The story behind the image- The White Tree

Now I know that one of the reasons couples often hire me to photograph their weddings are what I call my “Hero” images. These type of images have very much become one of my signatures, and I absolutely love that my couples are always willing to give me the freedom to create these. This post is the first in what will be a series of posts about some of MY favourite hero images. Its not going to be a technical post (sorry photographers, you will have to go over to my photo blog to find the technical stuff. But I would encourage any photographers reading to keep doing so, as what I am going to talk about here is the “why” behind the images).

You see, I am always trying to use this images to tell a story about my couple and their day. I really am not just looking to create a “cool” image for the sake of it. I also try as much as possible to avoid making images too similar to others, unless the story behind them is similar… And thats the crux of it, I’m not just trying to make a cool image, to show how skilled I am, I’m trying to tell a unique story, and everything in the photo has to be meaningful…

So what was the story behind Shelley & Chris’s hero shot? well its pretty simple really.

When Shelley and Chris were visiting family in Tasmania during the planning stages of their wedding, they decided randomly to get off the highway and take a quick look at a wedding venue they had heard of. Quamby Estate. One of the things that you cannot fail to notice as you approach the laneway at Quamby are the trees. Beautiful, striking trees. They saw them and just knew that this was the venue for them. Most couples getting married at Quamby will have their ceremony on the lawns, under the giant Hornbeam tree, and this was what Shelley and Chris had planned. Unfortunately weather got in the way, and soaking rains made the lawns extremely soggy, placing them out of bounds for ceremonies. As we talked about this during the morning, Shelley made one simple request for their photos. Whatever we did, because they loved the trees, and especially as the ceremony had been moved to the courtyard near the fountain, she really hoped that I could include trees in their images.

We did our post ceremony photos, and I made sure that there were plenty of images with trees in them, but as we walked around the grounds, I kept looking at this tree… I knew it was the one I needed. We headed to the reception, and from the pavilion I looked across the lawn at this tree. From that angle there was so much symmetry, and I could see that the way the ground sloped away would help my perspective and composition.

So after dark, as the reception moved along, I quickly went out and worked out the details of how I would shoot it.. The rest was simple, I waited for the right moment, grabbed Shelley and Chris, and we snuck out for a quick 10 minute shoot. I really gave them no direction, other than finding the right spot for them to stand to be framed by the trunk, and just suggested they snuggle for warmth.

So this was my interpretation of their story in a nutshell. In this image, for anyone close to them you can see this story… They were married at Quamby Estate, and hoped to get married under the Hornbeam, but because of the rain, it wasn’t possible. This became the tree that they will remember their day at Quamby Estate by.

This is their story. I would love to be able to tell yours.

Ed

Friends with cameras and wedding photo apps???

I bet you didn’t expect to see a full-time professional wedding photographer posting about the alternative options… well, at least not in a (semi) positive way!!

So lets continue with the surprises. Do I think that there can be a place in your big day for your photographically inclined friends/family, social media or iPhone apps? Yes. Yes I do. But done right.

Firstly I am going to ask you why? Why are you considering this? I bet one of the first reasons that comes to mind is the cost. I know, a full time professional photographer isn’t cheap. I mean, we have huge expenses, 2/3- 3/4 of what we charge gets swallowed up in running our business before we even pay ourselves, but thats a post for another day. Let’s just move on and say yes. I understand cost is an issue. So why would I suggest considering using friends and even apps?

Simple. If you are on a tight budget. I suggest you use a Professional photographer AND those things.

I’m going to run the risk of having a whole chunk of the wedding photography community put a photo of me on their dartboard for this, but I’m going to say it. You are far, far better off to book a serious full time photographer for 5 hours at $3000 than a weekend warrior, part time hobbyist for 12. Why? well we are single mindedly focused on you. Not just on the day, but for the days leading up, and for a week or more afterwards. YOU are our 9-5 Monday to Friday that week. Not a job teaching, not a job as a police officer. Not a job as a receptionist (and I am totally not dissing those jobs or the people that do them... my wife is a full time teacher, and she will be the first to point out that doing her job properly leaves no time to shoot a wedding and edit it) There are no distractions to our attention, we are focussed on you. Also, we spend more time immersed photography. We dedicate more time, money and effort into the craft than someone playing with it after work. Generally, the quality will be way, way better, your images will be more secure and you will have much better options for presenting your images. There. I said it. So how does that fit with using friends and apps?

My suggestion is to book the quality professional photographer for the most important bits. 5 hours will get the last of your prep, you leaving for the ceremony, the ceremony, photos afterwards and the start of the reception. With some smart scheduling you can tick off the major items there too and know that your most important moments are captured professionally and are in safe hands.

So where do the friends and apps come in? The rest of the day. The places your professional photographer isn’t.

I think the best way to explain this is to give hypothetical example of how it could work for your wedding with just 5 hours of coverage booked.

So here’s your day. Your day starts at 9am with a champagne breakfast. You have sent all your bridal party, family and guests an invitation to use the Wedbox app, and upload all their phone photos from the day to it instead of uploading anything to social media on the day. You have also created a unique hashtag for Instagram and let everyone know to use that as well for any photos posted after your wedding day (you don’t want people to see you in your dress before you walk down the aisle).

During bridal prep and groom prep, you have asked those members of your squad that have sweet smartphone photography skills to keep snapping away and uploading. Add to that you mum who is a keen hobbyist photographer with a decent DSLR, and you will end up with a heap of photos showing your day from a tonne of different perspectives…now not all will be keepers, but we are compromising quality for savings here, so thats ok. In reality , you will probably get more good ones than you would have if you’d gone with that photographer offering all the day, two “photographers” and the kitchen sink package for $1500.

So the first few hours of your day have been covered by “crowd-sourced” photos.

Your uncle with a camera can be a great asset… when he’s not distracted

At 2 pm your professional photographer arrives and starts creating beautifully crafted images of you having the final touches applied to your hair and makeup, your dress fastening, your jewellery and getting into the car to leave. They then head to the ceremony about 10 minutes before you to start shooting there. The rest is pretty standard professional coverage. Ceremony, post ceremony photos, bridal party photos. The reception kicks off at 6, so in that first hour of the reception, you do an early cake cut, and have an early first dance before the meals get into full swing. Your photographer leaves at 7, and the rest of the night your friends and family are snapping away, filling your wedbox account upon with hundreds of photos. As the formalities are done, you get your MC to announce that its open season on Instagram etc, as long as all photos have your specified hashtag on them for you to collate them later. (and no, from a photographers perspective, if my couples are happy for their guests photos to go out before they get mine, I really don’t mind. I believe that my work can hold its own against drunk iPhone instagram filtered snaps, and I also don’t thing that these being out there will lessen your excitement and anticipation of receiving my photos.)

The end result? You get the photographer you want, to create the images that you have dreamt of, you have the most precious memories in safe hands, and then you have a wedbox account full of 100 different peoples perspective of your day, from which, you will be able to pull some fantastic shots.

In a nutshell, rather than hire a “cheap” photographer giving you everything for $3000, hire the professional for less time and let your friends capture the rest for you! It is far far better to have 200 great photos than 1000 really average tacky ones.

Friends with cameras can cover the quick happy snaps of your guests.

In all honesty, we know that smartphone cameras and apps are getting better and better. Does this worry me as a photographer? No. I am not hired for my camera. I am hired for my creativity, for the quality of my work, for the way I tell a story, for my trained eye that sees the moments that might be missed. A smartphone cannot replace a trained, dedicated and experienced professional… They can, and probably will however replace those $1500 “part-time” people with regular 9-5 jobs and treat photography “side-hustle”, as they can rarely provide what those of us invested 100% in our craft and clients can.

There. I said it. Now don’t stress about that lower budget, just use it wisely.

Link to Wedbox (there are other similar apps, this is just the one I would recommend)

Screenshot of wedbox website- images are not mine

Questions to ask your prospective photographer.

Lets face it, your photographer is probably one of the highest costs of your big day. I’m not going to get into why we cost what we do (I may cover that in another post, but spoiler alert, its because we put a lot more than just a days work into each wedding), what I want to do, is to arm you with some tools to help when you are looking at your wedding photographer. No matter whether a couple hires me or not, I really do want them to not get burned by hiring a dodgy “fauxtographer”.

So, lets run through a list of questions, why I would ask it, and what answers you should look for.

Do you have Public Liability Insurance, and how much do you carry?

Okay, so this one is first because it is an absolute MUST HAVE! I cannot stress than enough. If someone gets injured due to the photographers equipment or actions, or property is damaged because of them, you should not have to pay for it. They are responsible. You don’t want a legal wrangle between you, the venue, and the photographer over who pays the bill. They should have Public Liability Insurance. In fact, many venues require it before a photographer can set foot on the grounds. They will want to see their certificate of compliance/ policy document. Many will get away with carrying $10million, but quite a few venues require $20million. And, quite frankly, insurance is cheap… a few hundred dollars each year will do it… if they are running a legitimate business, and truly respect their clients and other venues, they will have it.

Is your equipment professional grade?

Why does this matter? You may have even heard comments about gear not being important, that the photographer takes the photo, not the camera (and yes, an amazing photographer can create amazing images with sub-par gear, but thats not the point)… Well, its simple. Pro grade gear is more reliable and more capable in harsh conditions. A professional camera will have slots for 2 memory cards, so that the photographer can create a backup of each photo as they shoot. They will be weather sealed with weather sealed lenses, so that they won’t stop working if they get wet… rain, hail or dust storm, they will keep clicking. They cope with varying conditions better, the focus tracks better etc etc.. Pro grade gear doesn’t make the photos better, it just reduces the chance of a failure, or of conditions stopping the photographer from working.

Do you have back up equipment on hand for the day?

This needs to be a YES. A definitive YES. We have a saying. One is none, two is one, and three is two. What that means is that in the unlikely event of an equipment failure, if they only have one camera, you are all in trouble. If they have two, well, then they might find themselves needing that second one, and three? well that just makes me sleep better at night. Have I needed backup equipment? Yes. Picture this- Bride and brides father approach the aisle. I am shooting flat out as they approach. Camera dies. Turns into an expensive brick. Zero time to fiddle, I just literally drop it and keep shooting with my second camera (like dropped, in the gravel, onto the ground. I really did not care in that moment, all that mattered was the bride walking down the aisle. Now that was at about the halfway point of the day.. I like to have two cameras on hand with different lenses to give a good mix of images, so as soon as I got a moment, I threw the camera in my bag and pulled out body number 3… the rest of the day went fine, the images were all fine, the camera just had a heating issue. If I’d only had one camera? nightmare! If I’d only had two? Well, that would be a day full of fear…

How do you archive your images, and how long do you store them for?

So this question has a couple of parts. Firstly, a good policy is that a photographer should not reuse the cards they shot your wedding on until they have delivered your final photos. So that should mean that to start with we have two copies of your photos (remember the two card slots)..so photo copy count sits at 2. Next, when they import the photos into their computer for editing, they should import a working copy, and do an auto back up copy… so 2 more copies (Photo count 4). Next, they should also be running an offsite backup. So that makes 5… then, once they have delivered your copy (6) they may choose to remove the copy from their working drive… some may delete it (back to 5) others may just move it to an archive drive (so 6 again. Lastly, they will reformat the memory cards, erasing the original 2 copies.. so now we have 4 copies. You have 1, they have 3. We call this the 3-2-1 rule of Digital Asset Management. 3 copies, 2 physical locations, 1 off-site. plus you have at least one copy now. As for how long they should store them? Ultimately once the images have been delivered, the long term archiving of the images is the clients responsibility. Personally, I keep the images in my archive for at least 2 years, after that though, I cannot guarantee the archive harddrives I store them.

Do you have a contract/ service agreement?

Again, a must. This will also lead you to the next question. Firstly, you need a contract to protect you both. It is a written agreement, detailing expectations on both sides. It should cover what times, how long coverage is, delivery schedule, what happens if a guest interferes with them and blocks a shot, what happens if you guys need to reschedule, and also, cover my pet peeve… photographer cancellation. Take a moment and think… how many times have you seen a bride post online “help!! our photographer has cancelled and our wedding is in 3 weeks?” this shouyld’t happen, but , in the world of part time photographers who really are just looking to subsidise a hobby, it does. I have stepped in several times when I have seen this happen, and often found myself shooting basically for free, because Photographer A has decided that they want to grab that last minute deal for a Phuket getaway, and have left the couple stranded, and not even refunded the $$$…. That seriously gets me angry… and I can list at least 3 times I have helped someone out for almost that exact reason… Quite simply, a professional would never do that. Now… what happens if your genuinely professional photographer breaks a leg the week before your wedding? Well, a decent contract will put the responsibility for finding a replacement on them. No matter the cost. For me, I have a list of photographers I would call, and connect my couple with. Then they choose who they want, and I would pay all the costs, then deal with all the post and albums etc myself. It should never be the couples problem. The next question is also connected to contracts.

Who owns copyright to the images taken?

Short answer? You. The client. Under Australian copyright law, in the case of a “Private Domestic Commission” (includes Weddings and family portraits), the first owner of the copyright (owner of the images ) is the client.. Now in all other case here in Australia, the photographer owns copyright, and in most of the world they do for weddings too, but not here. You own it. What does this mean? Okay, so basically every click of that shutter from the start to the finish is yours… that blurry shot, that over exposed shot, that photo of the photographers shoes because they bumped the shutter… all yours. But, do you want them? No. You definitely don’t want every shot. Now, some photographers may have a clause saying “The photographer retains copyright”.. this is meaningless.. they cannot retain that which they didn’t own. What is reasonable is that they have a clause saying “The client authorises the photographer to make determinations about the images and deliver the images that they deem satisfactory”. Also without authorisation, we can’t even fix a slightly dark photo, so you need a clause giving them permission to edit, make corrections and retouch images as deemed necessary” Should you just trust them to do this? Well yes. You chose them because you like their work, so give them the authority to deliver their best.

Do you offer prints? Where do you source them?

They should do this…and again, I don’t mean that they know the way to Harvey Norman or K-mart to get prints done on the kiosks.. Thats fine for happy snaps destined for the fridge door, not for Wedding photos destined for the wall or your desk at work.. you want prints from a Professional Lab. Again, a reputable photographer will have someone for this. Yep.. there is another post coming about this.

Do you offer an online gallery that we can share or order prints directly from?

Necessary? No. Handy? Yes. I like this for my clients so that they can pass it onto family to view their photos no matter how far away they are, and so mum and dad can help themselves and get prints directly from my lab without having to hassle anyone.

Adaptability?

What if the weather isn’t good? How do you work in low light? What if a huge curveball throws the day into chaos? These things happen. Professional photographers will have plan A,B,C, D and Z… They will have plans for shooting in the rain. They will know how to get the job done if it gets windy. They will have lights at the ready in case the venue is a black hole.. Ask for examples of problems they have encountered and how they solved them. Ask to see some resulting images? I’ll be honest, some of my favourite images have come from me being forced to adapt and change my plan of attack. Adapt and overcome.

What is your general philosophy for your work?

Do they see themselves as purely there to capture your day as an observer? Are they an artist? Do they like to work creatively or prefer to shoot to a list, given a specific style to emulate? For me, this is my answer. I strive to both capture the day faithfully and honestly through a documentary style approach, but also to create artistic images to punctuate the day, as well as something iconic to help capture the emotion and uniqueness of the day. I cannot copy another work, I need the freedom to explore the day with my own eyes and tell the story with my own photographic voice, so that the uniqueness of the day is captured, and the story is not the same as any other.

Okay, so that was a huge post, but I really wanted to put this out there. This is by no means a definitive list, but these points are valid, and every photographer should be able to answer them without hesitating. Whatever way you go, who ever you choose, I sincerely hope they fulfil their duty to give you the absolute best work that they possibly can.