So I
'turn up take pictures for 4 hours' and that's it?
I wish it was.
You may have noticed that I attend a lot of wedding fairs as an exhibitor, its a good way of meeting potential clients.
I usually load the car at about 8am on the Sunday morning, drive to the venue, then I have to find where I have been placed, unload the car, set up the display, Setting out all my lovely sample wedding albums, which have all had to have been made at some point.
Half hour before the doors open, maybe now we have chance to grab a coffee, and have a wander around to see friends and colleagues, also known as the competition. Depending on the size of the show there are usually at least 2 fellow photographers there, but we all do something different, different styles of photographs, albums, personalities, and we usually have a friendly little chat.
Doors open and smile. there may be a couple of fashion shows, so that is when I grab a quick bite of something, but as soon as I do, a customer will turn up, and need to know about all the albums that I supply.
About 3 or 4 O'clock and the last people are leaving, time to pack up, load the car, get in, unload the car and put everything away in its cupboard (the area under the stairs is where I keep all my display boards, framed prints, lights, tables, cables, sample albums etc) Then maybe have some dinner in front of Antiques Roadshow, and say goodnight to the children.
That sounds like a lot of fun, but fun comes at a price, usually £150 to £350 for attending the show.
Which is OK, if and when you get a booking, which could be in 2 years time.
Then the phone rings... "we saw you at the show and would like to book you for our wedding!"
So an appointment is made for a Tuesday evening, - sort out the samples that I am going to take, drive to the house, maybe an hour or 2 if I fill in the paperwork, and drive home.
A week before the wedding I like to speak to the couple make sure everything is going to plan.
Day before the wedding, charge batteries, check equipment, memory cards, flashes, lenses. Make sure my wedding outfit is ready ( I wear a morning suit when I attend a wedding)
Then we
'turn up take pictures for 4 hours' (I do a lot more than that, but this post is about the rest of what I do)
I get home, turn on the PC, download the 800+ images, back them up to DVD and also to an external hard drive, this can take 3 or 4 hours.
Then we (usually my good lady wife) proof the images, to take out the blinks, duplicate images, the one where the smile wasn't right, or someone rubbed their nose, or looked at one of the other cameras that was pointing at them, (and that happens more now than it used to.) This usually takes about 2 days.
The remaining images, (usually about half of what was taken) are printed and bound, a DVD made (another day) and then delivered to the happy couple. We allow 4 weeks to complete this, because in between times we have albums to assemble, maybe a wedding fair to attend, or another wedding or 2 or 3 to photograph....
I like to deliver the proofs in person (that's another evening for those of you who are keeping count) and watch the proof DVD with the customers pointing out image that I like and to answer any questions they have.
Eventually, I get the order, the list of images required for the album, that I retouch, colour correct, balance, re-size, and print to then be placed into the album or to get made by our album manufactures, depending on what the customer has chosen.
Then the best part, delivering the album, I love watching the faces of the bride and bridegroom as they turn the pages, as the memory of the wedding day floods back. As the framed print is unwrapped and held up to the wall where it will take pride of place, that makes me feel so good inside, its what makes me get up a 6am on a Sunday to load the exhibition gear into the car.
A lot of what you do as a photographer is unseen, and because it is unseen, its un-valued, but without it, there is no value in what you do.
