Choosing a Wedding Photographer - the 4 Ps of Wedding Photography
A month or so ago, Sarah (my fiance) and I decided it was about time to find ourselves a wedding photographer for our own wedding
. I therefore found myself in the unenviable position of meeting and interviewing photographers and trying to choose one that's right for us. Our first port of call was of course the Internet. This gives us an idea of the photographers' ability to make a nice photograph, clear, crisp where it should be and well exposed (not too dark or too light.) Most of the websites also give us an idea of the price - of how much we have budgeted to spend but not much else. The websites themselves generally seem to be designed by someone other than the photographer, as you'd expect and it's very difficult indeed to get any sort of idea of the photographers personality. There are many, many variables that present themselves when selecting a photographer - as I've found... Are their pictures any good? Are the photographs artistic enough without being overly pretentious? Have they photographed enough weddings to know what they're doing - but not too many to mean that ours will be just another job? Do they provide a disk of all photographs in hi-resolution? Will they try to make me buy an album? Will they put the photographs on the web for friends and family to view - at a decent resolution without watermarks? Will they visit us at home? Are they flexible with timings? Is the price right? Is the photographer someone I want to have at my wedding? Will they be presentable? Do they have full liability and indemnity insurance? The list goes on and on and on.
We decided the only way to cut through the hundreds of questions was to prioritise issues that mean a lot to us. These came down to Pictures, Professionalism, Personality and Price. I'll call them the 4 Ps of choosing a wedding photographer if you like. I'll share my thoughts on the wedding photographer selection process and how we picked our perfect photographer.
Pictures
This speaks for itself. Decide what's important for you, (that's the only thing that matters btw - not what your photographer thinks - it's your opinion that counts...) for us it's clear, crisp, well exposed pictures. Artistic, semi posed - some "posed candids" - but all looking natural. That's what we want. You may want something different. Let your photographer know, s/he may not agree. If they really disagree - choose someone else, there are loads of photographers out there.
Professionalism
This is easy. My criteria is that ideally they should be members of one of the professional bodies SWPP, MPA etc - this means the photographer has to have signed up to a professional code of conduct and will be on time (early) well dressed (suited) polite and generally professional. This isn't too much to ask, you can probably tell whether someone will be "professional" on the first meeting. First impressions count - trust your instinct. This person is comming to your wedding, one of the most important days of your life. If everyone else is in a suit looking smart, you'll probably want them to be suited too. If you're having a very casual wedding where the guests wear jeans - you might want the 'tog to match.
Personality
Meet them. For us, they should be bending over backwards to want to photograph our wedding. They should not expect us to travel miles to meet us, they should come to us. The photographer we eventuallu chose is based in Derby - we're based in Solihull (near Birmingham). It was totally acceptable for him not to want to travel the 60 odd miles to see us before we'd confirmed him; so he suggested meeting in the middle - which was fine by us. Another wedding photographer near Worcester, wanted us to visit them - a round trip of 100 miles. They weren't willing to meet in the middle - so we didn't. We met photographers that were a little over the top, and ones that struggled to make eye contact. One of the reasons we chose our photographer was the basis that he was a really nice bloke with whom we had instant rapport who travelled to meet us and chatted to us enthusiastically about our wedding for over an hour. If I'd have met this guy under different circumstances, he would have become a friend. This is someone who'll get on with our friends and family - and we look forward to him being at our wedding.
Price
Don't start me on this. 25 page A4 and a bit albums should not cost 750. Photographing a wedding (8 hours) editing 500 photographs (colour, crop, saturation, white balance, exposure) and putting them on a CDROM should not take 2 weeks full time. It should take one day (8 hours) for the photography and about 10 hours full time for the editing. For us, that's 18 hours highly skilled labour (35 per hour) plus tax, plus costs. Do the maths as they say. Albums are extra - but not extortionately extra.
My advice - work out what's important to you and choose a photographer based on that. Meet them, see their work in print and book early as the good ones get booked up, and if you'd like me to photograph your wedding - or at least have a look at some of my work, go to www.yourhandinmine.co.uk
Good luck!
Steve Causon.
Choosing a Wedding Photographer - the 4 Ps of Wedding Photography
By: Steve Causon
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