Wedding photography is for life, not just for... Christmas?

Alright, the 'not just for Christmas' is a tenuous link to say the least because this post has literally nothing to do with Christmas, but I was stuck for a title and I'm feeling festive, and it IS about something lasting for life. So... we good?

A lovely thing happened a few weeks ago. I was on the phone to a couple who, during the call, had decided they would really like to book me to shoot their wedding next year, and at the end of the phone call, they asked this:

“And – it doesn’t really matter anyway, but I suppose we should probably know – what do you charge again?”

Music. To. My. Ears. Not because I thought, ‘oh they don’t remember, perhaps I can charge more!’ or anything like that. It wasn’t even about the money. It was just the ultimate compliment that the money wasn’t the deciding factor in choosing me to be their photographer. YEAH. Which in an ideal world, I think all wedding photographers (or any creative person) would love to be the case every time. To be chosen purely based on your work and know that the most important thing to the couple is also the thing that you put your heart and soul into is a wonderful feeling.

Of course, I’m not naïve; I know that everyone will have a budget, this couple included. Weddings are expensive and obviously couples will choose their budgets for individual outgoings accordingly. For some, it might be that they’re willing to spend more on a dress or a cake, but subsequently can’t spend as much on photography. Those decisions have likely been made quite early on, and will probably affect where the couple look for their suppliers. It goes the other way as well - using the most expensive photographer you can find because you *can* afford it and surely that means they're the best. There are a lot of blogs out there on the cost of wedding photography by photographers who have been doing this a lot longer than me, so I’m not going to get into that, but have a look at this infographic by Francesco Spighi and this blog by Laura Babb which explains everything REALLY well. It’s a topic that comes up a lot, and there is a common misconception that photographers are rich because ‘they earn £100 an hour at least!’ (they don’t. They really don’t). The price of wedding photography is an interesting, and often misunderstood, subject.

What I'm getting at is that your wedding photos are something that will last forever, so the decision shouldn't rest *solely* on what it costs. You know when you spend a bit more on a great pair of boots or a lovely coat, but you can justify it because you LOVE it and it's good quality and think of all the WEARS you'll get out of it... Well imagine how many 'wears' you'll get out of your wedding photos. Think how many times in 30, 40, 50 years you'll pour over your album again and smile and reminisce and feel that nostalgic glow of what a happy day it was. Make sure that at that point, you're not thinking 'well, I don't like them but at least they only cost X' or 'how annoying that I spent XXX and I don't even like the style'. Instead, be preoccupied with your amazing wedding and how you love the way it was captured.

JNP

An all-female cast.

A few weeks ago I shot my first same sex weddings (both were of the female persuasion), pretty much back to back. Beforehand, I was slightly more nervous than usual, in the way I might be if it's a different type of location to what I'm used to or if the groom was super tall and the bride was tiny. You're always going to feel more comfortable shooting a wedding in familiar territory. Other than that, I was quite excited because I want to photograph as many different types of weddings as possible, to keep everything fresh, creatively.

I wondered if I'd need to change my approach for the couples shots, particularly for those which are perhaps a bit more 'man holding woman in protective way'. I thought it might be hard to fit in two lots of bridal prep. But to be honest, as with most weddings, I think about these things but I rarely sit down and decide what I'm going to do. I prefer to just let it come naturally on the day and hope my artistic instincts get me through (they never let me down). Of course everything ran smoothly and there's nothing noteworthy on that front other than the fact that I definitely rely on the groom to hold flowers or help the bride with her dress; when there's two people with big dresses trying to navigate their way around woods/fields/grass it's slightly more tricky! So same sex couples are exactly the same as everyone else: they're completely different. These two pairs in particular were polar opposites; one couple were very cuddly and affectionate, and the other couple were giggly and playful, so the same adjustments in how I get the best photos in any situation applied. 

However, two things I noticed at both weddings and LOVED, were:

1. Women doing speeches. Please can this be done more? In the first, one bride did a speech, and it was lovely to hear things from her perspective. I think women are more likely to be emotional than men (in my experience) and its a beautiful thing to see all that FEELING come out during the speech. In the other wedding, the speeches were done by an all-female cast. *insert women power emoji here*. Both their dads were there, but they didn't do speeches. So we had two sets of bridesmaids and each bride giving a speech, and it was an absolute breath of fresh air. Funny, emotional, heartfelt, personal. You get used to hearing similar(ish) types of speeches from proud dads/grooms and best men trying their hardest to embarrass the groom, but this turned everything on its head. The whole room was captivated and there were tears of every type. So ladies, please don't be afraid of doing a speech. You'll be funny and charming and if you cry it's totally cool.

2. Being gay wasn't A Thing. I didn't expect it to be, exactly, but we live in a world where even the most accepting parts of society will still view this as something to be commented on, however innocent the intention. I mean, I'm writing this blog so effectively doing the same myself, but I have to say it was 100% NOT A Thing at either wedding. I guess it makes sense given that everyone there was presumably someone they know and love, but I wondered if there would be a mention in the speeches perhaps? Nope, it was the same as every other wedding and was about two people who love each other and nothing else. It was like temporarily being in a world where a famous person wouldn't have to publicly come out and for it to be front page news; it was completely refreshing and basically wonderful. 

More weddings where I come away with the impression that they're refreshing and wonderful, please! Okay now I'm off to shoot another wedding of two people who love each other :-).

JNP

Finding a fiver in your old jeans.

HELLO. I've never done a blog before. I can only apologise in advance if this is terrible or devastatingly boring. Should you feel it necessary to give me some blog-writing tips afterwards, then please do be my guest. I welcome criticism... In the way that you might welcome humiliating yourself in public by falling on your face and having to laugh it off because you KNOW it was funny. And then you hobble off you do ugly crying.

Anyway, moving swiftly on. I am a photographer. I'm trying my best to get used to saying that, but it's a bit like after you've been single for ages and you have to relearn what it's like to say you have a boyfriend; it still feels a tiny bit like you're embellishing the truth in a flattering manner. Or to stop people asking why you're single. The reason calling myself a photographer feels a bit foreign on my lips is partly due to the fact that it's all fairly recent and I still work in an office during the week, and partly because photography is genuinely my dream job. I sort of can't believe that people consider me a professional in something that I love doing.

So, to keep this short, I won't go into too much detail about how I got here. It went like this:

- did a highly enjoyable but essentially useless degree in Fine Art (joannayates.co.uk in case you were interested in what happened with that)

- picked up a camera and found it pretty rad

- got a 'normal' job but took many photos all the time everywhere and made all my friends love and hate me in equal measure for capturing their best sides...and their worst

- 2 years ago, was asked to shoot a friend's wedding because they liked my photos

- was flattered and terrified but did it and LOVED it

And since then, I've done several weddings, christenings, portraits, family shoots... basically, whatever anyone was willing to hire me to get behind a camera lens for. It wasn't actually until I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Emma Case and Pete Smyth (www.emmacasephotography.com) at one of my best friend's weddings a year ago which led to me attending their workshop, Welcome Home, that I really decided that being a photographer was what I wanted, and needed, to do with my life. At the risk of sounding a bit wanky, it was actually quite an emotional experience, after not knowing if I was capable of career-related ambition for most of my life. I mean, there was that time in school where they made us use that vocational-counselling programme 'Kudos' prior to choosing our GCSEs... it suggested I should be working outdoors, but the brief dreams of becoming a adventure tour guide were short lived. 

At Welcome Home, they told us to think about our 'why'. The first thing I thought, as cheesy as it sounds, was 'to capture joy'. I just don't know if I'll ever get enough of being able to take a moment of pure happiness and turn it into something everlasting. The artistic side of photography plays an important part with me as well; naturally, having come from a fine art background, I've always had so much appreciation for the beauty in a visual creation. For me, looking at a shot I've nailed is like finding a fiver in an old pair of jeans: you didn't expect it, but in that moment you are MADE. UP. Which is a bit like how I feel about becoming a photographer.

The joy part is important, though. And even better? When the smiles you've captured create more smiles.

JNP

Photo by Anna Pumer Photography