Culture | Views, Reviews & Interviews For Savvy Photographers

The New Wedding Guest

March 14, 2011 by Richard Esposito 93 Comments

This guest blog is by a good friend and fellow Connecticut wedding photographer, Richard Esposito. In addition to being a photographer, RE as he is known, is also called upon to teach efficient workflow systems to other photography studios. To some lucky ones, he plays mentor. His Emmy (yes, that EMMY) not withstanding, RE is starting to reconnect with his video side and bringing true fusion to discerning clients getting married all over the world.

Needless to say, a lot has changed in the world of photography over the last 5 or so years. Remember film? Using the same camera for more than 3 years? Just about every professional photographer is using a digital camera that gets replaced with a newer, better, version after one year of use. It's become a rather expensive hobby for amateur's and a financial burden for some professionals. With technology getting better and especially cheaper, we've all seen a new type of photographer emerge. Call them what you will, uncle Bob, cousin Carl, or “I have a friend that took a photography class in college.” This is the new competition. And they are getting cheaper than the cost of the camera. I've heard of a number of professionals that have sold everything they had and closed their doors for good. We can't compete with free, or “I'll shoot your wedding and hand you a disc for $500. I know I seem to be getting off topic, but it's leading to our newest issue. You are not the only photographer at a wedding anymore.

Gone are the days of capturing a sea of guests with genuine emotion on their faces. Now you have to give an elbow to Aunt Clair who's blocking the aisle with her Digital Rebel in hand as the bride makes her grand entrance. I used to love capturing guests emotion during the first dance, parent dance, even the toasts. But now my subjects are a handful of guests with point and shoots held up blocking their faces, or the tops of everyones head because they are looking down at the back of the camera to check the photo they just took. My favorite moment so far was a photo of the bride going down the aisle from behind. Everyone in front of the bride has their cameras up, everyone that the bride has past is still facing the back of the church with the heads down looking at the back of their camera. Very few people stopped to enjoy the moment of a father walking his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. I did have a beautiful photo of a bride coming down the aisle with great emotion on her fathers face. However there were hues of red and green across them both thanks to all of the focusing beams from guests cameras. That's an instant black and white! The cake cutting has become my favorite time now that I have no room to move around thanks to the crowd of people and cameras. It's amateur suffocation.

You are not the only photographer at a wedding anymore.

Just when you feel good that you are getting the job done, you're in the zone, there's a tap tap tap on your shoulder. It's Aunt Clair again, Rebel in hand, suggesting “that’s a nice photo of the flower girl over there. Look she’s spinning around! Hey girls look over here!” Well Claire, if you didn't just interrupt me I would be photographing that, but now i missed it so you can talk to me about it. While trying to capture an emotional father daughter dance, someone will walk up close to them and say “Hey, over here!”, completely interrupting the moment just so they can get a photo with their faces smiling at their camera. They completely missed the point. Welcome to a world where lighting, composition, creativity, and emotion don't matter to a wedding guest. All you need is a persons face looking at the camera.

Many of us put out a little slideshow of images at the wedding reception. It's been a great way to show guests your work and generate some business, especially with the reception venue. It also satisfies the instant gratification generation of guests. I've gotten home from a wedding and checked a clients Facebook page to see that she has already been tagged in photos that Uncle Bob took at the wedding. I can't compete with that. I hand out event cards at the reception with the website and password to see the photos “approximately 8 weeks after the wedding.” One night, after seeing the slideshow at the reception, the grooms step father comes up to me with his iPhone and has my online viewing website loaded. He said he couldn't get the wedding. Hello! I'm still photographing it! Really?! Many times I have guests say “Great! I'll check them out tomorrow.” Tomorrow? Let me hand you a few thousand photos, have you review and edit them and see how fast you get them all up. Let’s factor in that it's the end of the wedding season and you've just done 2 weddings per weekend for the last 8 weeks.

It's no wonder that professional Photographers are having a hard time competing with amateurs. We get in their way, we don't know what we’re doing, it takes forever to get your images, and we really expensive! If you think it's expensive to hire a professional photographer for one day, the emotional cost of hiring an amateur lasts forever.

The Price We Pay

So how do we convince an engaged couple to spend $3-10k with a professional? According to Market Watch, wedding photographers are the most overpaid jobs in America, saying “Total work for each wedding is generally a sit-down consultation combined with a single day spent following the happy couple. While equipment costs and film development must be covered, thanks to digital technology such costs have been heavily reduced. Unfortunately for the consumer, photographers do not offer any reduction in price for missed photos, amateur shots, or other mediocre work product.”

So let’s talk briefly about what it costs to be a professional wedding photographer. My second photographer here was looking to buy his own equipment. Just to start off with the basics he was up to $8,000. Imagine the cost of what I carry. Oh, and I have to insure all of it. Then there’s vehicle expenses, commissions for running credit cards, equipment repairs, I spent $1200 on postage this year (postage!!!), continuing education, computer and software upgrades, hard drives, hard drives, hard drives, it costs to make albums, some of us pay staff… I really could go on. Oh wait! providing for my family? Putting food on our table and the discount outlet clothes on our back? A professional photographer doesn’t have a “real job” during the week so we have to pay our own health care for our family, save for retirement, and hope for a weeks vacation that comes out of our pocket. I did 25 weddings this year and my expenses were double the average 2 person family income in Connecticut (according to census.gov).

For the other side of the story, the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers did an awesome survey of photographers recently. I know when I started my business, everyone I knew thought I just worked weekends and did nothing during the week. We have a great lifestyle of taking photos, traveling, and partying.

Here’s reality: 70 hours a week through our 6-7 month season and 40 hours a week off season. There is no mention in here regarding time with family, charity work, and taking any time off. Only 12.2% off our time during business hours is spent taking pictures.

If I didn’t have the expenses that I have, or spend this much time getting everything done, I’d be out of business. I’d have to get a full time job and just do photography on the weekend. I’d be your Uncle Bob.

Update from Seshu: Since publishing this blog post above, there have been other similar posts out in the interwebs:

Is Travel Photography Your Calling?

September 30, 2010 by Guest 5 Comments

This blog post is by Taiwain-based culture & travel photographer Craig Ferguson. You should follow him on Twitter.

One step forward and two steps back seems to be the pattern for a lot of photographers lately, particularly in the area of cultural travel photography. Falling editorial rates and increased competition make things tougher for all. For me personally, potentially beneficial long-term opportunities in the world of travel photography have recently opened up (one step forward) but at the cost of tougher times in the short-term (two steps back).

Choosing to forgo immediate gain in order to focus on the medium and longer term future isn't always easy. I recently sent off the last of a series of photographs to a publisher. It's unlikely that I'll see any licensing fees from this until 2011 at the earliest, even though putting it all together took the best part of the summer. Other than a couple of small and quick portrait shoots and a little bit of editorial travel photography for a regional magazine, the past couple of months have been lean. In the long run, it will be worth it but that doesn't necessarily make it easier to stomach now.

2010 was always going to be a year of major transition for me as I move my photography business away from the general and into a much more specialized direction. That transition is still ongoing and becomes frustrating at times, as the bulk of my time is now spent in front of a computer rather than behind a lens. This recent project was a vital step in that process but it was only a step. Completing one major task would, in a perfect world, be cause for celebration and signify time to take a break. In reality though, it's just another box to tick and task to cross off the list. Almost as soon as the DVD's full of photographs were dropped off at Fedex, it was back to the grindstone. Seeking out, researching and reaching out to new potential clients. A day full of crafting individualized, cold email introductions to a market that is not covered by Agency Access and the like. When that day is over, I end up with a stack of further possibilities for the future to investigate and approach. It's not a task for the impatient but at the same time, it's a task that must be done sooner rather than later.

So why do it? Why not take travel photos for fun and work in something else, something that provides a regular salary? I know plenty of photographers who have done just that. They work a full time, salaried job and save photography for the weekends. For some people, that's the best thing to do. Not for me however. Why? It's quite simple.

I am a photographer. More accurately, I am a cultural travel photographer. It's what I do. It's who I am. It gives me more than I could ever hope to repay. It's a passion. I have no choice. I can't not do it.

Short term pain may well be necessary for long term gain, and if that is the case, then so be it. Photography is a calling and when you've been called, you have no other options.

Around The World, Yet Across The Street

July 30, 2010 by Guest 8 Comments

This is a guest post by Trudy Hamilton, a portrait and lifestyle photographer and blogger, originally from Florida and now residing the the San Francisco Bay area. She can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Most photographers that I know enjoy the adventure that travel brings into their lives. Whether it be personal travel, such as visiting family, or business travel, such as the destination wedding or a location commercial shoot, travel is both a pleasure and necessity. However, unless we're all Joe McNally, we probably don't travel as much as we'd like to.

One of the best reasons to travel is simply to experience the culture of another, hopefully though an open mind, heart and camera. However, you don't have to travel all of the time to experience and photograph another culture. An exciting and economical way to do so is to explore the cultural events of your community. I photographed my first community cultural event in 2006 and I have been interested in them ever since. The beauty of people, music, food, fashion and uniqueness has always excited me and appealed to me. This is why I travel, but also why my mind and heart can travel even when I am home.

A few good reasons to embrace your local community cultural events are:

1) It's a learning opportunity. If you are open to it, a community cultural event can be a learning experience for you. Certainly I could have read an article on the Obon Festival, but I chose to attend one in Japantown of San Jose, CA a few weeks ago. I have been to Japan, but certainly couldn't pick up and go again a few weeks ago. But by attending the festival, I chatted with and photographed Japanese, Japanese Americans and others at the event, listened to the powerful yet soothing sounds of the San Jose Taiko and enjoyed gyoza–some of the same activities I did while I was actually in Japan a few years ago. For several hours, it was like I was transformed from traditional Bay Area Cali and merged into Japanese culture.

2) It's a photographic opportunity. Certainly most photographers desire paid work versus unpaid work, especially the ones running a business. However, sometimes it is good to photograph truly for the sake of creation. Cultural photojournalism differs from my portraiture work. I use different camera settings, I have different compositional ideas and a different intent and message with every photograph that I create at a community cultural event. It's great exercise for me for when I do have paid event photography and great exercise in my creativity and storytelling, in general.

3) It's a networking opportunity. I am an introvert. Though I am not shy, as introversion does not always equate to shyness, I am usually uncomfortable and drained by traditional networking events and conventions. However, at a community cultural event, such as one I attended a month ago in San Francisco, Juneteenth, I can stay below radar and only photograph if I choose, or chat with people who ask me about my work simply from seeing me with what they call a big camera. At this aforementioned event, someone came up and talked with me. I ended up booking them as a client on the spot. So not only was it a great cultural experience (even just to embrace stories of Black people in America–ones that I could see in the very skin of the men I photographed below, who are only a few generations removed from slavery) but it was a business opportunity as well.

Acknowledging, embracing and understanding the cultures of others doesn't just make us better photographers, it makes us better humans. So I encourage you to view your city's website or a site like Yelp and look for the next event in your area, whether it be a Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Filipino, Jamaican or Irish festival (I've been to all of these types) and check it out. It may truly be a learning, photographic and networking opportunity for you as it has been for me. Embrace the true beauty within yourself, by embracing the beauty of others.

Visual Peacemakers UNITE!

May 24, 2010 by Guest 4 Comments

Mario Mattei is a photographer, visionary, & president of IGVP, based outside of Istanbul, Turkey.

I’m the kind of person who likes to ask “what if…” I’ve learned that I’m not alone in this and not alone in asking one particular “what if,” one that my friends and I were asking in 2008 …

In light of the tragedies on 9/11 and the fear-based reactions so often caused by worldviews shaped in onslaughts of “shocking” visual media, what if humans instead got consistently exposed to “other” cultures through photography and media themed on dignity, hope, and common humanity? Would the world be a different place?

This idea developed and is now known as “visual peacemaking.” All this year we’ve been moving it from dreams to action. Visualpeacemakers.org will be launching very soon. It’ll be a place to “get exposed” to the world’s peoples. And to get involved in contributing.

With this larger-than-life vision, my closest and most brilliant friends (Logan McAdams, John Machado and Jim Mullins) became co-founders with me in initiating, creating, and recruiting the International Guild of Visual Peacemakers (IGVP).

The vision spread through emails and Skype conversations. Matt Brandon, Nicole Gibson, and David DuChemin were in on the ground-level. It became our dream to form an organization and cross-promotional website that would advance the cause for visual peace and leverage photographers from around the globe to “SHOOT FOR PEACE.”

Not much time passed and we soon invited Gavin Gough, Matt Powell, Ami Vitale, Jeffrey Chapman, and Kerry Lammi into the Guild. These world-class photographers, and do-gooders, immediately clicked with the call to “peacemaking and breaking down stereotypes by displaying the beauty and dignity of various cultures around the world.”

We quickly ran into a wonderful “problem.” Everyone wanted in. We had some strategies in mind for how a small guild could operate, so we created a second, connected strategy. We’re forming a branch of the Guild called the Visual Peacemakers Community, able to grow wide in numbers and deep in impact. These will be members on our site with Peacemaker Profiles, galleries, etc.

Today we’re defining visual peacemakers as photographers/ videographers who especially:

• Document our common humanity
• Display the beauty & dignity of people
• Make an unknown culture known to another.
• Tell stories of hope
• Bring new perspectives where harmful stereotypes exist

Their images foster peace by building bridges of awareness & understanding between ethnic, cultural, & religious identities.

On the website each photographer will have an in-depth profile and portfolio. It’s being developed as a place to create, connect, and catalyze through tools & social media. Resources for photographic growth will be available like ebooks, podcasts, articles, mentoring, portfolio reviews, grants and world workshops. This aspect has really been developing and has been rewarding to see just how much visual peacemakers can and will be equipped to make a difference.

Each and every member will be inviting their friends, co-workers, and family to take part by signing a half-page Charter for Visual Peace that expresses what it means to be a socially conscious viewer of visual media. And here you have the beginning of impact beyond our group of visual communicators.

Without glossing over tragedy and conflict, IGVP is seeking to show more than human hardships. We’re displaying all that is beautiful about us, and all that connects us. Visual Peacemakers treat humanity’s similarities as sacred and our diversities things to be honored. We’ve got a long list of photographers to be notified of the launch. So, though this seems to have been going on for awhile to some of us, for most, it all really begins on launch day!

Will you join us?

You Twalkin’ To ME?

October 20, 2003 by Seshu | Editor & Publisher Leave a Comment

Via Nick Denton

The art of of the written and spoken language. Strung together with letters to make words that eventually make sentences. Much like this post. But check this out:

“Acdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer is in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.”

Words are prescriptions to our minds. Our brains seem to very rapidly create images out of words. Are images, then, the ephemeral bonding agent between people? Language and communication through pictures and symbols have been with us for a very long time. From cave paintings to the canvasses at the Met, are images universally understood? Is there some biological explanation for all of this? Can we conclude that images are in fact a better way to communicate? {grin}