First posting
This is for wedding professionals. DJ, Photographer, Videographer, Hair & Make-up, Florist, Venue, Justice of the peace (any one performing a sevice at the wedding). Don’t steal the thunder from the newly married couple. Let them have first posting in regards to the beautiful photos i’ve just done. I explain myself better in the blog vs. this little summary.
Imagine if it was your wedding and the photographer, dj or make-up artist got to announce to all your friends and family (that night or the day after) that you got married and share the most iconic photos (the professional ones) with everyone before you got to announce it?
One of my favorite things to do with my photos is to share them. That means with bride & groom, venue, dj, florists, hair & make up. But i’ve found that I have to provide a little context of how and when to share these photos. I’m making this post because I have had vendors take the initiative and post anywhere from a single photo to dozens of my professional photos of the bridal couple before the bride and groom have had a chance to arrive home and unpack from the wedding day.
Give the bride & groom (groom & groom, bride & bride) first posting (explaining further). That doesn’t mean you can’t post photos of the wedding day or night. This just means that you don’t tag them the first few days or so. You want to give the bridal couple a chance to announce to the world (friends, family) that something big went down (their wedding). When I make my initial posting about the wedding day i’ll usually post one or two of my favorites and tag the venue, quick little excerpt from the day and that’s about it to start. Once I see the bride and groom are posting days later or a week later thats when I allow myself to tag them on social. Remember that due to some social media privacy settings if you do tag them then all of their friends and family will see it in their newsfeed before they’ve made it public.
The night of the wedding they will expect their friends and family to post photos of where they are, tagging the lovely couple and including selfies and shots of the two at the alter. The following day they’ll still receive photos from friends and family on their social media, they’re riding high with all these posts. The two might make a post thanking everyone (sometimes vendors, I love it when this happens), this is when a formal photo is uploaded of their choosing or dozens of photos put up. The two have spent months, a year or two planning this big day and now they get to revel in all the likes, praises, congratulatory talk that one expects and accepts for just a tremendous day; don’t ruin it for them by taking away any of that thunder.
So now that the official photos are up and the bride and groom (groom & groom, bride & bride) have made it clear the they’re married, now you should tag them. I usually like to wait until after I see posts on their end dying down. I like to give them their due fifteen minutes of fame. I know that it won’t get lost amongst a sea of cell phone photos during the week of the wedding. This is a post i’ve wanted to make for awhile. It’s hard to explain to someone in person about when they should post and why. I’ll summarize it briefly below in simpler terms for ease of use.
If I’ve given you the link to the teaser photos for the wedding, it’s because I want you to have them, I want you to use them. You don’t even have to tag me in them (although I do love it when you do. You don’t even have to ask permission beyond this point).
Wedding day: Thank the bridal couple, tag your business, maybe a selfie with them or a cell phone photo
Following day: Thank the bride couple, tag your business, maybe a selfie with them or a cell phone photo. A professional photo without tagging them, tag your business, venue, other vendors
After you see the newly married couple posting the professional photos: You’re golden, post whatever you would like at this point and tag them.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this post and will take it into consideration when you make posts in the future. I only put this together because it’s really hard to explain to someone who might be in the same room as the bridal couple about how they can use my photos (I give everyone the link to the teaser photos, I want everyone to win)
This is not a post dictating what to do with my “art” (shudder). I don’t have enough time to police all of my photos and patrol Facebook for infractions. This is just me saying “let the bridal couple enjoy their fifteen minutes of fame”.
Corvid-19 update
I won’t be canceling any of my weddings or engagement shoots. I am however ready to take on any new business from those who are unable to. A majority of what I do can be at a safe distance. Even my meetings have been switched to Skype & FaceTime. Most current weddings into April have been canceled by venues and those brides and going to be looking for new dates and hopefully i’ll have your date later in the year open.
First off, I don’t have the Corona virus.
If you’re a current bride or groom: I won’t be canceling any of my weddings or engagement shoots. I am however ready to take on any new business from those who are unable to. A majority of what I do, can be at a safe distance. Even my meetings have been switched to Skype & FaceTime. Most venues aren’t choosing to cancel dates but have mandated to do so by the government. Feel free to give me a call when rebooking with a venue and I can let you know on the spot if I have your date available. Try and work with multiple dates from a venue if possible. More likely to be able to stick with you through all this with more options.
I am currently under self quarantine. I spend the majority of my day currently thinking about what I’ll eat and when and which YouTube video i’ll watch along with that. I’m also keeping busy by organizing, editing, sorting and building infrastructure as well as marketing. This shut down of the American way of life has affected me the same as everyone else, unexpectedly. I’ve always been somewhat prepared for extended stays at home. As a wedding photographer I have to wait for my payday. I don’t ask for money up front or portions of it leading up to a wedding. I couldn’t imagine the pain of being a photographer with a canceled wedding who has to give back a large retainer or deposit. So because of not taking money before a wedding I usually am stocked up on toilet paper, soaps, cleaning supplies and food. This only meant that when I went to the store to pick up a little extra last week it wasn’t imperative and more luxuries I was partaking in; sweets, meats and salty foods.
I depend on weddings to make payments to all my bills from mortgage down to my Spotify premium account (I just can’t stand those commercials). I have yet to see any cancellations from any of my forty four brides and grooms. I’ve already shot a half dozen weddings this year with the majority set to begin at the end of April. I’m looking forward to getting back to normalcy and keeping myself nice and healthy in the meantime; taking my vitamins, exercising, resting and waiting. This post is more to let my current brides and grooms know that i’m not planning on going anywhere, fleeing to the Corona virus free island off of Massachusetts. If you have any worries, then just call of course.
I’m not going to go much further into how bad it could get or what’s already happened because of this shut down. I’ve seen too much of that on Facebook as it is and don’t need to contribute, it’s bad. I’m just waiting for the spring, summer and time to pass so I can get back to doing what I love. I feel terribly for those who are going through financial hardships as well as the mental. There’s so many businesses i’ve seen who I thought were rock solid that are being hit so hard. Some laying off employees temporarily and others struck with the possibility of having to close permanently. Those of you in the beauty industry and food industry that interact with people directly have lost their income abruptly and I wish the best for you. I hope this is all over as quick as it came.
Stay safe and #StayTheFuckHome
Here’s some of my favorite photos i’ve taken at weddings.
Dumb tricks that get photographers hired.
I don’t do bridal shows and I try and stay away from some of the practices of other photographers. If you’re going to make it in this business you can’t do the same exact thing every other photographer does. If we all used the same exact equipment, same “style” aka presets.. then we would be pretty hard to distinguish ourselves from the pack. Here’s some trends that I see and some of how I operate.
THIS IS AN ENGAGEMENT SESSION I DID IN DOWNTOWN PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND WITH AN UPCOMING WEDDING. THE ENGAGEMENT SESSION IS A REALLY GREAT TIME TO HANG WITH THE BRIDAL COUPLE.
So this will be a quick little blog. It’s poking at some practices that we (not me) as photographers sometimes do to bait potential customers. I’m just listing a few that you might see at a bridal show, online or a face to face meeting. This also will touch a little bit on style of photography as well (some tricks that I do employ to a degree). If you’re a photographer, bride or groom then you may agree or disagree. Feel free to comment at the bottom. This is really only my insight from over ten years of shooting weddings and developing my approach. This is my opinion and of course there are many roads to Florida (my analogy I most often use). I know a photographer, lets make up a fictional name and call him Bill G. He would get soo mad whenever he saw anyone doing photography different than he did it, it wasn't the proper way he would always mutter. This photographer only happens to shoot a few events a year now while I have shoots a few times a week. Anyways.. all roads eventually lead to Florida. Every photographer has a different method and this is only to highlight what some of the masses do when they’re not trying to stand out.
Free engagement shoot with all new bookings! Okay, I always offer an engagement shoot with every wedding, that’t only normal to me because i’m going to be spending the entire day with you and… I want to know that you’re both semi-normal and that we somewhat get along and like each other. The engagement shoot is also a great time to run through poses, get a few nice photos for save the dates.
So back to how this works at a bridal show. Everyone is going to give this away and they’re going to put a “value” on it or an exact price or possibly use the word bargain along with this. The engagement shoot costs the photographer nothing but his time and when you bundle up your fee for the wedding day along with any tangibles (flash drives, albums), then a little extra time on the front end isn’t a big deal. Every photographer is going to include this, you might have to poke and prod a bit, but get it. But never think that the photographer is some sort of saint for offering this.
Positive side of things, take the engagement shoot with the photographer you want to book your wedding with, it’s a good trial to see how you vibe with each other. Even if in the end they charge you for it as extra it’s still a small investment to know that your wedding photos are going to be what you want.
Dates are filling up fast, better book with me now. This may be true. I had to turn away almost forty brides last year because I can only shoot one wedding at a time. If you need a few days or a week to mull things over then that’s totally reasonable and responsible. There are popular dates out there that happen every year. Typically i’ll have one or two dates that people are pining after every year, but only those who book early get it. If someones offering a one day deal only then pass on it. This is your wedding and if your photographer can’t wait a day or week to book you then maybe they don;’t have that much business to begin with or too much business to properly accommodate you.
Free album with all 2020 bookings, an eight hundred dollar value!!! OMG, you better book right now, that’s a killer deal. Wait! There’s the internet, With absolute certainty I know that any of my brides can find a decent album for two hundred dollars. I also know that once I send them an album they could do a little research and figure out who I use or… just ask me directly. When I book a wedding I do the albums at cost, give or take twenty dollars, this means that I have no incentive to up-sell you on getting one. It’s not that I don’t want you to have an album, in fact I do. I just don’t want to charge you eight hundred dollars or more for one and lose a wedding over a book, I also don’t want you to say “we aren’t interested in an album” and all of a sudden i’m taking eight hundred dollars off the total. So for me it’s always easier to just be super transparent on this. I would much rather charge for what matters, the photography. I’m putting value on my time and skill, not the material things. You’re paying for someone to show up, not mess up and deliver some amazing images.
Quick photo I had of an album that I had made for around two hundred and fifty dollars. fifty pages and glass cover.
To be completely transparent and honest I will say that there are eight hundred dollar albums and northward out there. Some of them are amazing companies that put out a quality product. I have friends that sell using these beautiful albums and that’s great. I’m only warning you about people that are pushing a free album in attempt to make you “Buy now now now!”. A great salesmen is going to present, not pressure. A traditional mark up on products is three hundred percent of their original cost if not more. It’s much easier for me not to have to explain the price increase if someone ever tracks down where I get my albums, so I do it at cost.
So if you’re a photographer you may have a problem with this next part. Multiple packages and A la cart pricing. So this allows photographers to move things around and still keep the price in their favor. This also can add to some confusion when trying to figure out the price. Sure, I can add this, let me give you a deal on this other thing or this is going to cost more because it’s not bundled with this, so you want this but not this other thing, or that’s an additional charge because of…
It’s too much to shift all these tiny pieces around all the time. I always want to make sure you get a good deal so I just find out what you’re looking for and give you. price on that, putting the majority of the fee on photography, not the tangibles or things that don’t cost me anything. A la cart pricing “can” be a way to steer you back to the packages. Once you add up everything that you want you realize that the price is more than the package. So now you’re considering the packages again and now you’re back to shifting things around. Again, going to play myself up again. I only offer one package so that I can just take away whatever brides aren’t interested in vs. shifting packages around or slowly building up the bill.
Gratuitous photo of myself.
Additional photographer, more coverage. Okay. This is true to a degree. You end up with more photos, more people in more places. My goal is never to up-sell you on what you may not need. If you’re getting ready near each other somewhat or if you have under a hundred and fifty guests then it’s pretty easy for me to accommodate you. Most brides that come to me are pretty educated on wedding stuff by the time they get to me and I know they’ve researched me and my work, so I’ll never want to push something on them that they already have an inkling that they don’t need. Your photographer should be pretty up front and either say yes or no, not yes and yes to a second shooter (our term). If you want photos of you walking down the isle from front and back then you’ll want a second shooter. If you want photos fo your grooms face as you walk down the isle and you walking down the isle, you don’t need a second shooter. If you’re both getting ready at a hotel and you want coverage of the both of you then you don’t need a second shooter. If you’re getting ready four towns away from each other and want coverage of the both of you… you may want a second photographer.
When I use a second shooter (photographer) I usually charge whatever money i’ll actually be giving them. They have an easy job, they show up, have fun, shoot and eventually leave sans memory card. I’m only using a portion of their photos in the end, we all have pretty high standards when it comes to photos and we’re all very picky as photographers. Be weary of any photographer pushing services that you don’t think you need on you. Do your research on this subject, ask Jeeves (old reference).
I couldn’t find any of my photos with crazy filters on them, so I’m using a photo of a wonderful meal I had, yes I have a cell phone case with my logo on it. I’m branded up.
Here’s what else grinds my gears, yes I went there. Everyone calling their photography their style or vision when… they’re just using a downloaded preset (sometimes they even pay for these) on every single photo or desaturating the photos. I’m not going to say I don’t like these photos, some of them are great. I love the look but, yes there’s a but. Someday in the future when you want to see what that moment actually looked like without grain and desaturated reds and oranges and way to much work on highlights and shadows you won’t be able to. Because that filter is there for life. What I like to do is capture the actual colors, correct color temperature and exposure. It takes seconds to throw a filter on, but I don’t think I could ever call it my “style”. I’ve wrote a bunch more about it here.
So here’s what i’m trying to get across, look at their skill as a photographer. Do you like the way they frame a photo, is the exposure at least correct. Take a look at their whole portfolio, not just weddings. See their range and skill as a photographer because a wedding is essentially a marathon of photography. We’re constantly pushed and pulled throughout the day to get operate in any conditions, bad lighting, difficult people and situations, hot and cold and also our gear matters. I’m getting away from my point but basically if a photographer is calling his desaturated photos his style and trying to play up how artistic he is… take a second look. If he’s saying he’s a natural light photographer.. run! One more warning sign to look for is selective color, thats when a photographer turns down all the colors except for one. This makes everything black and white except for those red roses, making it an iconic photo. This is gimmicky, simple and a stupid trick that people can now do on their cell phones… so why would a wedding photographer be doing this? Steer away from white vignetting as well, that’s a huge warning sign that your photographer is behind the times in style.
So this is a shot THAT A NATURAL LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHER COULDN’T GET. THIS WAS SHOT WITH TWO OFF CAMERA FLASHES. ONE FLASH BEHIND THEM ON A SNOOT SO THAT THE FLASH DIDN’T SPILL OUT ONTO THE BRANCHES OF THE TREE AND THE SECOND LIGHT BEING HELD BY ANOTHER PHOTOGRAPHER WITH A TIGHT GRID TO FOCUS THE MAJORITY OF THE LIGHT ON THEM.
A natural light photographer is a scary thing for a wedding. There’s only so many hours of the day that are bright during a wedding. Eventually it gets dark and then what? If someone’s mastered how to take photos in daylight, that’s great. But you’re going to want your entire wedding covered and if they can’t navigate around a flash and some interesting light then you may want to look elsewhere. Again, they’ll have some amazing photos and they may be a talented photographer but please for wedding sake make sure your photographer uses lights! Imagine if you bought cabinets for your kitchen and the cabinet maker told you that he can only put the hinges on the outside of the cabinet and not inside because that’s not his style. I love a good analogy.
Depth of field, making something sharp and something pretty damn smooth. At a quick glance you already know this wasn’t taken with a cell phone, so automatically it’s already leaning towards the only conclusion you could make, a professional photographer took this with a professional camera.
Here’s another trick that I do employ. Shooting at a very low depth of field. This means whatever i’m focused on is sharp and the rest is out of focus. It does make for a pleasing photo. I also know that regardless of the situation when I use this little trick that whoever sees the photo regardless of proper assessment sees a professional image. They know that a good camera or good lens is somewhere in the equation and whoever can afford this good lens or camera must be a professional photographer. Quick example, lets say I tattoo’d someone and it didn’t look half bad and I show off that tattoo. To those of you who don’t know, I might be a professional tattoo artist, but look at the rest of my work and realize that maybe… not so much. So again, look at someones portfolio, if that’s their style, everything shot in low depth of field, then maybe pass. It’s a simple trick that I do use, but only when it’s called for. These lenses are primarily used to work in extremely low light, not just for a blurring (bokeh) effect.
So here’s an example of my Canon 200mm 1.8 lens. The reason this looks unique is because of the size of this lens and also the hefty price tag. This isn’t a lens you can pick up in your local best buy.
So i’m going to admit to something horrible. I use my gear to get brides and grooms. I have some cool lenses. I have a fisheye lens that is pretty much useless except for some random cool photos here or there. It’s sometimes fun to use during a wedding reception or sometimes in tight spaces but mostly useless. I also have a two hundred millimeter lens that is no longer produced that can shoot at an incredibly low depth of field which produces a spectacularly amazing image that looks like non other. I have many others which I could list. I use these lenses to get new business sometimes because I know the common person will see the image and be wowed. But the main thing I want to point out is that I can still use the most basic, boring, cheap lens to get an amazing image regardless of depth of field or any other curiosity the lens may entail.
So to round this out, investigate your photographer, get to know them. Don’t go with a photographer because they’re rolling back the price quickly or throwing in a freebie as soon as you blink or move your chair in the meeting. Make sure you love their work, that they don’t use car salesmen terms in regards to your wedding package. If you see the word budget, value or deal then calmly and quietly get up and say that you have to make a quick phone call and get out of there. Just like then you buy a house, car or anything of value, research, know the terms, know the differences between photographers and make a very educated choice on who you go with.
Click here to see some of my photography or call me at 508-471-0069 to ask me any questions you might have.
David & Anna at the AC HOTEL, Worcester
David & Anna’s wedding. Hotel to park to church to hotel. Lots of dancing, great food and great company.
David and Anna at the AC Hotel in Worcester
Who steers the ship
You've hired a wedding photographer but on your wedding day you decide to direct them instead of enjoying the day, that's fine. But... how many weddings have you shot and do you have a method to get all the formals done in twenty minutes?
If you decide that you know more than the photographer it may cost you. That's not meant to sound like a threat, it's more of a small rant that will help put some of your wedding day into perspective. It's a fast paced day with lots of moving parts and lots of different vendors who do not want to mess anything up, this means everyone is making sure they perform exactly what they were hired for.
Most weddings will go off without a hitch, there are the small little hiccups which do happen. People arriving late, corsage mishaps, wrong colored shoes, missing socks. But most photographers have been to a few hundred more weddings than the bride and groom they are tasked to take photos of. This means if you decide to intervene throughout the wedding with ideas and direction it can cost you time and photos. One of my favorite parts about a wedding is guiding a bride throughout the day because i'm with her the entire day. I'm able to say that we're running on schedule or we're going to head back here and you're going to have a little break and then get introduced into the reception.
On your wedding day a wedding photographer will never argue with you, you're the boss. We've been hired to take photos and not to negotiate/argue on how you want it done. I totally understand the intervention that may happen when a bride thinks she needs to. It's a high stress day for the bride because she wants everything to be perfect. In my experience most brides don't relax or breath until after they've sat at the reception. My goal is to get amazing photos and maybe jump through a few hoops doing so. I also want to keep the bride and groom happy throughout all this. If your face shows stress on your wedding day it's going to show in the photos. You may not even remember doing this or ever see those photos because I will make sure they don't make the final cut.
During formal photos I have thirty to forty minutes to get the photos that you'll be hanging on your wall and passing down to future generations. I have a method, a path that I follow and a flow. We start off big, break it down, switch it up and eventually end up with just the bride and groom. If you decide you know better then the photographer we're going to let you do so. I've had brides direct formal photos before and we started with family and then bridal party and then back to family and then back to family and then the bride and groom and then bridal party and double the time. I write this as a warning to other brides to let the photographer steer the ship at certain key points. You've hired us for a reason. I certainly wouldn't be offering suggestions to a plumber or mechanic. I want to get you as many photos as possible.
On your wedding day, relax, enjoy, experience it. You don't have to keep track of everyones whereabouts, put someone in charge of that. Consider the day a stack of dominos, line them up and let it happen. You wouldn't start the line of dominion by tipping them and slowly readjusting them as the dominos fell. If you look worried or like you're yelling at people in your photos it's going to look just like that in your photos. I really want the best of you on your wedding day. It's not just a paycheck or an honest one if I don't think i've done everything possible to get you the best photos. So pucker up, smile and let your wedding day happen and enjoy your friends and family. No guests will ever notice the mistakes, I promise you.
The flying photographer
I certainly don't mix my lenses with my socks when I travel. Here's how I travel as a wedding photographer. I'm also endorsing ThinkTANK because they really rock when it comes to photography gear.
ThinkTank Airport Security. retractable stroller handle so you don't get stuck carrying through the airport.
ThinkTank Airport Security. plenty of space to fit my 200mm 1.8, two bodies, 4 other lenses, two flashes and tons of batteries and accessories and laptop.
usually one body and 3 or 4 lenses and a flash. Also has room for a 15inch macbook
smaller things like cables and usb devices in here
This keeps my macbooks cables organized in my bag and easy to get to.
No this is not a blog about drones even though I may have link-bated you. This could either be about drones or a magical flying photographer or X-Men based sort of mutant who can take photos while flying. I just wanted to write a little bit about my experience traveling as a photographer.
So traveling as a photographer can be a bit difficult. I'm not traveling with a few thousand dollars worth of gear, usually it's tens of thousands of dollars worth of gear; hope you liked that humble brag. This means that i'm not checking my gear, we've all seen those videos of luggage handlers tossing and pitching suitcases into and out of planes. This is my exact nightmare, having someone toss a case or bag filled with two bodies and several lenses with accessories into a mishmash of storage space that is being optimized for space which means fitting and squishing into place when applicable.
When you travel somewhere as a photographer you really don't want to leave that one tool home that you realize later you needed. So this means we will often bring everything and the kitchen sink. I regularly will travel with around eight lenses, a few flashes and two bodies as well as batteries and everything else.
The next nightmare is for a TSA employee somewhere along the lines to inspect my gear and pull out the smallest maybe unnoticeable item somewhere along the lines. Even when I don't have anything important in my checked bags I regularly get luggage back with either one or two locks missing or telltale signs of rummaging. How easy would it be for any of them to simply place an object into their pocketbook or vest pocket. I may arrive at my location and notice I don't have an adapter or lens and now I'm questioning if I even packed it or maybe it fell out when I was retrieving my car charger for my phone at the airport. It may be a week or two before I can verify a stolen item and the amount of baggage handlers could very well mean than I cannot narrow down a point where it was taken.
So how I treat my equipment is having it with me on a carry on bag. This is the stuff that cannot be stolen, it's with me; the guard. On most flights you are allowed a carry on, a backpack and a small item. The carry on size is different between international and continental USA. I do have both sizes of carry on for my camera equipment. I have bags from ThinkTANK and highly suggest them. I have the ThinkTANK commuter, airport security v2, airport international v3 and the retrospective 30 and 10 shoulder bags. One of the neat things as well is the similar bag shapes which mean they look awesome when they are all put away. They are boxy, padded and have all the right features that you need. Order on Amazon and check one out or take a trip to B&H in NYC and get hands on with it. I've had a bag collection for many years and this past year i've actually started to thin out my stash because I fell in love.
Screenshot from TSA website. In the past three years I have had four locks DISAPPEAR and have never received an inspection notice.
So when traveling with your gear, keep it with you. If you get the ThinkTANK bags they mostly all include a cable that is attached to the bag that you simply have to loop to any pole, seat or other stationary objects to secure as well as zippers than can be locked into a stationary lock.
ThinkTank Airport commuter. solid bag that fits enough gear for a wedding
Thinktank Airport commuter. great for a carry on and durable enough for hiking.
Somewhat disposable TSA locks (They like to throw them away)
Keep alot of my chargers in here when i travel
Why would you hire me?
I've put together some ramblings of why you would want to choose me as your wedding photographer. When you choose a wedding photographer you are choosing someone who you will most likely spend the day with. I'm fun and sometimes I bring donuts.
Here I am wielding not one, but two flashes. #ExpertLevelAchieved
Trigger warning: bad writing.
Sometimes I start off with a really solid idea and then I branch out into ramblings. I apologize ahead of time because I believe I slightly did that here.
Why should we hire you... MIKE. While I don't get asked this exact question, it still hangs in the air throughout the meeting. I've done enough meetings with potential brides and grooms to read their expressions like a packet of Cliff Notes guide to meeting with wedding photographer.
So first there is the nodding expression where they are thinking "This is going to be expensive" . In truth it is going to be expensive. You're hiring me to document a day that can't be repeated, it's high stakes. I'm also showing up with enough equipment to put a downpayment on a house with.
There's the other hinting of body language and facial expression that spell out we don't want anything extra, book, flash drive, online gallery; we just want the digital photos. That's great that you know what you want and yes, just say that right off the bat.
Sometime's I meet with just the bride and sometimes with the bridal couple. Meeting with one person is always easier because you have their complete focus. I'll also be completely honest in saying that the bride to be usually makes the calls when it comes to the details of the wedding. When I have a potential bride and groom in front of me throughout my pitch they will sometimes show their cards. When we get into price and start talking about what they're looking for. I'll start running through the different options and when I run across something they don't want they instinctively look at each other. They say it with their eyes "we talked about this before, I don't want this" and with a look back i'm able to course correct and steer them with options they do want.
The meetings are really just to see if we vibe, I already know I can shoot your wedding blindfolded and you know I can too. It can come down to a few things for a bride, i'll name the top three. First, do you like me? I'm going to spend all day with you and hopefully we get along right off the bat because I will spend more time with the bride on her wedding day than the groom. Secondly, do you like my photography? I have lots of different lenses and I'm with you for the whole day so I tend to have lots of different looks to my photos. Third, does my price work for you? I'm flexible on price to a point. I really want to shoot weddings and make people happy but it costs money to be a well rounded photographer.
Okay so I wanted to convey a little bit about the meetings above. But here's the truth of why you would to hire me as your wedding photographer. I'm committed to getting you awesome photos on your wedding day. My goal is to keep you on schedule, be your cheerleader, help out where I can. I've been known to bustle a dress, fit a corsage, straighten ties, deliver flowers, escort grandmothers and dance with kids. This is my full-time job, that means you message me at ten at night, i'm most likely going to be responding by ten ten. I've even taken the time to write out every single question that I've been asked in the past few years, sometimes a bride won't actually voice these questions so I've found it helpful to write it all out. I have enough gear, equipment and batteries to shoot three weddings in a row without recharging. I've been shooting weddings for over ten years. I actually like photography and do that in my spare time.. for fun. When I do a good job with weddings it leads to more weddings which means better equipment, sharper photos, more unique aspects. I'm constantly rolling my money back into my photography, so developing myself more. Every year I add a few more tricks to my wheelhouse. I also travel a lot, eighteen countries and twenty four states; that means I don't mind flying to your wedding to shoot. I would be happy to give you any bride and groom's contact info and have them tell you how much fun they had with me. Friend me on Facebook, Follow me on Instagram to see exactly who you would be getting as a wedding photographer; I won't disappoint.
So i'll use an analogue to describe wedding photography. When you go to Best Buy and stand there and look at all the TVs you can see the difference between each one pretty easily. They're all next to each other, same dimensions, same brightness, maybe color is different on this other one or another is a bit smoother with the resolution. When you eventually pick out a set you're getting it because the price worked for you. When you get that TV home you're going to fall in love with it and brag to your friends about your big tv. I will say that I certainly don't think back to that Samsung with the high gloss black finish when i'm sitting watching my tv.
It's partially the same with wedding photography. We're going to all do essentially the same thing, capture photos of you on your wedding day, the best we can or know how. If you stack me up next to other photographers you'll see i'm better than some but not than others. All I can offer is my uniqueness, perspective and skill. But when you have your photos, your memories you won't be second guessing who you went with. I imagine you're going to be pretty happy. I can't really trash other wedding photographers because most are not terrible, most just do it a bit differently then I do, different equipment, different focus or limited or unlimited experience that they may have. Most of my friends are actually photographers so I have that unique viewpoint of knowing how lots of other photographers operate. So do you research before you commit, drill your wedding photographer, ask me a million questions.
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Any of the above will make me happy.
The worst best man's speech
A best mans speech that threw the bride under the bus. Hope you enjoy this story.
So I was recently told this story by a groom and wanted to retell it here. I loved it and I hope this happens at one my wedding.
This all started with a best mans speech. The best man got up and he looks over at the bride and groom and then back to friends and family.
"I'm really happy for Rob and Sarah, it's great that Sarah can start this new chapter in her life, in her relationship. So this is for all of you guys out there, she is off the market, she's not that type of girl anymore. We know she has somewhat of a past, but she's not that type of girl anymore. So you really have to understand this, no more calling, texting her. This is a new chapter in her life. So no more visiting her apartment, late night rendezvous. You gotta just leave her alone now. So i'm going to have to ask everyone to bring up their keys to her apartment."
(puts out a bowl)
Everyone just filing up and putting keys in the bowl with a little old man being the final person putting his key in the bowl.
(The best man had handed out keys to all the guys prior to the reception)
I made the bride's daughter cry
Soooo before you get mad at me, I didn't do anything wrong. While taking photos a waitress yelled at me and afterwards the bride's daughter (9 years old) was absolutely certain this waitress would kick everyone out and cancel the wedding. Here's the story.
Okay. Now that i've link baited you i'll quickly tell you I didn't do anything wrong. Okay now that we've got that settled I can continue with the story. I also did get my bride's permission to tell this story because I didn't want to come off as mean in any sense or be disrespectful to anyone. I'm not going to name this venue and if you recognize it then you know they have amazing prime rib and corn fritters. I have shot many weddings here as well as my first wedding and I will be back.
So first off, me and the bride's daughter totally hitting it off. She's nine years old and I took the time to help her find some things in a Where's Waldo type of book at the hair salon and I let her use my camera. When we arrived at the wedding venue (I'm not going to use their name here because I really like them) I started doing detail photos while the bride ran around and made sure everything was in order. I asked my bride's daughter is she wanted to come and hang out with me while I do photos and carry the veil.
My little assistant came with me while I hung the dress all around the property but there was no area that was really conducive to what I was looking to do. Inside and outside I only found a few spots but nothing that blew me away.I found one spot that worked amazingly, from a chandelier by the front entrance. I hung it, tipping the lights sideways a bit but the dress was light and no troubles. I took a few photos and it looked amazing. I decided to have Sam stand in a chair next to the dress and maybe some directly behind it. I had her on a chair and I was instructing her not to touch the dress whatsoever because of the chandelier. Just as I was doing so a nineteen year old waitress rushes over with her hands up saying "I'm sorry, I just, I, you can't, sorry, you can't" to which I replied we'll just be a few more minutes and then we'll be out of your way. She then started to reach for the wedding dress which I grabbed before she could touch it. We stood there in a small stale mate and I explained that I just needed to get a few photos and I would be leaving the area and she said that I couldn't hang the dress there (several employees had walked by me or watched me prior to this). She pointed out two places where I could hang the dress. One being on a coat hanging area with high chairs and the other by the front podium where there was no place to hang it.
I pointed out those to areas and questioned them, over there??? She eventually walked away very quickly and I was left alone with Sam. I walked back over to rehang the dress and continue with my photos and was blocked by Sam. Sam told me "No! The lady said you can't" to which I replied, yea I know but it's okay. So I moved into position again but was blocked by Sam "She said no". Now i'm being impeded from doing my job. So I got down and tried to explain to her that the worse thing that can happen is I get yelled at again. I tell her that i'm going to be taking the photos that her mom will have for the rest of her life and I have to make them as perfect as I can. Now Sam is actively trying to take the wedding dress fro me.
A family member of Sams comes in the front entrance and says hi to both of us. I ask if they can take her upstairs so that I can finish taking photos. She stands there with arms crossed. She is unresponsive to her Aunt and Uncle. I ask if she doesn't want me to take photos of the dress, she is quiet with arms still crossed "Do you not want me to hang the dress up" yessssss. Tears start to drip down her face so I say "Okay i'm going to go take photos over here, but you have to head upstairs okay". So she leaves and I walk over and rehang the dress and get a few more photos.
Afterwards I head up to put the dress back and my bride is there to greet me. She says "So you made my daughter cry...". She then follows up with telling me that she talked to Sam and that for the money she paid me and also the venue that I can do whatever I want and that's what i'm paying for. So Sam thought that the nineteen year old waitress was going to cancel the wedding and kick everyone out. I did talk to the coordinator for our wedding and she said she was aware of what happened and it wasn't a big deal at all and was fine with it.
My main goal at any wedding is maybe not following all the rules but instead getting the best photos I can without being too disruptive. I'm always on the bride and groom's side and am looking to do the best I can do. I've included some photos of the dress below, I did only take a few shots inside of the dress.
See if you can pick out which photo I designed and shot and which one was suggested to me.
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A
Business cards and why mine is the best.
So I posted the design of my new business card and everyone had great feedback on it. I wanted to write about my design choices a bit more and explain myself and not have it get lost within the thread. So here's some of my marketing choices and design choices wrapped up together. This blog has cost me two Venti Cafe Mochas from Starbucks btw.
Here's a few business cards i've put together. You can see the evolution of my design.
Brace yourself for a long winded rant about my business cards. You kinda asked for it... those were a lot of Facebook comments.
So Zazzle who I typically use for my business card had a little bit of a trimming mishap when producing my cards. They upgraded some of their behind the scenes editing software and it ended up pushing some of my text outside the cut lines. So this mishap meant they took care of me with credit and that allowed me to go back and readjust the cards. Additionally the thickness or weight of the card was so thick that during the cutting process the sheets shifted slightly. I had text very close to the edge and it showed any slight deviation. I only noticed it while dropping off a set of business cards.
I do want to preface this all with Zazzle is awesome. I've used other companies and I really have had good experiences with this company. The customer service is always top shelf. There has been times where I've made a mistake and other times where they've made a mistake. They have humans who work there and it turns out humans can make an occasional mistake, totally okay with that. I've had soo many people message with me various other companies that they use and I have to decline the help because I really do love this company and the fact that I have everything all ready and designed for print here. So with this current mishap Zazzle took care of me and just recently sent me an additional box of cards which was done unpressured and just a show of appreciation. So I ended up with double the amount of cards. I've been using Zazzle since I started my photography business and it's nice to have a steady supplier like them.
So I've put this out to my friends on Facebook, the designing of my card. I was mostly looking for feedback on my red hat that I want to include. I've spent a lot of time designing my card to stand apart from everyone else. Typically everyone does the same exact thing. Name, Phone, E-mail, logo and maybe a slogan. Think about how many business cards look exactly the same.
The design of my business card has been the same with minor adjustments over the past five years. One side is always a large image of my logo, large enough to read if it's on the ground or a table. I've chosen the chubby size cards instead of the standard for two reasons, it stands out and doesn't fit behind other cards nicely. The second reason is it's different, it's usually been a tear-proof material which is always an interesting challenge to my clients to tear it up.
So I appreciate everyones input for the cards. Some of the advice I totally understand. Use a beautiful image you've shot, use this font, why is the phone number so big. This is not a card which I've put together quickly. It's been made to stand out from the pack. A thousand cards will probably last me most of the year. Brides and grooms who typically end up with my card end up with it because they are in my office. Most people are finding me on Google, Facebook, Instagram or a random phone call. If these were being used for a wedding expo I would probably have something a bit different.
One of the biggest things with photographer is everyone happens to use a camera aperture for a logo (myself included, guilty). So I changed my logo a year or two back to something a littler bit more reflective of who and what. It now includes the words wedding which is my focus. I also have the dot come in the logo as well so now I don't have to do any additional dot come references elsewhere in the card. The main goal of my card is for it to stand apart from everyones no matter what business's card it's next to. My business name was believe it or not an AIM handle back in 1996 which was unity1818. Unity is an Operation Ivy song, not a Queen Latifah jam. It ended up as a placeholder for my website because I eventually needed one. Unity happens to work as a name for a business name but unity photography is actually taken by another photographer named Ken who I've actually met in real life. Anyways the reason I mention this is logos are hard and also very much essential to pull together a website, business card and any branding you may want to do. I didn't get to do anything cute like Two cranes photography or jumping cat photo. I based mine off a teenage Aol Instant Messenger name.
The giant phone number is something that takes people a second to grasp sometimes. I've had lots of people pick it up and say what is this and then it clicks. Then I have a few different sentences fit above, in-between and below the giant phone number. So whoever has already picked up my card because they don't understand the giant numbers at first and now they're reading all these sentences i've put on my card which is done is a very small font. So they've spent anywhere from fifteen seconds to twenty seconds reading this side of my business card. I just times myself doing it from picking it up and skimming through everything.
TEXT LISTED CURRENTLY ON MY BUSINESS CARD
Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and Facebook. Visit my website to find all my social media links.
Wow, this is a very impressive business card. Thank you, I agree. If you find this impressive then wait until you see my photos.
The number on this card is my phone number. Please visit my website to send me a more formal message.
Don't lose this card. Int has your future wedding photographer's contact info on it.
There is a rhyme to my reason.... is that even a saying?
So think about how long it takes for you to usually comprehend information on anyones business card. You look at a logo, an address maybe, hours possibly, phone and e-mail. I've already gotten almost twenty seconds of someones time. I've told them where they can find my social media links. I've directed them to my website to send me a message. I personally don't like a random e-mail from someone with a simple sentence "HOW MUCH" "WHAT ARE YOUR PACKAGES". So I love to direct people to my website where I have a proper contact form and more importantly all the information. I've also included a little bit of my humor by saying how impressive the business card is. If you didn't get what the numbers were or skipped over the numbers in favor for a full sentence then it's explained here with the above text. I've also told them how important the card is and not to lose it, it has your future wedding photographers info on it. Okay, that last sentence is a little cocky but it's cool, I know I rock.
So if you found this card and and saw all this information you would be able to get a quick snippet of who I am, personality wise possibly. As a wedding photographer i'm the person you'll have the most contact with during a wedding day. I'm literally with a bride all day long give or take some distance. The big thing I try to convey when I meet a bride and groom is the attitude of easy going. I'm very easy going, in fact most of my meetings i'm wearing that red hat and a hoodie. More meetings happen in the winter time. I'm also friending all of my brides and grooms on Facebook at some point. Since i'm spending the entire day with someone it totally benefits me to keep them in a good, relaxed and happy mood. Some of that comes from the informality of most of my approaches. I have brides contact me at eleven at night with a simple question or on Facebook on a Sunday afternoon. I'm very accessible and I make sure the bridal couple knows this. My goal is to have it feel like a friend is shooting your wedding.
With my current design i've chosen to remove some of the text to focus more on branding myself with my favorite object, a red hat. Affectionally worn for the past six years solid or so. I'm regularly recognized everywhere for this hat. Currently it's a red winter hat from American Eagle but i've also had many other variations of this red hat. I can't really wear baseball caps when I shoot outdoors and fedoras or these winter caps have always hung around me. I've actually gotten to meet a lot of my Facebook friends in public because they spot me somewhere in Worcester, Boston, NYC. It's a very bold color and my attire doesn't really have to match the hat. What i'm doing by including the red hat with my business cards are training anyone who ends up with this card to eventually be able to spot that exact red hat. Think about it. You have this random card with a red hat, phone, name, wedding photographer and you see a random photographer with the same exact hat. Chances are you are going to come up and say hi and tell me about how you ended up with the card.
I'm going to meander a bit, follow along.
So beyond wedding photography I actually do a number of things. One of those things being web design. When I meet someone who asks for photos or video the first thing I ask is what it's being used for. They tell me they want to put it on their website or Facebook. The next question I ask is to see their website and from there I see their website is angelfire or geocities hosted (antiquated reference, totally worth googling). So from there I talk to them about web design in addition to photos. So I can put togethers someone website pretty easily with a few photos and rearranging information. Here's the other thing I do, consulting work.
What is consulting work as it applies to you? Okay, thats a question being asked to me if that didn't make sense there. What I do is interview a business owner and pull out content to add to their website. Often times while explaining things it leads to other questions which inadvenrtuly conclude with a change in their own business's infrastructure. One of the best questions you can ask someone is "What would this look like if it were easy". It's a question you can ask any business owner. It helps them identify a problem area and provide the easiest solution and then we can work on the actual route to getting there. I also will call out an weak areas in their dealings and suggestions I may have to changing routine.
So I deal with many different businesses and these owners all happen to be around Worcester and Boston and every once and awhile I get recognized in a Starbucks or while on the job shooting somewhere. I'm training everyone as well as brides, grooms to recognize and associate the red hat with Michael Hendrickson, wedding photographer.
I have time.
So hopefully everyone will understand my reasoning a little bit better now. It's not simply a harsh design choice. I've slowly evolved it from the very simple to the more complex. My goal with my cards are to stand apart from everyone and I fear being similar to everyone else will make me blend a little too much. I've spent a few minutes to design some of what everyone's asked for in a business card just to appease some.
I've made a few quick mock-ups of what some think would make a good business card. I've also reverted the size back to a standard business card size. This is not a dig on anyone. This is suggestions i've gotten on the initial thread on Facebook as well as in private messages.
Okay. So here's my final design. I did put some thought into this. If you've read this entire blog then hopefully you've fell on my side of the wall.
We're not going to get everything.
You're going to have your dream wedding, you've even selected what your wedding photos will look like via Pinterest, various wedding blogs and Google image searches. So you can have all of this but you may have to spend some time doing during your wedding. If you're getting married you'll want to read this. I'm writing this through my own personal experience. My number one goal is to make a bride and groom happy and also being very truthful with what I can offer.
A photographer can work off a list or just capture a little bit of everything. When you work off a list you are trying to remember what is not important to the bride. In fact the bride may not even know what is the most important parts of the day, this is her first go at a wedding. That’s why I think it’s best to just cover every aspect.
So before the wedding you have loaded up your head with amazing images from Google and Pinterest and featured Buzzfeed articles. You’ve forwarded these links to your photographer and informed them that these photos are to be captured. This is all very doable, but when it comes to your wedding day and you incorporate this into the mix it’s sometimes impossible. So I say impossible, it’s not really impossible; it’s undoable for you as the bride and groom. The photographer can most certainly do this, but he won’t be able to do all of these requests in the twenty to thirty minutes he may have with you following bridal party photos. I can only speak from my own experience in this of course. I would love to recreate photos and make the bride and groom happy but often during a wedding day you're busy with friends and family. Another thing to take into account is that some photos you see on the internet are purely circumstantial or in fact not even from a wedding. Some photographers will have models pose as a bride and groom just to create breathtaking photos. For the bride and groom I really suggest trusting their photographer and let photos take a backseat to being in the moment.
So to follow up and summarize. The photographer is going to do his/her best to capture everything. We want to immortalize your wedding day in photos. We want to provide a seamless, enjoyable experience and not get in the way. If you’ve hired a photographer because you like their work then the best thing to do is trust that they’ll capture your wedding day so you can sit back and enjoy it.
Here's the reality of it.
When you hire a wedding photographer you sometimes have these amazing expectations. You’ve seen their photos, their work, their great attitude. You’re hiring them to capture the one of the most amazing and memorable days of your life. Here’s what he/she is going to be able to capture, not everything.
Another reason to capture everything is you don’t know what’s important to the bride and groom. Sometimes they might not know what was important until after the wedding. Let me give a few examples of this. Let’s say you take the time to get photos of all the cousins, maybe they move away in three years and aren’t reunited until a family reunion in ten years. How about an Aunt and Uncle who come to your wedding that move away the following year. The most common thing i’ve come across is my focus on grandparents. Not to sound morbid of course but we do expire and these photos are a huge trigger for your memories. One more thought, how many times does your family get together. I’m talking about everyone, not just for the holidays which sometimes can be tough with visiting everyone. You have everyone in a room so why not take advantage of this.
Here’s the upside that you can really work with. If you have a great photographer who is willing to be adventurous, persistent and do a little bit of poking and prodding; he/she can liberate you from your wedding reception for a few minutes to take some amazing photos and give you a moment to breath away from everyone. During the formal photos for the bride and groom you’ll also be able to get some of the shots you’re looking for but to reference or have those same exact circumstances to recreate can sometimes be tough. The photographer is going to pose you a bit and move you to different locations. What i’ll do typically is run through all my tried and true poses that work. We only get one shot at getting your wedding photos and I do experiment and innovate but before I do that I make sure to get the memorable photos that you’ll hang on your wall. I only have a short amount of time and it would be selfish of me to ask more of the bride and groom while they’re trying to enjoy their wedding day. The same way a DJ wouldn’t keep asking for suggestions for playlists on your wedding day or a venue wouldn’t be consulting with the bride about sides during before the meal is served on the big day.
Thanks for reading. I've been a wedding photographer for around ten years now and every year means a little more experience and a lot more equipment to play with. I would love to meet with you if you're getting married in 2017 or 2018. 508-471-0069 or www.unitymike.com to see more of my work. Have a great new year.
Jillian & Jarrod
Jillian & Jarrod at Revere Beach. Engagement shoot. www.unitymike.com wedding photo
Spent a little time on Revere beach and afterwards we got some Italian subs at New Deal Fruit.
Jenna & Paul
Jenna & Paul's engagement shoot. www.unitymike.com wedding photo.
Jenna & Paul live in Sturbridge which happens to have lots of exciting places to shoot an engagement shoot in addition to being located somewhat close to B.T's Smokehouse.
Here's some of our shoot at their house, the town common and Old Sturbridge Village.
My public service announcements.
So I made myself some promo material and yes it contains bad spelling, sometimes grammar and punctuation flaps. But here it is in all it's glory, my public service announcements.
Bad spelling, grammar included. Enjoy.
LB Wheaton, Sigma 150-500
So if you're thinking about buying a lens or want to check out some cool equipment then head down to LB Wheaton. I stopped in and had no idea that I would be walking out with a super telephoto lens. Being able to hold it in my hands and experience it was enough to put me over the edge. Great experience at LB Wheaton.
So i've been eyeing the Sigma 150-500 lens for quite some time. I always talk myself out of buying it. I have to wait a few days and buyers remorse and not being able to test it prior to buying it, easy to talk myself out of it.
Two weeks ago I wandered into LB Wheaton just killing some time before a wedding meeting (I landed it.) I saw the gigantic lens sitting on the shelf and asked if I could check it out. I was quickly handed this heavy lens and a Canon T5i. I paired them together and set it to manual and f/10 at 1/30th of a second and shot a few shots out the window. I wanted to see what this lens was made out of. 2 out of 3 photos were crispy and clear and the stabilization held true. I changed the settings to something a bit more relaxed and shot thru the windows a bit more at local shops and urban landscapes to see how invasive I could be with this new zoom. The answer is, very invasive; this lens is friggin awesome! I found out from the gentlemen behind the counter that this lens had an instant rebate, I didn't need much more twisting of my arm. I told LB Wheaton that I was heading to a meeting and if I did good at the meeting I would be back to purchase the lens. One hour later I came back and pulled out my money and now I can't put this very heavy lens down.
If not for LB Wheaton, I don't think I would have such a cool toy. Two weeks prior I stopped in and also bought a small collapsable tripod. This is such a great place to try out equipment and ask questions. You can also buy backdrop paper rolls here as well as lenses, bags, lighting and anything in-between. Very happy to have such a great store a few miles away.
Here's a few photos that I've taken over the past week or two. I also have some wedding photos that I shot with this lens which came out amazing. Being able to zoom in instead of cropping in post would be so amazing.
Make sure to LIKE LB Wheaton Camera Shop Facebook page.
Fire in Worcester, 43 Bowdoin St & 40 Williams
April 24th, 2014. Fire at Bowdoin Street and building behind house on Williams Street. I happened to be in my car with some equipment and headed over to get some photos. When I arrived and made my way around the area to various angles I could see that the Worcester Fire Department had the fire well under control. Police blocked off the streets and neighbors watched. A few residents from the building were in the area and we're easy to spot. I wish them the best and hope family and friends can help them out like I was helped with my apartment fire a few years ago.
Today there was a fire at 43 Bowdoin St & 40 Williams St in Worcester, Massachusetts. From talking to a neighbor across the street I found out a few details. The man that I talked to was across the street a ways and on the 3rd floor when he watched the fire starting. He believes it was started from a grill that was on a stairway and the fire had caught onto the building and traveled to the attic and adjacent building.
When I arrived the fire had been contained from what I could tell. Multiple companies on site and special services. Fire fighters on the roof of the Williams Street location and also on the Bowdoin Street address as well. The fire was poking out from the roof in the front of the building as firefighters used two hoses on it. A better account of the progression can be found at ScanWorcester on Twitter and at The Telegram & Gazette. If you're from Worcester i'm sure you'll also be able to find a friend or three that have photos, videos and stories. Hopefully everyone can help these families out who are displaced by this terrible accident.
