Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/03/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>brougham3@yahoo.com asked: > > How would you suggest separating the cream from the crud? Mark Rabiner wrote sensibly: >The best way would be to look at their work and meet them. >But you do do the "you took these pictures?" and "you will also be >shooting our >pictures?" routine as it is so popular in the cruel world. And then he went off on a tangent with the standard generalizations about wedding photographers. If you want to assume the worst in every photographer you meet, take all of Mark's advice about how to choose a wedding photographer and assume that everyone you speak with is out to just get your money for the least amount of effort or craft by selling you scholck. If you are interested in finding a photographer who cares about your wedding and the final product, look for photographers who will show you an example up front of an entire wedding (or two) that they've shot in an album and print sizes just like they offer, so that you know exactly what to expect with your own purchase. Ask them for references from last year's clients. Ask for references from your friends and relatives who have gotten married in the last several years. Word of mouth is the best way to find the photographers who care about what they do and the best way to avoid the dirtbags. (WOM advertising makes up nearly 70% of my new business with Internet leads from my site now filling the other 30%.) Read and understand every single word of the agreement before you sign it or hand over a penny. If there is ANYTHING that you don't like, have it removed, remedied or choose someone else. If there is a specific photographer from a 'studio' whom you want to work with, make sure that you have it in writing that unless s/he is in the hospital dying they will be doing the shooting. If you aren't planning on many enlargements larger than 8X10, film for today's 35mm cameras and fine lenses should be more than adequate to record your day. You also may consider a professional who shoots "work for hire" and is paid by the hour. They aren't interested so much in the upsell of specific 'money shots' later and will be more open to trying something new once in a while. They are generally also more open to allowing (sometimes even helping) other folks at your wedding in shooting better pictures. This lessens the burden on the B&G to supply photos for everyone, and serves as a backup should anything happen to the original professional images. (In the Lab of course!) If you go the traditional route, beware the 'no other photographers' clause that many 'pros' use to protect their resales, it may mean that Aunt Sally can't take her own photographs of the cake cutting etc... without a hassle from the 'pro.' Know your enlargement options and costs before signing. See to any other detail that is important to you about a photographer (having him/her in a tux, etc...) Then you pays your money and take your chances. If you get burned, show and tell everyone you know (and every other wedding vendor whom you dealt with) what a poor ass job the fool who burned you did and why. Bad word of mouth is far more detrimental to getting new business than good word of mouth is in getting it. Those are my recommendations. Carpe Luminem, Michael E. Bérubé