Step One: Narrowing the Field...
Hey, at least this photo is memorable, right? ...Right? Well, rats...
I have heard it time and again - choosing a photographer is one of the absolute hardest parts of planning a wedding. There are easily hundreds of wedding photographers in the New Orleans area, and after awhile, our websites just start to kind of blend together into one big, seething mass of smiling brides, second lines, and artistically composed ring and flower shots. To complicate matters even further, the majority of the couples I meet haven't done this before. Many of them have never had to hire a photographer at all, let alone choose someone to trust with one of the most important days of their lives. ...It can all get a little overwhelming.
Now, I'm obviously a biased source, and I certainly can't promise that my experiences are universally true. What I can honestly say is that the posts in this series contain the exact same advice that I have been giving to my friends and family members for years. So, with no further ado...
1. Look before you leap...
Before you start actively seeking a local photographer, I'd strongly suggest doing a general image search for "wedding photography." Save a bunch of images that you especially like - or, if you use Pinterest, pin them - and figure out what the majority of these photos have in common. Are your preferred photos bold and colorful? Are they elegantly posed and perfectly lit? Are they action shots? Really look, and write your descriptions down. If you start the photographer selection process with a specific idea of what you personally like, it's much easier to identify the photographers who consistently create the kind of work that you want. Otherwise, you're just flipping through an endless series of pretty pictures...
2. Narrow your selection to photographers whose work meets your established criteria - then look closely at each website.
Do you see the same people over and over again? Are all of the weddings displayed shot under similar conditions? Do you see the same exact pose consistently repeated through a series of different clients? Regardless of overall photo quality, these are the kind of details that say a lot about the experience and versatility of a photographer.
3. Ask yourself: on a truly personal level, can you consistently relate to a photographer's images?
If you can personally relate to this photo, I like you in advance...
When shopping for a wedding photographer, it doesn’t really matter how beautiful, and impressive, and technically flawless a photo is - not if you can’t see it and picture yourself, your family, and your friends. Now, obviously, not every photo on a photographer’s website it going to reach you on an emotional level, but if the vast majority of them don’t truly suit your personality, and if a photographer isn't regularly capturing and displaying the kind of image that really speaks to you, then that's something to seriously consider. There’s often a world of difference between “good” and “good for you.”
4. Don't fall in love with one photo...
An industry expert suggested that I consistently make this the first photo that anyone sees. As much as I love the bride and groom (seriously - they're awesome) I wouldn't truly consider this picture among my best work...
As photographers advertising online, we're acutely aware that we have a very, very brief window of opportunity - if we don't grab your attention immediately, you're going to move on. So, right from the beginning, we're going to show you the photos that we think you'll love. These pictures may not be a good representation of our usual style, or of our greater body of work - they may not even be what we'd personally consider our "best." For the most part, they're going to be our most popular images - the ones that we feel are most likely to please the greatest possible number of people - and most importantly, the ones that we think you'll remember. I realize that this all seems pretty obvious - of course we're going to cherry-pick our most successful work for our websites! - but it's important to remember that for every photo you see, there's thousands that you don't. On that note...
3. Ask your photographer to see at least one “complete wedding.”
New Orleans Courtyard wedding by day...
Since we're only going to showcase our best photos, our websites won't really give you a true idea of how consistently we provide quality work. Evaluating an entire wedding day provides a much better idea of a photographer’s overall quality.
4. If you have already chosen your venue, ask your photographer to share a “complete wedding” shot in a venue that is similar to yours.
...and New Orleans Courtyard Wedding by night. Both fabulous, but very, very different...
It doesn’t have to be exactly the same, but images from a beautiful beach wedding won’t tell you much if you’re getting married in a dark courtyard at night. Different situations often require vastly different equipment and skillsets - it's important to be sure that your photographer knows how to handle the details of your specific wedding.
Closing Thoughts:
Obviously, there's a lot that goes into choosing a wedding photographer, and I'll be talking about it quite a bit in future posts. In the meantime, just remember that you don't have to be a photography expert to know what you like, and ultimately, that's going to be what counts. Know what you want, and you'll find what you need.
Love it? Hate it? Would rather I just posted some pics of my adorable (yet crazy) cats? Let me know in the comments!