I had another comment this morning from a fellow photographer that we deliver too many images. We deliver all the images that I am happy with, full stop. I also feel that I judge images based on artistic and documentary merit but our clients pick their images based on other criteria including things that they like or don’t like about the way that they look. I’d rather they had a couple of similar images with different expressions so that they are able to pick one that they are happiest with. Yes, it does make for longer selection times, but I can live with that.

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I seem to be getting more and more of these types of mails recently, and I thought I would just clarify a couple of things. Editing pics only enhances what is already there, it can make a good photo look great, it can’t make an average photo look good and it definitely can’t do anything to a terrible photo. Editing is also an extension of the photography process, it enhances what the photographer was seeing when he or she took the photo, getting someone else to edit your pics wouldn’t result in the vision that your original photographer had.

The camera isn’t a human eye, it can’t see the range of colours that our eyes can, or the same amount of tones. It also can’t photograph what your mind sees as a photographer, we try to correct that in the post production process and get it closer to what we saw when we made the image. Its a myth that you can take a terrible image, club it to death with a canned photoshop action or preset and get an amazing image. Post-production is a part of the artistic process of getting a great image, not something you can add on at the end as an after thought.

Secondly, the process of editing is part of what makes wedding photography so expensive. For every hour out photographing a wedding, we budget at least 5 hours of post production work. We look at an eight hour wedding and allocate 80-90 hours of admin, photography, post-production and design.

Some photographers, and I am assuming this on the basis of emails I get from prospective clients, charge extra for doing post production on your images and apparently this is something you need to ask before you hire someone (it would never have occurred to me that one needed to ask, but apparently you do). We routinely hand over around 800-1000 images for a wedding, and each one goes through our post production workflow, the cost of this time is part of our packages, not an extra. Long story short, ask what is extra and whether you can see a representative full wedding. Wedding photography in SA is an industry with no barrier to entry.

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Martin Parr: “You usually have a hunch, but the great thing about photography is that it’s so unpredictable, so you never quite understand how and when a good photograph comes about.
But when editing, I do contact sheets, then machine prints and then select from that.”
And when asked what makes one image stand out more than another, is it emotional or an intellectual reaction he answers: “It must be intuitive. If it were intellectual, I’d be able to explain what happens. That’s why I’m a photographer. I express myself visually, not verbally.”

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• Christine and Roger – Intundla Game Lodge (0)
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yesterday, unposed, overexposed window light

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The movie started off innocently enough with the usual, army stuffs up, opens a portal into another dimension, bad critters come through, humans get eaten, that is the standard fare for this kind of date night horror. Bubble gum for the brain and eyes, just what the doctor ordered. Then the twist, and not what you expect either; dark, post-existentialist, psycho drama that leaves you feeling drained, slightly twisted and very much wondering why. I’m not sure why anyone would want to watch this.

Desperate for something a bit happier, we put on I’m Not There, the Bob Dylan movie with the six different people playing him. I went through a big Bob Dylan phase when I was in my teens. This was beautifully shot, long, ambitious, complex meander through I’m not sure what. The only person who looked like Robert was Cate Blanchett, who was smoking, literally and figuratively, in the role. It was the kind of movie that I would have loved ten years ago, today it was eye candy. If you’re a photographer, or you just like to shoot, highly recommended. Edward Lachman, simply kicks ass as a cinematographer.

“For a scene showing young Robbie and Claire in a New York diner, Lachman framed the two so that they didn’t always seem to be the subject of their own shots; he accomplished this effect by using a mirror behind the actors, deliberately disorienting the viewer and introducing shifts in screen direction that would create an awkwardness that reflected the characters’ emotions.” from American Cinematographer

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Anyway, this is a quick update on what’s been going on in the month of June at the studio. We are literally swamped with work at the moment and have been busy as beans putting together albums, photos, working on new joint ventures and trying to reply to the literally hundreds of emails that have come through. Due to this overload, and lets just say that I didn’t expect this many inquiries this year, we are in the process of trying to find an admin person to handle this for us. The good news is that you can expect to see a lot more pics and albums and … other things I’ll mention a bit later … on the blog in the next couple of days as I take a short breather and surface to do some blogging.

We’ve put together a joint venture between ourselves, a canvas printer and a framing company and will be offering really good quality mounted canvas prints. I’m putting together our pricing at the moment, but you’re looking at about R1600 for a 1.5m by 1m canvas, printed, stretched, mounted, delivered – that’s an A0 and A1 next to each other.

Before we get to the fun stuff, I’m really trying to cut down on the amount of email I’m getting. It seems that every week we get an email from someone putting together an online wedding portal, magazine, community or some other form of electronic business which is set to revolutionize the industry offering a one-stop portal for all a bride’s wedding needs and would like us to contribute, advertise or to use our photos. If your site can beat the following stats, or comes up higher in the SERPS for any of the keywords that we compete on, feel free to send me an email (include stats), please don’t call. Otherwise, I drink your milkshake!

We’re changing hosting providers this month, our current hosting doesn’t seem to be able to cope with the amount of traffic we generate, and we’ve decided to switch, so there may be a slight hiccup during the middle of the month while we make the necessary changes. We are also going to change our URL, but more on that later.

If you’re a photographer and have read this far. Hi!, we are in the process of putting together two seminars on marketing for wedding photographers, they’ll be held in Joburg and are full day events full of practical ideas and advice. There will be an advanced version for those who are already full time and a entry level version for those wanting to go full time. Keep an eye out here for more info.

Lastly, we learned a lot this month. Firstly, we need an admin assistant badly. Secondly, don’t try to fit a 1.5m canvas into the green mamba, you need the big black car to transport that kind of monster. Thirdly, wedding photography doesn’t scale, you can have too many inquiries, and lastly, did you know that L. Ron Hubbard lived in Linksfield? I didn’t, oh, and it gets pretty damn cold out in Cape Town, pretty damn cold.

Dylsky, it’s on its way.

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In a recent edition of a photography mag that shall not be named I saw a double page spread for the Canon 40D, the image was of a fantastic sunset, the payoff line … I gaze at the sunset with the woman I love, and think … f/8 at 1/250 …

If that’s you, maybe its time to try another f-stop. f/8 has no real personality.

If you’re not a photographer, we’ll be returning to our regular diet of beautiful brides in amazing venues next week. This weekend will be another Summerplace affair.

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• Eva and Matt at The Cradle of Humankind (4)
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• Thandi and Tom at Mokolodi in Gaborone (4)

I go this one from Angela, a Portuguese fashion designer living in Germany, after her wedding to Michael at Oakfield Farm. Angela was described to me by many people along the way as the most difficult person they have had to deal with. My experience was that she knew what she wanted. I love that in a client, it makes my job so much easier, to know what someone is after means that I know what I need to capture. I will always capture it in my style or add my spin to things but to know, for example, that the decor is very important or that they want as their centerpiece an image of them walking down the carpet of red petals really sets the scene. She was also witty, fun to be around, considerate and had a great time on the day.

I know I have already written so much thanking you and Vicky for making our wedding photos into memories that are indeed more PERFECT than the real day was ( and you know that the day was pretty PERFECT already). I just wanted to make public my thank you and to without exaggeration to say that you and Vicky were the BEST possible choice for our wedding within all SA ( you know what I am talking about, as I have seen people from all over SA).

This BEST was a total of a extraordinary TALENT, SKILLS CAPABILITY and last but not least HUMAN CHARACTER, I mean in the end of the day I want to say to all the brides out there, it doesn’t matter just to get the best skilled/ famous photographer out there but equally important you WILL WANT to have around someone who is kind, funny and can understand during every minute of the day how much this day and these photos will mean to you. Dror and Vicky have these unpayable qualities, and because of that you can be assured they will take a active part in making your wedding day a VERY happy one.

To all non-cheesy MODERN BRIDES out there who are struggling to get a photographer who will cover their wedding in the way they want (even to an ELLE stylish high standard level), with self experience I can recommend you without any shade of doubt Dror, as a professional who can DELIVER, SURPRISE and most importantly LISTEN to what you want.

Finally Dror, i want to say what a great job you are doing with your website. During almost a year of regular anxious visits to see always something new you add (a new comment, a new wedding), after concluding my own wedding, I am sure I will give in often to the temptation of coming in to see and read how you will make other couples weddings days unique and beautiful. I personally find most wedding photographs boring as they tend always to be the same, making weddings generally to look like a cliche, boring and already expected event. Dror, you have really the qualities to make each of your weddings unique, and this is why you keep all your pre and post brides like myself popping in your website even after their wedding has passed.

Can’t thank you enough,
Angela

I really appreciate the fact that she took the time to write a thoughtful reply on the blog. I don’t know about all that other stuff about being kind and funny. In real life I am grouchy and short tempered.

I got these next two from Eva, a Scandinavian living in London, who got married to Matt at The Cradle of Humankind. A really amazing place to get married at btw. Eva and I had a bit of a comedy of errors, trying to pull this off. I originally agreed to shoot the wedding, Matt was going to fly to SA and meet me. We somehow missed each other at the coffee shop we were supposed to meet at, I had lost my phone. I really don’t have much luck with phones. We were going to meet the day he was supposed to fly back, we missed each other again. We then rescheduled for a couple of months later, but I was made an offer to move to Texas and Andrea was going to take over the wedding. Hey, I told you it was a long and complicated story. Anyway, eventually, the day arrived and both Andrea and I were there.

Well, Dror, I managed to bag you in the end for my big day and what a result!!!!! Thank you so much for being part of our day, it was an honor, we both had such a blast and my cheeks still hurt 3 weeks on from smiling so much )
Needless to say I started stalking your and Andrea’s sites for sneaks as soon as and I was simply blown away by the sky and the light in these non-edited pics. I now know why you two both kept going on about it at the time. I think you described it as almost disgustingly perfect at one point. A bride can’t ask for more than that on her big day. We are simply thrilled with what we have seen so far, you really are the master!
Eva&Sparky Watson

Oh, and as for Minki, eat your heart out girl ;o)

I didn’t really get to know Eva very well, as I spent most of the time with Matt and the guys, but that’s a very sweet comment and throughout the entire process leading up to the wedding she was kind and good humored. As for those skies, yes, they did look like someone had photoshopped them in.

Then there is Anne Nigel. Anne is the self styled stalkerazzi of my blog. Her wedding is on August 16th 2008 in Kenya. She probably knows more about wedding photography, the wedding photography scene around the world and photography in general than most of the photographers currently marketing themselves as wedding photographers. If you need advice on wedding photographers, Anne is the one.

Anne on Angela and Michael’s wedding photographs:

Dror this is the best wedding I have ever seen. I literally I’m speechless (which is a very difficult thing for me) about how you shot this wedding. Just amazing!!!!!!!! You are the best !

Anne on Eva and Matt’s wedding photographs:

WOW!!!!! Amazing! Again WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You never ever cease to completely entertain and wow me!!! I totally heart your work!

Anne on Mari and Elmer’s wedding photographs – Mari and Elmer are from the Netherlands and were probably two of the most laid back good hearted people we’ve had the pleasure of photographing:

It’s just me the usual stalkerazzi coming to see what’s new and again I am speechless. You are the only photographer whose work is so versatile and creative that is able to shoot every wedding differently! I love these pics too, they have the classic romantic almost vintage feel to them. By the way welcome back!

There is more, but I just wanted to say its always a pleasure to get a comment from Anne, I dread the day she comments, these are nice. Just checking out what other blogs she stalks, and which photographers she knows, she really knows her photography and I know her wedding album will be killer bee.

Ok – one more, because Maryanne was one of the nicest people we met last year. She got married to Scott at Koyama, and really wanted a photojourn approach to her wedding.

Wow, what can I say. I am so in love with our photos! What makes them so lovely is that none are posed and when you look at them it takes you straight back to how you were feeling at that very moment. I just want to thank you and Vicky for making my memories of my wedding so alive and real. You are both wonderful people and so talented
x x x Maryanne

One of the reasons I love this comment because it articulates for me what wedding photos should do. They should take you back to how you were feeling at that very moment.

We get a lot of comments on the blog and we’ve been blessed to meet and photograph really cool people, some of whom have become friends and some whom I expect to call in the next year or two to have their kids photographed. I just wanted to say thank you to all our couples in 2007, oh and Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuube.

btw just in case it needs to be clarified. We have never received the keys to any city, an iPOTY (is there such a thing?) and we don’t enter photography competitions.

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The answer is fairly simple. A while back when I left varsity I decided that I was going to shoot for clients not for other photographers or judges. I’m fortunate to have a style that is very personal, and is based on real moments, those moments are what’s important to my clients. These are the people that I am trying to impress, not on technical excellence, but on the actual image itself and what it represents to them about their wedding day.

Many of the images that win awards, are technically perfect, beautifully set-up and executed. I often find them quite bankrupt when it comes to the emotional content. Its just an opinion, there’s nothing wrong with having a fashion spread as your wedding album. It just isn’t what I’m after or my clients are after, I do think its what most judges are after.

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Firstly, this venue, which is a very popular venue in the Fourways area, booked the first wedding to start at 16h30 on a balcony, while booking a second wedding in the hall which that balcony belonged to i.e. there was one wall seperating both weddings. Every bride wants to feel special on her wedding day, like she is the only bride in the world, it is her day. You don’t really want to meet another bride adjusting her makeup in the bathroom. But hey, they could have pulled it off, their guests may not have bumped into each other or gone to the wrong wedding, the brides may not have seen each other and the people being seated in the hall may not have heard the tail end of the ceremony of the bride on the balcony. Unfortunately in our story, the bride on the balcony was late at the salon, and in which bridal story is the bride ever on time? No one is going to start without her, right?

In our story, the bride on the balcony arrived, went to the bridal suite to change and was promptly told that she had to clear the balcony by 17h30, this was at around 17h10, whether the ceremony had happened or not. She was also told that since the florist had been late they hadn’t been allowed to put up the flowers because the guests in the hall were already in place. Now, if someone had been as rude to my mother-in-law as this venue co-ordinator had been to the mother of the bride there would have been some consternation and the manager would have been called. As it was there were a bunch of men in kilts who were not looking pleased.

I don’t understand why they booked two weddings so close together, both physically and time wise. Then of course this being a scottish wedding, the lads in kilts were keen on a bit of the old bagpipes. Up runs Miss venue co-ordinator, no bagpipes, they will disturb the wedding next door.

I could carry on about the terrible service, the fact that getting cutlery seemed to challenge the staff, probably due to the wedding next door, and the inability to produce a clean plate. Lastly, lets just say that in general when the bride and groom decide not to seat the photographers, the venue provides a space for the vendors to put equipment down, sit, and a vendor meal of some description. This place did not, the first one in four years of shooting weddings. To say I would not recommend this place, would be an understatement.

Lastly, always ask whether there is going to be another wedding happening at the same time and what kind of time restrictions are going to be placed on your getting ready, your florist/decor arriving, when will you have to clear out the venue. You don’t want that kind of stuff being sprung on you on your day.

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“…Hi Dror

I love love love the album… I dont mind at all if you want to use it as a sample album. I have nothing to change, at first I thought of adding a few, but then looked at the album again and realised that it is just perfect because it makes me remember the whole day from beginning to end… “

We really appreciate getting these kinds of emails, it means that we managed to capture the day as the couple want to remember it and present the album in such a way that it tells the story.

As humans our first thought is almost always to try and add more images to an album, it is an instinctual thing, probably something to do with a stone age ancestor and the scarcity of food. Sometimes however in order for an image to stand out and be given full justice it needs some whitespace, or as my father always use to say when I cropped too tightly, it needs to breath. My father is still taking photographs of exotic places, we still don’t see eye to eye on aesthetic issues, but I have learned the value of whitespace and letting images breath.

Anyway, I bet you want to see the album. You can have a look at the preview here. As always you’re welcome to leave a comment.

Edited: I’m a big fan of Kathy Sierra and one of this blog’s readers pointed me to an article by Kathy on the space between notes, where she has a killer explanation for why you need to leave space for the viewer to reflect, process, and co-create the meaning. In my head I still think of it as giving them room to breathe. Thanks for the link Roseanne.

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Long story short he pointed me at the relevant photographer’s site and I went to have a look. While we were looking through the photos, which were nice in a traditional-gazing-at-the-sky-kind-of-way, I pointed at one where he was squinting into the camera and he laughed and said “Its hard work posing for photos … its like, look at <name deleted in the interest of being invited over ever again>, smile, look serious and then they reflect light into your face … so you end up squinting.”

I can’t imagine many things worse then spending an hour being told to smile, stare at the sky, touch the tree. If you read this blog regularly then you have heard me mention many times that looking natural and relaxed in the photos comes from being natural and relaxed. However, my bias against stiff posed wedding photos aside, your wedding day shouldn’t be hard work.

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I firmly believe that you need to see at least one full wedding from the photographer you plan on hiring. It is nice to have a portfolio section on a site, the photographer’s favourites or greatest hits or something that indicates what the photographer likes. Where his vision lies. At the end of the day however anyone can get lucky once or twice at a wedding. Shoot more than 15 weddings and you can have a portfolio of amazing images. The question which is left out of most of the how-to-choose-your-wedding-photographer articles is … is he or she consistant? Does your photographer shoot consistantly well over the entire day or do they get one or two amazing shots and the rest are in a different league. It is six to ten hours worth of shooting, you need someone who can shoot consistantly over an entire day.

It is also one thing to sell yourself as a wedding photojournalist, but do you shoot hundreds of posed images and snapshots over a single event. Is your photographer able to be creative and technically proficient the whole time? Beware of someone who only has posed images in their portfolio, unless of course that’s what you want, there is more to a wedding than the posed moments. You need to be comfortable that the photographer can deliver all day and not just enough for website samples.

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Anyway, I feel that the blog is a big part of why I have become so successfull over the last year, and I hope that you have enjoyed reading it. I recently switched stats software to Google Analytics and I thought I’d drop some statistics on you. In June 2006, according to Google Analytics, we had 1018 visitors from all over the world. Each one viewing an average of 11.07 pages per pages, not bad for the slowest month of the year. Incidently we also made 4812 exposures on 3 cameras and completed 6 albums during the same month.

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That’s why I love spreads like the dancing sequences in Melanie and Reinhardt’s album, those guys just rocked out and had a blast and you can really see them and their friends having fun and the happy energy that was everywhere. I don’t understand those albums that have portrait after portrait of the bride and groom smiling stiffly at the camera and maybe some flash frozen images of very sombre looking dances.

Anyway I have decided to include their wedding album as one of our sample albums.

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This year there seems to be a small trend towards having winter weddings. I was quite surprised the other day to hear a prospective groom extol the virtues of winter weddings; venues are up to 50% cheaper, same goes for most of the vendors and the photographer that they wanted was available! Not to mention that you’re pretty much guaranteed no rain on your wedding day. This couple is getting married in L’Aquila this Saturday so I dropped by yesterday to have a look at the state of the place. The grass is green, the entire garden looks amazing and the renovations, since the last time I was there, look good. There is definately something to be said for the winter wedding.

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The second kind comes with a list of questions. Do you have spare equipment, are you accredited to a photographic association (the answer is yes to both btw), etc. I love working with them as well. They have done their research and they know what they want, but this is probably the first time that they have ever hired a professional photographer and they have heard horror stories. I understand the hesitation, you’re putting the documenting of a day you have thought about for a long time in the hands of a stranger. Never mind emailing questions, where is the polygraph machine!

I’m generally happy to answer any questions, show highlights of my latest weddings and a couple of full weddings which aren’t on the website. I’d rather not shoot the wedding if we don’t see eye to eye and you are not totally happy with what I do. The one question, which I always dread, is the why-should-I-go-with-you-rather-than-another-photographer? It’s the tell-me-what-you-see-as-your-weaknesses job interview question of wedding photography. I got one of those yesterday.

The obvious route to go would be to point out my portfolio and style of photography. I don’t think that is what she was after. I eventually settled on I photograph for couples who are terrified of spending their day being told to smile, say cheese, stand here, pretend to X. I photograph for couples who want to open their albums 20 years from now and see the genuine smile they had on their face when he or she said I do rather than the smile they had on their face when the photographer told them to say cheese. It’s a bit formal, but it’s the truth. Check out any wedding photographer’s portfolio and then look at mine. Its real moments being captured and I think those are the moments that are worth remembering years from now. Not some over contrived moment clubbed to death by a Photoshop effect.

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I have just been to another consultation with a bride who has told me that she can’t find anyone else who does wedding photojournalism, many people advertise it, but none seem to practice it. This once again set me down the track of why the South African wedding photography scene is filled with photographers content to do the same old thing. Not just not breaking any boundaries but literally doing the same thing, not even following overseas trends. My not-so-wise-conclusion was that this is what the market wants, so this is what they provide. Not an earth shattering conculsion by any means, but then you start to think as to what drives that market and the answer is the media – yes, I know, another teeth loosening realisation.

Most brides these days read the local mags, which have yet another how-to-choose-your-wedding-photographer article in them and showcase even more photos of brides showing some teeth in ‘natural’ poses. I wouldn’t mind seeing actual articles on wedding photographers who are pushing some new type of photography being featured, or even having name photographers stating what they would look for in a wedding portfolio of another photographer. It would be interesting to me, but then again I have never been a bride.

Last year bride24 and associated mags held a competition for the wedding photographer of the year in which the winning photographer was described as “… this isn’t a frustrated Vogue fashion photographer at work here…” I have nothing against the style of the winning photographer, but to imply that a good wedding photographer shouldn’t employ the same technique or be of the same quality as a fashion photographer is just annoying. I would have paid more money than I have to have had someone like Nigel Bennet or David Sims photograph my wedding. Imagine if David Bailey had shot your wedding or Nick Knight – gorgeous, mysterious potraits, cutting edge photography. Its these guys as well as Selgado and Nachtway who inspire me. If given a chance, would I shoot a spread for Vogue? Damn straight I would, and I can’t imagine many photographers who would think that it was beneath them. Imagine a fashion spread of coal miners shot by Selgado as a fashion spread in Vogue!

OK, just about to get off my soapbox. I just know that more than half the people who visit this site are photographers and I wanted to make my point which is that wedding photography in South Africa seems to be a stagnant style and we need a bit of a shakeup and it probably isn’t going to come from the media. My photography isn’t fashion photography, it isn’t portraiture. Its photojournalism inspired by fashion photography, conceptual ads and people like Marcus Bell and Nick Knight. I capture the real moments, the emotions and feelings I see in front of me. Am I a frustrated Vogue fashion photographer, ne, I’m more of a Harper’s Bazaar (or Dazed and Confused on some days) person.

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• Bit Of The Old Break (2)
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Overall, a couple of things struck me. One was that I haven’t seen any of the bigger names in photography with stalls at any of the bridal shows, secondly I would say that 90% of the photography stalls weren’t manned by the photographers themselves. Now given that your photographer is the one person you are going to be spending most of your wedding day with, I would assume that you would want to see whether you get along. Nothing quite like having to deal with the-most-obnoxious-photographer-on-earth following you around on your wedding day. To be fair I did see Chris Moore and Andre Eaton manning his stall.

Lastly although the caliber of photography seems to have gone up in general, I’m still seeing quite a few portfolios with zero photos of the actual wedding. Seems like portraiture still rules in South Africa, which really kills me because you may as well have had the photos taken on any other day. If you see one of our photos and you have a smile on your face, twenty years from now, when you look at the photo you’ll know that that was the smile you had on your face as he said “I do”. Not that’s the smile you had on your face when the photographer said “Say cheese!”. Which smile would you rather have?

I did have a lot of fun at the fashion show.

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On this particular sunny Saturday afternoon. Not sure what came over me, must have been something I ate, I picked up the point and shoot, arranged the group and put it up to my eye – only to realize that it doesn’t have a viewfinder but a huge LCD screen instead.

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I actually just wanted to say that if you are a photographer who is looking for information about the local scene you are more than welcome to ask us questions about our shooting techniques or photoshop. No need to pose as a bride or groom : )

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If I were to hire someone to cover my wedding, my big five would be:

Is there good detail in the bride’s dress? Often the white in the dress will blow out or not have much detail in it due to overexposure. You have paid so much money for the dress and you want to see the details, from the straps, zips, buttons at the back through to the detail in the bodice. Its just wrong to settle for photographs of a dress with no detail showing.

Does the bride look like a movie star or model? OK, some people are not photogenic and this might seem a little over the top, but I firmly believe that a wedding is mostly about the bride and she should look stunning. There are numerous tricks in photography and photoshop to make anyone look gorgeous and making the bride look ordinary is a cardinal sin.

Does the couple look natural, or are they awkwardly posed? Photographs should look natural and unforced. If the couple look awkward then there is a good chance that they were not comfortable with the photographer. Your photographer should make you feel relaxed and happy, they should be capturing your emotions on the day. You have planned for this day for a long time, it is your time to enjoy not to stand with frozen grins on your face while someone blasts you with a flash.

Does the portfolio have shots of the wedding? I often see portfolios that are 99% posed shots outside. I have ranted about this enough in this blog, [scroll down for a serious monologue about this - which did make me feel better] so I’ll just add that if you are getting a wedding photographer there should be some shots of the wedding itself rather than just posed shots and a lot of detail shots.

Do the images look like something that could be in a magazine or do they look like your uncle could have taken them? This is a subjective one and I’m sure most people have an uncle who can take some damn fine photos, but what I’m referring to here is an element of being out of the ordinary whether its the colours, the presentation or the effects used (sparingly). I personally always strive for a cinematic feel to my photos.

More recently I would have probably added a sixth. Do the photographs incorporate the family or is it just the bride and groom.

For me these would be the bare minimum requirements. I assume that it is a given that all the photos would be well composed, expertly exposed and professionally printed.

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The above quote is from wedding photographer Marcus Bell’s website. Every once in a while you wonder what the meaning is of what you’re doing, where you should be aiming, what direction you should be taking. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and I think Marcus hits the nail on the head. Your wedding day encapsulates your life and family history and your photos of the day should reflect that – and the bride should look like a movie star.

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