Discussion Time

I was exhibiting at a wedding fayre on Sunday and the first couple I talked to came out with the immortal line "We are not looking at photographers, we have a friend doing it"

So let me share my response to them :-

I am not here to convince you of the error of your ways but I will educate you to the risks you are taking. It's then down to you to make your choice but at least you will be making that choice from an informed position.

Your friend might have a big black camera, I have some decent knives and pots and pans......does that make me a chef or does it make me someone who owns knives, pots and pans? Would you ask me to cook your wedding breakfast because I own those?

Does your friend know about weddings? Do they know what comes next and where to be to capture it? Do they know the 6 essential shots to be taken during a ceremony? Or will they just shoot everything in the hope that something might be right?

Do they know how to design an album, whether a shot should be landscape for a double page spread or portrait for a single and do they know how to shoot complimentarty images of similar tones so it will work as a cohesive album? Or will they simply stick a load of pictures together? Do they have access to the albums that pros do?

Lets look at that camera again, what's the max aperture they can shoot at? What is the highest ISO they can shoot at. Do you like blur in your images? What is the slowest shutter speed you really need to keep people sharp again?

And you had best ask your venue about insurance because your friend won't have any and if someone trips over their gear or is injured doing something at their direction.....errm you could be very out of pocket with that one. And at the end of the day, if they ruin the lot, lose the cards, have the camera stolen (It has happened) then you have nothing and no recourse either.

So there you go, risks explained.

Good luck with your choice and I hope you have a great day and you get the memories to go with it and you don't end up falling out with your friend.

I've linked this post to an article written by a venue owner who spells out the difference from their observations. Well worth a read. Just click on this blog title to be taken straight to it or paste from the link below.

http://southalleden.com/farmweddingblog/2011/02/why-you-should-never-skimp-on-wedding-photography/