedding images will be what you look back on for years. You need to do it right and you need to choose your pro carefully.

Over the years I’ve heard many stories of people that haven’t made the right decision. The friend or relative that just got a camera and messed up everything (not knowing what to do, where to be or what their equipment was doing or not doing), the photographer who acted like it was their wedding and was a jerk, the photographer that changed / raised their prices after the wedding, the company that would assign the photographer rather than let the couple choose their pro, etc. You’ve also heard all of these stories, so how do you avoid being one of them?

Choose Quality

Quality needs to be your first concern. A good starting place would be to educate yourself about what a good quality photographer can do for you. Three good sites to visit would be the professional associations that your pro should belong to, www.ppa.com (The Professional Photographers of America), www.wppa-online.com (The Wisconsin Professional Photographers Assn., Inc.) and www.sewppa.org (The Southeastern Wisconsin Professional Photographers Assn.). Good professionals belong to these educational organizations so that they can improve their art and learn new trends. These organizations have codes of ethics for their members to adhere to. (The above image ” … and Time Stood Still” is my signature piece which received many awards. Many tried to copy its style.)

These sites will have galleries of recent competition images (not just weddings and also, search their archives) so that you can see what quality work is and more importantly, they all have “find a photographer” search engines.

After that, check references and get referrals from friends that have used quality pros and check the Better Business Bureau and sites like Angie’s List, but always use a company that let’s you choose your pro!

Aren’t they all the same?  … NOT! Remember, you are hiring an artist, not buying a video game.

Companies that assign photographers assign by importance or size / difficulty of the event. They want to put their most experienced / best people where they will make the biggest impact. Everyone else gets all the rest.

By the way, one big clue … Don’t hire a photographer in a coffee shop! You want to see their workplace and their actual images that they take pride in. Is that a sign that you will be paying more? Maybe, but the point here is to avoid being one of “those stories”. A good studio operation has overhead but provides a base of operations that should provide you with creative ideas, options and products. With others you’re just playing a lottery.

Choose the pro’s style that you like. Classical, Photojournalistic or Mixed. Many don’t understand what a Photojournalist is. It’s not just tipping your camera, printing in black and white and adding a touch of color. A true Photojournalist makes images that are 99.5% unposed and unobtrusive to the subject. A Classical imagemaker will utilize posing and lighting to shape images, form, composition and make people look their best. A pro that has a Mixed approach should know posing and lighting intimately so as to be able to use it as needed but should not be the main attraction at a wedding. They should blend into the day and record it as it happens.

Now Price

After you have completely done your homework on quality, it is now time to set your budget on photography and look at pricing. Very good pros will not be the cheapest photographers, but by now you will have weeded out the worst and have a good idea of the range that you can afford. Remember, the idea is to not waste your photo budget, but to get the best bang for your buck. (This couple in the above image wanted their engagement portrait done in Chicago with the city behind them.)

Look at pros that offer good pricing plans. Do they want it all up front or will they break payments into as many as four? You don’t want to pay all upfront as you have no leverage in case your photographer has let you down. And let’s be frank, in this economy it’s just wise to spread it out anyway.

What is the quality of the album companies that they use, or even better does the photographer include / offer an album? Recently we have seen a number of Albumless Brides who hired a Shoot-n-Burn photographer and now just have a disk but don’t have the time or experience to assemble their memories into the storybook that they wanted in the first place. They may have saved on the shooter at the start, but now have nothing but a silver circle to show for it. And do you really want to hire an artist who has no clue as to how their final piece will be presented?

Another clue here … how long is their wedding day coverage? A few hours, eight hours or all day?

A pro that provides all day coverage is a sign that they love weddings. So many get into wedding work because it’s a way to make a buck, but they look to get out of it as soon as they can because it’s hard work (many think it’s the most difficult in photography).

Remember, your wedding is not being run by a minute hand. Each is different with their own happenings and quirks and you don’t want to be looking at your watch worrying about overtime or concerned that your photographer is arguing with the DJ because he / she wants to get “out of here”.

What else do they provide? When you choose your photographer you should have a engagement session, either in-studio or on location or both, so that you can become familar with each other and their style.

If you’ve followed some of the above tips you should have a handle on making a good decision on an image maker.

My studio opened about 17 years ago in Milwaukee, WI. A few years ago I started a move, which we recently completed, to 1089 Summit Ave. in Oconomowoc, WI. Oconomowoc is a friendly art filled community which I thought would be a perfect fit. We have always been blessed with a great staff  and the same holds true today with Adam Muencheberg our outstanding studio and wedding photographer and Mike Sohns our digital guru who holds a PPA Craftsman degree for his great digital artwork.

I started out by being known primarily for my wedding photography, winning many local and national awards in this field (the above image won a PPA National Merit Award recently). Our studio quickly branched out into many areas, such as high school senior and family portraits, children’s photography, school and sports teams, special events and church directories, among others. I take pride in knowing that we put the same quality from our wedding work into all of these areas.

I hold the PPA degrees of Master Photographer and Craftsman and have been president of our regional and state professional photographer associations. I mention awards and positions, not to brag but because I hope that with this blog we can help the public be aware of the education it takes to manipulate light and form so that your precious memories are captured beautifully.

- Gerry Milton, M. Photog., Cr.