When Dan & Monika (Dan+Monika=Danika) contacted me and decided that I’d be their wedding photography, I was thrilled! They had a great vision of was their photography would look like. Thats where I come in. :) The funny thing is that we met up at a gas station in the L.A. area. I was like, “you know, what lets start here”. So we grabbed a couple of quick shots before heading to one of my favorite places to shoot this year. The best part of a shoot like this is that Dan & Monika were down for anything. Willing to get kicked out of locations if necessary. My kind of clients. :) We then cruised over to the Walt Disney Concert Hall to finish their engagement photos. One of my favorite parts of Engagement sessions is that it’s a great opportunity to get to know my clients. I want to say Thank you Dan & Monika for the amazing Chinese Dinner we had in China Town. Dan & Monika will be getting married at one of Southern California’s premier wedding venues, Rancho Las Lomas in the Silverado Canyon. Can’t wait to Photograph your Wedding.
Found this on another photographers site, Great article!… So true! Great article written by Grant & Deb. Thanks for such a real article. Miguel
So you’re meeting your prospective wedding photographer for the first time. You found them on a Google search, and their site seems nice enough. But how do you really know they are the best for you?
The easiest answer is also the most ridiculous; in 30 initial minutes you can’t. BUT … there are a few things you can look for to become more comfortable with your decision.
1. Relationship – Relationship – Relationship
The absolute most important aspect to you reaping the results you desire from your final wedding photography is that you fall in LOVE with your wedding photographer(s). And by LOVE I don’t mean you’d ebay your rings, cancel your date and marry them – but I do mean you feel so comfortable that you’d be able to brag about them to your closest friends or have them over for dinner at your house.
A wedding photographer worth hiring doesn’t take pictures, and that sounds totally weird, I know. A great wedding photographer isn’t really a photographer at all but an artist who uses a camera and lens to paint and CAPTURE MOMENTS in digital files filled with emotion and passion. Their images – each and every one – CAPTURE a narrative or story that with one glance creates an emotion from the viewer; namely you. ANYBODY can take a picture, especially with the advances in today’s geeky low-priced digital cameras. But only true wedding photography ARTISTS can capture your story with passion and emotion.
Someone who is bestowed such a precious and significant task as being your ONLY wedding photographer must be someone you absolutely love and admire. In fact, a true wedding photography artist will almost always be easy to be comfortable with because they themselves are depending on building a strong relationship with you so they may better understand what is important to your final outcome.
2. Passion
Ask your prospective wedding photographer if they take their cameras with them to family birthday parties or if they shoot pictures of their niece’s soccer games. Only someone passionate about their craft integrates that passion into their lives – and a great wedding photography artist always integrates their passion into their lives.
When you’re sitting across the table from them, how do they make you feel? Are you getting excited about your day as they talk about their involvement? When they talk about their product, do they exhibit a kind of giddiness or are they just selling? What adjective comes to your mind to describe them if you were asked 5 minutes after you’ve left the appointment?
Passion HAS to at least be a likely adjective you could choose. If not? Run – do not walk – to the next photographer.
You see – any great wedding photography artist is in the “game” for more than just the coin. They are always – and I mean always – looking to become your wedding photographer because they are passionate about painting your special story with the lenses of their camera that tell the story through fine art photography. In fact, a passionate wedding photography artist will always be a remarkable artist.
3. No new stress – please!
The wedding photographer sitting across the table from you has no idea what your plans are for your upcoming fairy-tale day. In fact, just because they’ve taken pictures for hundreds of brides before you, there are no other weddings even close in style or substance as yours, period.
If your prospective wedding photographer isn’t asking the right questions of you, questions pertaining to your day, how YOU plan it to unfold, how many bridesmaids, groomsmen, the venue, is there going to be dancing, will your dad walk you down the aisle, who your maid-of-honor is and who she is to you …
If they are insisting on showing you their previous work, and how awesome they are, and who they’ve photographed before ever asking about how YOU envision your day? RUN – do not walk – to the next prospective photographer.
The most counter-productive and stressful situation is to have your wedding photographer not clearly understand your time line. And the best scenario in this situation is to have a needy, whiney, and question ridden person running around taking pictures creating more stress. The worst scenario? They don’t ask and subsequently don’t GET the pictures you envisioned. In either scenario? Stress and disaster.
Actually, the absolute BEST scenario is a wedding photographer who sits across the table and interviews YOU. That’s right, you’ve invited them to the table to choose them – but what you really want is someone who wants to work with you because you both click. Someone who asks you a bunch of questions, and diligently writes down YOUR answers about YOUR day as they interview YOU. Why? Because when they truly understand YOUR day, and how it will unfold, you have found someone who doesn’t need to create stress on your day (or before), you’ve found someone capable of discovering and understanding what you want prior to your day. Someone who can click with you (and hopefully – FOR you – wink).
4. Show me your stuff
More than likely, you’ve seen a lot of your prospective wedding photographer’s work (and probably their best work) from their web site. And having a look at an album or prints or canvas or … is a good thing too. But understand this, nothing they show you across the table is going to be what you get – ever. You are seeing a compilation of work from perhaps their best work, which is understandable. But even on a perfect day, no two weddings are the same, nor are any two wedding albums, or prints, or … the same.
Obviously your wedding photographer needs to be able to nail their focus, and exposures, and all of those technical photography details in order to even be considered. But, going back to the number one “must” – other bride’s relationships with your photographer have got to be great.
Ask your potential wedding photographer to give you a couple of brides you can contact. And when they provide those names, call those brides and ask one question; “What do you remember most about Photographer xx?” That’s it! You’ll get the whole story from that one question. And the best part? You’ll also get your answer overall from that question.
5. It’s gotta be fun
Ask the wedding photographer this question; “So what do you do for fun?” Not that you need to care WHAT they do for fun – but you do care if they do anything that IS FUN.
Just because your wedding photographer will be working as a “vendor” on your awesome day does NOT mean they have to portray it as work. They have to have fun at it – and you’ve got to have fun at it – and that does NOT mean it’s up to you to make it fun. THEY have to make it fun – the whole day. It may be 98 degrees in the shade or 2 below zero – but THEY have to be able to roll with the punches or change direction at any given time and still make it fun and stress-free for your entire party.
And there is really no way to know if that person you just met is that person other than to know they know how to have fun on their own, hence “So what do you do for fun?”
Ran across an interesting article that I thought I’d share with you. Enjoy! Go get you etiquette on! hahahaha
If you have been invited to a wedding, then brushing up on your wedding guest etiquette skills would not be a bad thing. Many of us think we know how to conduct ourselves in public, but in practice can often let the sense of occasion (and the free flowing champagne) cloud our judgment. And whilst a drunken reveler at a wedding reception may seem like good entertainment on the wedding video, it is a potential headache for the other wedding guests and the bride and groom!
To begin with a dress code may have been specified by the bride and groom. Often referred to as black tie, evening dress or perhaps a specific theme, each guest will be expected to arrive suitably suited and booted as it were and to not do so would be considered rude in the eyes of wedding etiquette. If you are at all concerned about what you are expected to wear then a polite phone call to the bride’s mother or to the maid of honor should help you.
For the weddingceremony each guest is expected to arrive around twenty minutes before the bride. If you are late do not enter the ceremony venue but instead go directly to the reception venue, you can give your excuses to the couple later. To enter the ceremony part way through what will be an emotional time for the bride and groom is very unsettling and can spoil what would be a romantic atmosphere.
When shown to your seats at the ceremony, make sure you have turned off any mobile phones and pagers and that you are comfortable – some ceremonies can take a long time so try to visit the bathroom before you sit down! Try not to make any blasphemous comments if the ceremony is a religious one and be careful of your language!
The wedding reception is the part everyone looks forward to the most, but this too is often filled with many traditions and customs that require a degree of etiquette to be applied from the invited guests. Don’t take advantage of your host’s hospitality too early on! A welcome drink is usually on supplied one to each guest, so make it last unless a pay bar is available. Depending on the style of the wedding and the hospitality laid on you maybe offered a refill, but try not to get roaring drunk before the first speeches have been given!
Make yourself available for the wedding photographs and don’t disappear off to the bar at the first opportunity! Many couples like to have a photograph of themselves and all the wedding guests so whether you are close to them or not, make sure you can be found when called upon. Peaking too soon on the free Champagne and wine is one of the biggest problems faced by wedding guests and the bride and groom. No-one wants a drunken reveler loosing all their inhibitions and shouting out comments about the bride or what the groom got up to on the bachelor party! Keep the drinking in check at least until the evening party is in full swing, then you can let loose!
I met up with Leo and Anna at the LA Train Station. We had a great time shooting throughout the Downtown LA Area. We started at the train station then went over to Olvera Street and we even cruised over to the Disney Concert Hall. Leo and Anna were so much fun! Here are a few of my favorites.
Zak & Melissa came to me from one of my favorite previous clients, Steven & Danielle Sanchez. Zak and his father are avid golfers. So when Zak & I were talking about their engagement photography session he mentioned he wanted to do it at the Hacienda Golf Course where Zak’s dad has been a member for years. The cool thing was, that they also brought to the engagement session their little boy Gavin. Gavin was all over the place trying to play golf and having a great time. After the Hacienda Golf Course we drove around the La Habra Heights and ran into an abandoned building/property. We decided the heck with it. Let’s do this. It kind of felt like we were on the property of the movie the “Last House on the Left”. Kinda erie! We opened up the old Garage shed to find this old 70′s model Mercury Car and began to photograph on and around it. Melissa was a trooper, down for anything! Zak & I kept our heads on a swivel in case some psycho came out of the woodwork!. Over all, fun times! Zak & Melissa will be having thier wedding at Rancho Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano. Be sure to let the 2nd to the last image load its pretty sweet! Don’t forget to Leave Zak and Melissa some Blog Love By Leaving them a comment.
After the abandoned Property we shot over to Zak’s Dad’s house. We took advantage of their Infinity pool. Pretty Sweet huh?
As I said before, Zak & Melissa were down for anything. Check out this Animation That I created of them Jumping in the pool!
