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