Why you shouldn’t use a friend or relative to take your wedding photographs
With the current credit climate many couples and even some of the wedding magazines think that it is OK to dismiss the luxury of having a professional photographer take their wedding pictures. Would those same people tell a bride to forget their £1000 dress and buy one from Matalan or Asda?
Most brides are trying to shave their wedding costs and would still like the fairy tale wedding but at a budget price. They will happily pay hundreds for “the Perfect Dress”, probably thousands for the venue and food, but will baulk at paying for a professional photographer because, “My uncle’s got a nice camera” or they know a friend of a friend who “takes quite good pictures”.
But let’s look at a few facts. The dress will be worn once and either put in a box and never see the light again or end up on eBay after the honeymoon. The cake will have been demolished at the reception and all that cost will be a distant memory, apart from the headache of paying off the credit card bill. The only thing that will still be around will be the photos.
I saw this in a local magazine about saving costs at your wedding.
“Your cousin is a photographer; this is the time to call in the favours. You can also save money by approaching local colleges. Someone on a photography course might relish the opportunity to take your wedding photographs (but still ask to see evidence of their work first)"?
Well, it will be if you want poor photos. I have spent a lot of hard earned time and money perfecting my skills to become a professional qualified wedding photographer and I don't take kindly to people thinking that any idiot with a camera can take wedding photos. They might take photos AT a wedding but there is no way that they will have the expertise to MAKE wedding photographs.
Think about this; does buying a state of the art food processor turn you into Jamie Oliver? Does buying a set of oil paints and brushes automatically make you a Grand Master? Of course not, so why do people think that buying an expensive camera will make them a brilliant photographer?
Yes, the friend or relative has got a nice camera but does he really know how to use it to get the best shots of the day? It’s more than being competent with a camera. To photograph the most important day of your life takes a lot of skills. A good professional wedding photographer does a lot more than just take a few snaps of the day. It is a given that they will have professional equipment and know how to use it instinctively. They will also have a full set of backup equipment in case of technical problems. They should also have professional insurance to cover you in the case of lost or unusable photos on the day. They will have undergone extensive training and experience in the skills needed to pose the guests and happy couple to get the best possible images from the day. They will probably be a member of one of the recognised professional wedding photography societies, (SWPP, BIPP or MPA) and have been accredited by them. They will know how to use the light to capture those poses without ugly shadows falling in the wrong places and scan the area to avoid ugly backgrounds in the pictures. They have the skills to do all that and keep the day flowing.
How will your friend or relative cope when things go wrong? What will they do when it’s pouring with rain and are faced with 100 or so guests that will have to be photographed indoors? What about camera breakdowns? Do they have the experience to pose groups of people and ensure that important guests are not missed?
In addition to their photographic skills are the myriad other tricks that their experience has taught them, How to tie a bow tie, which side the buttonholes should be pinned on. The fact that buttoned up jackets can get scrunched up when the groom and best man put their arms around each other. They will probably have an emergency sewing kit with them for the last minute snags that occur with the dress. They have to have the skills to pose people and get lots of people to understand where to stand for the group shots. They have done all this many times over so they know which order things happen in so can be ready and anticipate when things should happen. They will probably have to become the master of ceremonies to get the wedding party to the right places at the right time.
Last, but by no means least, is that after the wedding the professional photographer has the necessary skills to make the pictures they took on the day look stunning and the ability to create an outstanding album of those images that you will be proud to own and show off to your family and friends.
Yes it all is a lot more expensive but no more so than the dress, the cake and the disco. If you want to cut costs, go for the village hall, a dress made from your mums old curtains, catering by the local supermarket and music from your beat box. It doesn’t quite have the same romance though, does it?
At the end of the day, you will have a set of pictures that you will be proud to own and that your children and possibly grandchildren will look back on in many years to come. Rather than a few blurry snaps that may look OK on Facebook, but would you want one on your wall for everyone to see? Isn’t that worth the expense of hiring a professional photographer?
|
