I am the first to admit that I am NOT a “professional” photographer. I am not accredited with the PPOC (acronym for Professional Photographers of Canada) or any other professional association. Only photographers with that title can call themselves professionals. I have worked with some of the best pros in the business. I have learned from them, and I have studied. I’m evolving. At some point, I may feel that some of my images are good enough to be critiqued by my mentor and coach, but until then, I have to build a portfolio.
In order to become accredited, I will have to be an observer for a year. There are fees involved, just like with any reputable organization. Once a year of observing is under my belt, I then work with my coach (who is an accredited photographer, a master in her own rights) to select the right images to submit for critiquing. It’s gut-wrenching. To have my coach critique my images produces sweat, hyper tension and nerves beyond any public speaking event I ever did in high school. If it’s not properly lit, cropped, angled or grouped, the colour is off or the lines don’t flow to the human eye, it gets tossed away. Something I may have thought was breathtakingly beautiful gets barely a second glance from my coach. She is relentless… but she knows her stuff, or she wouldn’t be accredited in 10 different genres. Amazing… and she wouldn’t be an international judge, or accredited with three professional photographers’ associations if she wasn’t THAT good!
Why does it matter if your photographer is a pro? Well, it’s important to know that your photographer knows what she or he is doing behind the lens. Technique and style are just two of the things that I look for in a photographer. If you’re looking for a wedding photographer, find one that is not just reputable, but also accredited. It’s like a guarantee that they know what they are doing when you hire them for your special day.
But, if you’re content to hire someone like me – who is not a professional, but someone who has a lot of years of experience in the newspaper industry and as a hobbyist – then you may get a better deal if you’re on a budget.
You get what you pay for, certainly. I am a photographer who has to get the job done quickly. I have worked under a deadline for 25 years, and when I do a wedding, my turnaround time for images is less than a week. What? That’s crazy, say some of my photog buddies. What about all the sorting and editing?
To be honest, I try to get it right in the camera, as many of my teachers have fused into my brain. “Know your camera and how it works to get the effect you want, then you won’t have to spend hours working with image-enhancing software, getting bogged down with effects.”
I use Lightroom to sift through hundreds of photos, getting down to the ones I want to slightly enhance. Then I do a second pass through LR and pare it down even further. At this point, I will do some batch lighting enhancements, some individual cropping, turn some to black and white images, then export to a folder on my desktop. From there, I take the few I want to enhance even further in Photoshop and individually work these images as I deem appropriate.
This whole process takes me about five steady hours of editing, that is if I’m not interrupted. I like to turn off my phone and tune into my MacPro and get to work on creating a package for my clients. My packages are now provided to my clients via Dropbox and an email link. I supply them with all the images that I have created (not the culled ones) and they have control of all photos – sans watermark (or copyright) – to print as they see fit. I keep a few dozen for my own social media use as per our pre-arranged contract and share them online.
In my career as a full time newspaper editor/photographer/writer, I save my weekends for outside photography – meaning, portraits, family gatherings, and even weddings. I don’t charge an arm and a leg for my work (usually a wedding is less than $1,000 for full-day coverage). I don’t have a second shooter, and rarely do I have an assistant – although my guy has bravely volunteered for my next gig – so I can keep my costs lower.
When I’m not shooting sports (for work or on the side) I have been commissioned to shoot family portraits in an outdoor environment. I don’t have a studio yet (may be one coming soon), so I take my clients into the great outdoors and capture their love and affection for each other in a natural setting, using natural light for the most part, and some fill flash. Family sittings are $250 and you get a few dozen images.
Yes, I do weddings… but only for a select few, and only if you’re looking for a low-cost alternative.
I must admit, the weddings I have had the pleasure of shooting so far in my career have been stellar. I’ve learned a lot from my brides and grooms. My most recent one was just last weekend. It was an intimate family affair, with limited guests and attendants, and a small number of family and friends. It was one of the best times I’ve ever had shooting a wedding. And I must say, the images captured were pretty sweet.
When I captured the bride in a contemplative moment prior to the ceremony, I showed her the image in the viewfinder (yes, I know, bad photographer). I couldn’t help it. I had to let her see how beautiful she was. Tears brimmed in her eyes. “You’re amazing,” she said to me.
Even though it was she who looked amazing, it made my heart smile when she said those words. And later, when she said, “I do,” I captured more emotionally-charged moments with her parents as they looked on. I tried to hid my own tear-filled eyes behind the viewfinder and the lump that had lodged in my throat was making it difficult to swallow.
These are the moments that matter… the ones that count. Not the special effects that take hours and hours of editing, but the emotion in the images. The stories that are told… this is what I capture.
So find a photographer you like – one you connect with – and even if there are no letters after my name, I’ll still give you the best I’ve got.
Weirview 