What to Look for When Hiring a Wedding Photographer

What to Look for When Hiring a Wedding Photographer. We are John & Tamera Webb. We operate a Wedding Photography Studio in Blue Ridge Georgia. Recently we were contacted by a publication to give our take on what to look for when hiring a wedding photographer. While we do not fully agree with everything on the list that publication recommended, it did start us thinking, what would WE be looking for when hiring a wedding photographer for ourselves or our family?

1. The very first thing we would be looking for when hiring a wedding photographer is if the individual or studio was certified.  As we have previously discussed, it is true that there are excellent photographers who are not certified nor are members of any organization. However starting a search looking for a certified professional photographer guarantees that photographer has met a certain technical standard and passed a rigorous written exam and is maintaining educational credits to further their knowledge and their craft. This directly impacts the product they will deliver to their clients. Why does certification matter? Ask yourself this, is your Doctor board certified? They are not required to be but studies show patients have a greater trust and comfort in a physician that is certified. An analogy I really like is this; I have a drivers license but I am not a professional driver. With photography the tools are often confused for the results potential clients seek so the Uncle who has a new camera is considered fit to photography a wedding. Stephen King might have a Macbook Pro and so could I, but it doesn’t mean I can write like him…You can read more about certification for the professional photographer HERE:   Legitimate organizations such as The Professional Photographers of America are an excellent place to start your search. You can check them out HERE:     
2. Love their style.. This seems like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised the number of photographers hired with little to no in depth review of their work. Often they are later asked to replicate styles on Pinterest or Instagram, or worse yet an assumption exist that has never really been discussed with your photographer. So dig in, View their work both in the past and more recent. If you don’t like what you see the chances of you ending up satisfied with your images and album are not good.
3. Ask to see a few weddings beginning to end. Listen, I LOVE the hero shots, BUT, showing what will be seen beginning to end lets you see how the entirety of the wedding will be captured AND what will make up your album..which leads us to…
4. DO NOT HIRE ANY PHOTOGRAPHER WHO IS NOT SUPPLYING AN ACTUAL ALBUM!  If the photographer does not recommend and sell prints, wall art and albums then the chances are good they do not value their own art they are providing, and if they don’t, why would you? In other words if it’s just a disc or USB drive avoid it. The importance of printed , heirloom products cannot be overstated.  As a matter of fact there is a whole movement about it. You can check it out HERE:
5. Make sure you “click”. While you do have to love the style, ensure their technical skill-set, see that they value themselves as artist and true, professional photographers, none of it works if their isn’t a solid connection. Capturing beautiful, unique art requires access to people in an almost intimate way. They has to be trust and faith and the connection needs to be built where a couple can act almost if they were alone with each other while the photographer documents and creates. We spoke about that on an earlier blog post and you can see it HERE:
6. The money has to fit! People are surprised that we understand budgets but avoiding budgets is avoiding reality. Money DOES matter, but it isn’t the first requirement to meet when searching for a photographer. Keep in mind the photographs are what is left after the dress is packed away, the flowers are dead and gone , the food and cake are eaten and forgotten, but the images, the images will last a lifetime!

We are John & Tamera Webb. We are A Day in The Life Photography. We live in Blue Ridge Ga. We shoot with our hearts on the shutter and it looks like this…

Blessings,

Blue Ridge Wedding Photography Why Learning & Practice Still Matter. Ongoing Education for the Photographer, why it is critical for your clients Part 2. In our last blog entry we discussed why ongoing education is critical for the professional photographer and your clients. As a professional who has shot from Blue Ridge to the Caribbean, I can qualify how ongoing education can change your business and your life, and how it changes what you provide your clients.

Learning & Practice and how it impacts your clients.

I can’t count the number of times when I have been discussing professional organizations such as the Professional Photographers of America Check them out HERE: The Georgia Professional Photographers Association Check them out HERE: an affiliate of the PPA and the Certified Professional Photographers Program See more about that HERE:

and have them be roundly dismissed.

The rationale and reasoning you hear many times is that ‘it cost too much” or “my clients don’t care about that stuff”. We briefly discussed this in our last blog post which you can find it HERE: 

When we assume that, how then do we develop professionally and artistically? Since maturation in art and business is very rarely known to grow and develop in a vacuum, what does the professional photographer use to learn, to grow, to develop, to mature?

I am of the opinion that your art starts to change when you are exposed to so many who are successful in their business and in their photography.  We all develop at different levels and at various times. The next step in ongoing education is to take advantage of classes. These can be ongoing through the year, some are even available online and of course there is a bonanza of them at Imaging USA as both pre-convention all day classes followed by the briefer classes that run through the convention. Imaging USA just wrapped up for this year. You can check it out HERE:

The Professional Photographers of America isn’t the only association who puts some emphasis on education (Although it is my personal choice for association and education, degrees etc). You can check out the Wedding & Portrait Photographer’s International  also known as WPPI. See them HERE:

The next and what leads to an ongoing final step is print competition. This alone will open up and rapidly expand your art and take it to new heights you hadn’t foreseen.

And it isn’t just your photography that develops. How you structure and run your business can have a huge impact on legal issues, profitability and sustainability, and yes those things do indeed benefit your clients.

So when I hear that there is no need for ongoing education for the professional photographer or that clients don’t care about such things I have to ask, what is your business ,your art and your clients worth to you?

If you genuinely wish to make a living at this, to be the best YOU at this, your chosen profession shouldn’t you be educating your clients as you should be yourself?

They deserve it. So do you.

So does the industry.

Push yourself. Learn. Grow. Be More.

We shoot with our hearts on the shutter and it looks like this.

John & Tamera

Blessings,