I’m off to photograph a wedding in Cambridge tomorrow, and then I’m taking a couple of days off to celebrate the Fourth of July. For now, here’s a sneak preview of Brandi and Vipul’s wedding. Photograph taken at CAV Restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island.
Have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend!
I looked through my business notes and noticed something big: Almost half of my new clients are referrals from current and former clients. First of all, THANK YOU to my clients for sending so many of your friends my way. This strong referral network has *almost* eliminated the need for me to have paid advertising, and I’m booking wedding photography services about 90 percent through word-of-mouth.
As a *thank you* to my clients, I’ve decided that for the next three months, current 2010 – 2011 clients who refer a friend that books wedding photography with me will receive a complimentary engagement, portrait, or “day-after” photography session OR a $300 print credit in my store. The only rules are that you must be a current wedding client whose wedding takes place between May 1, 2010 and December 31, 2011. The friend you refer must sign their wedding photography contract with me between tomorrow (March 24th) and June 30th, 2010.
This past weekend I photographed Linda and Sean’s wedding at St. James the Greater Church in Chinatown and the Hilton Back Bay in Boston.
I was AMAZED at the beauty of this church. Don’t let the humble facade of this building fool you, this is an absolutely gorgeous church. It almost felt like a European cathedral.
I wasn’t feeling too great on this day. As a matter of fact, unbeknownst to me I was on the verge of coming down with a stomach flu. Which happened to hit me as I arrived at the church. What do do? Just keep shooting and have someone get you a Coke. And keep your mind off how you’re feeling by thinking happy, pretty thoughts. Which was easy to do at Linda and Sean’s wedding.
From yesterday’s wedding. I pulled these out early, but still have so many amazing photos in this collection to go through.
Jeni was one of the first customers who booked me. We met at a Starbucks, because where else do wedding photographers who are just starting out meet with clients? I remember telling her that I had only photographed three weddings, but that I would really, really love to photograph her wedding in July, and that I had finally found my calling in life with wedding photography and I just wanted to work really hard and see if I could make my dream business come true. I probably sounded like a crazy lady. But Jeni gave me a chance and here we are seven months later. Since then, I’ve photographed five more weddings and completely filled the rest of my 2009 calendar with 30 weddings. And I haven’t even been doing this for a year. Crazy. And I never want to do anything else.
I never thought that I’d be a wedding photographer. In fact, I had bad associations with wedding photography — hazy, glowing images of red roses and album templates with cartoons of clinking champagne glasses. All of that changed a year ago when a friend encouraged me to answer an online ad for an “un-wedding photographer.” I loved photographing people, but my friends were getting a little tired of me coming after them with my camera. I thought “well, here’s a way that I could photograph people who really want to be photographed, and I could also make a little money to help pay for all this ridiculous camera equipmpent I’ve been collecting.” So I answered the ad.
For my first clients, Shawn and Lani, it was no problem that I only had photos of people, concerts, and landscapes in my portfolio. I think it actually worked in my favor that I’d never photographed a wedding. They also hated pictures of hazy, glowing red roses and wanted something different.
Then came the day of their wedding. I was pretty comfortable around weddings since I’d worked for a caterer and had worked at literally over 100 weddings. But I didn’t realize how I would feel being so close to something so personal and meaningful. The fact that they’d let me into their lives, to document something that was so important to them, touched me. Unlike a caterer or florist, a photographer is often with the couple behind the scenes in those moments leading up to the ceremony, during the vows, and follows them closely afterward. A photographer gets to see almost the entire wedding day, and may spend more time with the couple than the couple’s own family. And a photographer isn’t only documenting everything they see, but they’ve also been given the privilege of telling someone else’s story — someone who may not know them very well — through their eyes. The responsibility I’d been given hit me. I remember driving home that day and feeling so great. It was probably a few days later when I said: “this is what I want to do.”
Maybe I should back up a bit. For a long, long time I had wanted to be an artist. I thought I was becoming one when I graduated from U Mass Dartmouth with a BFA in Printmaking, and then went on to study Art History at Brown. But this was just before the internet and the digital age and I couldn’t figure out how to make it work as a job. So I went back to school for something a bit more “sensible” and utilitarian: a master’s degree in Professional Writing. I spent years in communications and marketing for non-profits and Fortune 500 companies. I could never really figure out how those pieces of my life fit together. “Let’s see I have a degree in the visual fine arts, I write, I do communications and marketing and branding and blogging for big and small companies, I’ve worked for a wedding caterer, I am obsessed with photography… Oh and did I mention that I’m a total sap who loves romance and anything emotional?” So when I found wedding photography it just hit me. This was the amalgamation of all my passions and experiences that I’d never pieced together.
So I started the research. I got a website. I took more photos. I advertised. I joined professional organizations and talked with wedding photographers who shared what they knew. I was up front with potential clients that I was just starting out, and to my surprise, found them cheering for me. And before I knew it I had booked 28 weddings (and counting) during my first year in business.
Maybe I should have titled this post “How I’m Becoming A Wedding Photographer”. Because in many ways I feel like I’m still very much in the process of learning and becoming and realizing my dream. And it really has been a dream come true.
People sometimes ask me about equipment: “What camera do you use?” “What lenses?” Sometimes the person asking is another photographer but just as often it’s a client.
First off, I bring multiple cameras and backup batteries and lenses to every job. All of these tools are Canon. Most wedding photographers use either Canon or Nikon, and to me, neither is better than the other. It just depends on what you’re trying to do. Nikon probably has a better focusing system, but I use manual focus almost exclusively so the feature isn’t an issue for me. On the other hand, I strongly prefer natural or available light over flash, and I also prefer wide angle shots. Canon, hands down, has the best wide and “fast” (perform better in lower-light) prime lenses.
Wide angle forces me to get close to the subject and interact with them. Wide angle photographs can also give viewers a better sense of being “in” the scene and are better at capturing and conveying emotion. Longer lenses — ones that are used for photographing at a distance — are great during the ceremony or in situations where I don’t want to intrude. But images taken remotely can be… well they can look remote.
I also prefer prime lenses over zooms. The decision to go almost all-prime means more work for me. I have to “zoom” with my feet. Often you’ll see me carrying two cameras — one with a wide angle (usually the 35mm 1.4) and the other with a shorter, “portrait” length (usually the 85mm 1.8). Why don’t I just use a zoom lens that covers the same range? Well, prime lenses are often noticably sharper. They also perform better in lower light and can make flash unecessary.
I’m also all-digital. In the past, I’ve had some really nice film cameras, most recently a Hasselblad 500 C/M. Photographs recorded on film can have a warmer quality, and I love the grain (circle) as oppposed to pixel (square). Of course, with Photoshop you can pretty much attain the look of film, if that’s your goal. But I love the immediacy and practicality of digital. As for image quality, I would put my digital Canon 5D camera up against my film Hasselblad any day… and you know who would win? The 5D.
The early photographers were people who embraced technology and change, and I like to think that digital is the logical next step. As for Photoshop — yeah, plenty of people waaaay overdo it. But photographers have been manipulating images forever — whether it’s the choice of film, exposure, paper, darkroom processing, etc. Photoshop is my digital darkroom.
I don’t think I realized how passionately I felt about my tools until I started writing this post! Of course, the most important tool is your eye and your mind. I can’t say enough about how important my training in printmaking, painting, drawing and art history have been and how much they’ve helped me become a better photographer. Good pots and pans do not a great chef make.
For a detailed list of my equipment, check out my AStore.
© 2010 Boston Wedding Photographer | Lisa Rigby
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