The unseen...

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.

But your expensive....

Being a photographer is expensive. I know that there are photographers that advertise their services for £200. Ill be honest, my camera bag cost me more than that.
Let me put it this way, I could buy a comb, a pair of scissors and a tin of hairspray, no pictures, I'm now a hairdresser. Would you let me do your hair on your wedding day, because I was cheaper than all the other hairdressers?
Probably not, but ask your self, why not?
Because you want someone who has professional experience, the training that they have had and their skill.
Well its just the same with your wedding photographer, its just that our kit, insurance, and the fact that we can only do one wedding a day - and sometimes we are there all day, that make us expensive.
Compare the price of hairdryers to cameras, and I don't mean one of those with a tiny lens, I mean a proper camera, that can withstand 35000+ images a year.
There are other photographers that are cheaper, but dont you deserve professional photographs on your big day?

A question of copyright...

I just received an email from the government, in response to a petition I signed a while back,
hmg.gov.uk epetition-responses/petition copyrightreform

Copy right, the right to copy or not to have copied something that you have created.

Say that for instance, you went on holiday to Cyprus, and took some photographs which you then put on a social network, to show your friends what a great time you had and the pictures came out really well, you were really proud of it, and you got it framed to hang on your wall to remind you of your holiday.
That's OK, they are your pictures, you could have it made into a postcard and sell them if you wanted, they are your pictures, you created them.

What if, when you went to book your holiday, the next year, whilst flicking through the brochure, you saw your pictures, printed in the brochure.
That's not good, you didn't give your permission to 'holiday co' to use your images, they didn't ask, they didn't pay you, it doesn't even say that the wonderful picture, that you were so proud of, was taken by you.

That is copyright theft.

Wedding Albums are not dead

Well, I have returned from the wedding show at Ware Priory, and whilst not the busiest wedding show I have been to I still had some very good conversations with people about wedding albums.
Its a big day, a wedding day, but it can go so quickly, and the memory fades, but the precious images captured by your professional photographer, protected in a beautiful album, will last and keep those memories safe for generations.
I mainly supply 3 different types, Story books, La Vie designer albums, and Traditional wedding albums.
The traditional albums are made for me in Italy, by Tony Sarlo. The albums are made to order, so it is possible to have any cover colour, 1 of 6 types of leaf (page) and 4 different types of overlay (the overlay is what holds the photographs to the leaf.
The covers can be made of bonded leather, a hard linen board (with or without a photograph), a canvas print, or luxurious pure soft hide.
The detail and quality of the hand finished albums is beautiful and really sets my photographs off beautifully. I have some images on my website:- Traditional Wedding Albums
The next wedding shows are on the 30th January 2011, at the Churchgate Hotel in Harlow, and also at Waltham Abbey Marriott hotel, but if you want to see these lovely albums before then, give me a call, and Ill bring them to you to see, and we can chat about your wedding, mines a coffee, white with 2 sugars please.
01992 652901

Wedding Fairs

Well I'm getting ready for the wedding fair season, the first for me is at Ware Priory on Sunday. I want to get some of my sample albums updated with new pictures, I like to keep them fresh. I also have to check on my stocks of brochures and price guides.
I like going to the fairs, I think its an excellent chance to meet clients, so that they can see my work first hand & meet me, which is quite an important matter, when you think that on the wedding day, I'm going to be there, potentially all day. You have to have a rapport with the couple, their family and friends, and that's before you have even thought about your camera bag and whats in it.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the setup video one last time...

Michael Bird Photography

A new year a new blog!
Coming up this year.... a new website, a new web address but the same great photography.
Wedding enquiries and bookings are starting to come in now after the Christmas break.
Wedding shows start again on the 16th at Ware Priory. A full list of wedding fairs that I will be attending is on the website www.MrBird.co.uk/weddingshows

Well thats it for now.
Happy New Year!