TTLKurtis wrote:
Speaking of negativity... look at this fantastic shot from this past weekend. Dear planner, if you're going to look smug, guess what, nobody needed you to hold the bride's dress to get from point A to point B, don't ruin my shots.
We just had a doozie of a wedding in Hawaii here... bride upset about things most of the time... lots of crying, brides maids crying etc. etc.
wow
At the end of the day I really really love shooting weddings.
With that said Jackie and I are taking some time away and I hope that gives us a fresh perspective when we get back.
but for us (myself and Tara) we each work full time and shot 20 weddings this year. We also just bought a house and she started a new job. needless to say, we understand you 100% and capped our weddings to 5 next year lol. Can't wait to have free time.
I think for those of you who are kinda exhausted doing wedding, it is time for you to increase the price.
That'll either give you less wedding, but with more money, or same amount or more wedding, still with more money
Josh wrote: I don't. And I will. I plan on doing 4-5 carefully selected weddings a year. As soon as Todd teaches me how to charge twice what I currently do... Muahahahaha
Hey, I can tell you the secret, just between you and me. Your HTML editor -- fire that up and go to your Contact page. Highlight the "3" and type "6." Call with questions.
Those of you who come home and edit 3-5 hours after a full time job.... Please, look into outsourcing! Enjoy your life! The $200 it costs to have someone else do the editing for you is not worth losing your sense of identity over.
I shoot full time and the thought of trashing my life to an exposure slider in Lightroom is the worst.
Reclaim your relationships! Reclaim your hobbies! My life dramatically changed for the better once my Internet connection was consumed daily from uploading hundreds of gigs of raw files to eager editing companies.
Hi, I don't post here a lot, but this "reality check" reminded me of myself so I had to do it .
I go through this phase each time a wedding is over and I head home, well aware that i haven't done this or that, and now that I have tons of better brilliant ideas how i could have made thing differently.
And then, in my mind I quit i just walk away. Every single time. Not ot mention that I have to force myself to even look at the shots knowing all the stuff that I could have done better. End then I see pictures are not that bad. But I have to be quick because it takes only couple of days before that crappy feel comes back again and everything looks like bad, uninspiring. I though I was just crazy, but I see this runs in the guild
But don't forget there are also priceless moments; the last time I have shown picture to the bride she was so moved she cried.
Now I am holding myself back not to by another piece of glass.
And in circles it goes. The truth is, I am not a pro, but when I benchmark what i do for a living, and the passion I put into photography...well, I would miss it. I would miss a fact that a little part of me helps creating a little tiny piece of history and if I had to choose, I would opt for this to be my legacy to my friends, acquaintances, their children (spell?, sorry I am far from native speaker)....
Here where I live (Croatia), people are not that hard to work with (yes, there are strange requests) but I have few meetings with couple just to sniff them out. And then I pass should I sense too much complication. Of course there are uncle bobs, of course there are grumpy mother in laws, even more unfriendly ministers. But turns out I managed to develop a communication channel so it became much less stressful. It is all a part of the process, like taking some beating playing soccer with the Brittish ). I still love the game.
Don't get discouraged, photography is a noble art, although once made business, loses part of its charm. But still...
D. Diggler wrote:
Relationships? Hobbies? What's that.
Everyone talks about not going on date nights with their spouse or significant other because of being a slave to the computer. Get away from the computer and spend time with people that matter to you.
bthatton wrote:
Everyone talks about not going on date nights with their spouse or significant other because of being a slave to the computer. Get away from the computer and spend time with people that matter to you.
+1. Whether you're shooting or working full time, you've got to make sure those relationships are prioritized, because the jobs aren't going to keep you warm at night (unless you do your editing on a laptop, and even then, it's not the same).
I think I can offer some perspective on this one. I'm married with three children and have a full time job. And my wife has a full time job.
I began shooting family sessions on the weekends a few years back when my family was smaller and I had less responsibilities at my full time job. I enjoyed shooting and the extra income. My family grew, but my wife (who works in construction) was laid off when the economy took a shit. Around this time, we were looking for extra income so we jumped into wedding photography with my wife acting as the 'business end' of things.
Fast forward a year and we had another baby and my wife gained full time employment and I was shooting weddings. WOW. Things got crazy really quick. My wife and I talked about the possibility of not shooting weddings and stopping professional photography all together.
Around this time, Tony mentioned that he was thinking about adding an associate photographer. I messaged him and then we chatted on the phone and had the loose structure of how our business relationship would look. We met and hammered out some details and the rest is history.
NOT being behind the computer during my free time was most important to me (aside from working for amazing people). My current situation is ideal for me:
1) I have a studio manager who handles all incoming inquiries. She sends them my pricing information and asks the prospective client to respond to me if she wants to set up a consultation.
2) I set up a meeting when the client contacts me. I've been Skyping a lot of my meetings lately (which has been great).
3) The clients then contact my studio manager if they are interested in booking. The client gets an electronic contract that they e-sign and they send the deposit to Tony.
4) My studio manager sends a prewedding questionnaire about 1 month prior to the wedding date.
5) I meet (usually via Skype) to 'timeline' the day and review the questionnaire.
6) I shoot the wedding.
7) I cull the wedding and upload the images to a shared dropbox with my studio manager.
8) I process for the blog.
9) My studio manager processes the images, puts them on a private online gallery, and designs the album.
10) My studio manager delivers the products.
I mention all of this because I really view my setup as ideal for someone in my position (full time job, married, kids, etc). I get to do the parts of the business I love the most and maintain balance in the other parts of my life.
bthatton wrote:
Everyone talks about not going on date nights with their spouse or significant other because of being a slave to the computer. Get away from the computer and spend time with people that matter to you.
Exactly. There are times when I am swamped and have so much editing/deadlines hanging over my head. Yet, I shut off the computer and take a day for myself and my family. I wasn't very good at doing this last year, and there were many times where I would work from 8 a.m. till 10 p.m. and not see the outside or spend much time with my husband. Not healthy, and not worth it...no matter how important this job is to me.
It really is different for everyone, and you need to figure out what works for you. I'm working my ass off, doing everything, and looking to start outsourcing a couple things so that I can free myself up more to focus on the front end of the business. My clientele were great this year, and next year is looking very similar. This is all I do, and it's great not answering to the man! I hope to continue creating art for my specific clients and slowly growing my business...
TTLKurtis wrote:
Speaking of negativity... look at this fantastic shot from this past weekend. Dear planner, if you're going to look smug, guess what, nobody needed you to hold the bride's dress to get from point A to point B, don't ruin my shots.
Better yet, I just love when the old lady at the church thinks they need to keep trying to fix the dress as the bride walks down the aisle then stand and watch like they knew the bride for 30 years but yet just met 1 hour earlier.
I asked one old lady why she did that and why she needed to stand there to ruin my shots. She said she wanted to make sure the bride looked good as she walked down the aisle. She said she wanted to remember that bride walking down the aisle so she stood there. I laughed and said you know it doesnt matter if you keep touching her dress, it is going to move once she walks half way down anyways. And by you standing there and walking half way down trying to keep fixing her dress is annoying and turns what could have been a great photo in to a shitty photo.
Annoying for sure! Or wait, another favorite... Reception hall manager says hey go here and take this shot. other photographers do it.
Yes, I just want to be fucking like everyone else.
