The Difference

Why I Hired a Professional
Same Wedding. Same Moment. Same lighting. Same Editing Programs. Same Camera!
These pictures were shot feet apart at almost the same exact moment with identical cameras and very similar lenses.
Why the big difference?
The one on the left was shot by a photographer with hours and hours of experience, thorough camera knowledge and solid photography training.

the one on the right was shot by your friend . . . with a great camera.

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I'd like to follow up our guest blog from NYC photographer G.E. Masana with a few comments of my own. Above is a photo I came across on Facebook, and I cannot tell you how true it rings. Last September my website designer - who is a also a Professional photographer - and I attended the National Association of Wedding Professionals Fall meeting in Madison, WI. The featured speaker was nationally known wedding marketing expert Rick Brewer. During his presentation he commented that no one has taken it in the shorts in the digital age more so than the photography industry. It seems anyone who has a Best Buy credit card, access to a computer and can go to Vista Print and get 250 free business cards can instantly qualify themselves as a 'professional' photographer.

Let me make this point though - and this comes from someone with 20+ years experience in the wedding industry:

They're not the same.
They're not the same.
They're not the same.

Last year after our first 30 weddings we worked with 27 different photographers, many of them who you could tell were making their first trip to the rodeo. We encountered:

• A bride and groom who went behind the cake for that cake cutting moment, only to discover that there was no knife and server. It was actually in front of the cake in plain site of the photographer but she just stood there, not knowing what to do. The bride and groom just stood there, unsure themselves. Finally,  after what seemed to be a long awkward moment of confusion, I grabbed  my microphone to let them know where the knife/server were but a guest realized the dilemma and fetched the utensils for the newlyweds.
• A photographer who was fortunate enough to get seated right at the edge of the dance floor for dinner, and then when those first dances came up she just swung around and took pictures of the historic moment right from her chair. She never even got up!
• Then there was the guy we had to go fetch from outside when we needed him. Apparently he was too busy smoking and schmoozing with the bridesmaids. He was also the guy who ran over to the buffet to be the first in line.
• And finally the 'professional' photographer who announced to me that we had to do all of the wedding traditions right away because she did not have a car and her husband was picking her up at 8pm.

I could go on, but if that is not enough to convince you that a professional photographer is worth the extra $$ look again at the picture up above. Which one evokes an emotion you want to leave your family, friends and future children with? If this is your second (or more) wedding than I can understand being a bit more conservative with expenditures. But if this is your one-and-only wedding, wouldn't you want keepsake memories that you can be proud of for years and years to come?

end of rant

Until next time,

~ Mike ~