BBC – How hard is it to photograph a wedding? (answer: harder than you think)

BBC Magazine - How hard is it to photograph a wedding?

Following on from the recent news coverage of the awful wedding photography suffered by Marc and Sylvia Day from West Yorkshire the BBC Magazine have just posted this excellent article on wedding photography. Well worth a read if you’re choosing a wedding photographer. We’re not all the same!

When you come to see us you’ll notice all our display albums are complete weddings usually as provided to the couple, not just a collection of our favourite shots. And you’ll see our reception table is covered in thank you cards from grateful couples.

We are proud that a lot of our weddings come by recommendation and we do repeat business, mostly for siblings, but occaisionally second time around!

Blogs in other places

Master Photographers Association

I am proud to belong to the Master Photographers Association. When I first became a professional photographer they gave me the support & provided training I needed to advance. I gained my Licenciate (so I can legitimately call myself a ‘Master Photographer’) followed by a Diploma in Photographic Practice (so I have the dubious honour of being able to put DiPP after my name).

Now they are asking members who do wedding photography to contribute to their web site with mini blogs so, if you want to read a little more about what I’ve been up to have a look at these three: We like happy brides, How many people can you fit on a picnic table? & Congratulations to James & Kate. More to come!

May Hill in July

Flick & Simon on May Hill

We’d arranged to meet at the top of May Hill for Flick & Simon’s engagement photo session. The hill holds a special significance for them as it was where Simon had proposed.

As part of my wedding coverage I offer a free engagement shoot. Some couples use it to get some nice informal pictures to give as presents, some who are nervous about having their picture taken use it as practice and some, like Flick & Simon, use it to get a special picture to use on their Order of Service.

We had already cancelled the shoot earlier in the month due to poor weather so, although the day started wet, the forecast promised the rain would clear by 5pm with the shoot at 6pm. There is often a wonderful light following a storm so although it was damp as I arrived to scout for locations I was expecting things to improve. Cue interesting clouds and even sunbeams.

However, just before Flick & Simon arrived the rain restarted. But they didn’t let it dampen their spirits & we worked our way through a series of great pictures while the elusive sunshine failed to make an appearance. A black umbrella made a fine & practical prop. But you’ll have to wait for the wedding in January to see their chosen picture.

One bonus, we had May Hill to ourselves!

Clients I like

It’s great when you get clients who ask for something extra. When you’ve done the pictures for the brochure, web site & newsletter, could they have something more abstract for their reception.

The brief widens.

You’ve been given permission to make it different instead of just a good picture of the product. The creative juices start to move and the imagination steps up a gear. You look for new paths away from the usual journey. What if’s start to appear and you’re on your way.

Cooper Security Scantronic control panel

Thank you Cooper Security. Can I keep the kit a bit longer for more of a play?

Environmentally friendly

We were pleased to see that with their latest shipment our suppliers have announced that the blue folders we use to protect our photographs are now FSC ‘Credit Certified’.

Photography & being environmentally friendly are very rarely discussed together. As a business we do the usual with, for example, energy saving display lights & keeping the heating running efficiently.

However, we’ve been lead up dead ends. We’ve tried The Radiator Booster featured on Dragons Den but found as we had efficient convecting radiators anyway they didn’t help with the heating. They were also environmentally ‘unfriendly’ with the noise the fans made!

So if it is just knowing our folders come from sustainably managed forests then we can be a little happier. With looking after our environment every bit helps!

Facebook

Maddison

Photographs of the gorgeous Maddison are now on Facebook for her friends & family to enjoy.

This is a new service we are delighted to offer to customers. If you would like pictures you’ve purchased from us put on our Facebook page just ask!

During May we’re doing it for free so don’t hang around!

Laptop repair

It just shows how we rely on technology in the photography profession that the first blog post is about computers rather than pictures!

The display on the Zoostorm laptop we use for customer to view their pictures went faulty recently. Unfortunately it was just a month out of warranty so the ‘manufacturer’, PC Next Day Ltd wasn’t much help apart from recommending Micro Nano Information Technology as the people they use for repairs.

I am quite wary who I deal with on the internet & couldn’t find any reviews of their work using Google but as they were recommended & seemed to know what they were talking about off went the laptop. After a week they let me know it had been repaired so I transfered the repair fee over to their bank account (they don’t take cards) & had a fixed computer back this morning.

In case you’re wondering they charged £140 inc. VAT & carriage for replacement of the video chips. The only minor problem I had was connecting back onto our network (for security we don’t use wireless) as our network settings had been erased. However, I’ve been caught out like that before so I had made a note of the DNS settings, popping them back in fixed the problem.

So I can recommend Micro Nano Information Technology of Telford but am rather disappointed with Zoostorm laptops. By the way, it is a rebadged Mitac.