[SteveAdti]

Pay for a fully accredited and insured Professional.
A little background. I attended my brother in laws wedding a few months back.
I am not a photographer but a keen enthusiast. The wedding was being photographed by a friend of the bride whom takes great pictures!!!!!!!.
I have a 5d mk 2 and alarm bells started ringing when i saw this person taking pictures at a frantic rate with a 30d and using the pop up flash.
Off i go to get my camera and take some pics from the side just in case.

3 weeks after the wedding i get a call asking do i have any pics from the wedding. Last week i got to see some pics that the so called photographer had taken and they were awful. All washed out , not in focus and generally terrible.
Got the bride to get the photos on a drive and have spent the day trying to salvage something.
Anyone looking to get married get a porfolio and check the references.
The best one yet is that this friend charged 700 euro to screw this up

[slimboyfat]

The bride has only got herself to blame here, shwes the one that choose the tog, maybe think she would like to give her friend some business or looking to save some cash.

[Arciphel]

Wonder if the bad photographer posted on here the night before the wedding looking to borrow some L glass...

[PCPhoto]

small piece of advice for your friend:

GET THEE TO A SOLICITOR AND ....SUE !

if your friend made the mistake of hiring someone who was not able to do the job then he/she can partially blame themselves - but can also partially blame the photographer and the best way to make the photographer learn a lesson is to teach them that becoming a professional photographer takes a lot more than just buying a camera and pressing a button.

[SteveAdti]

Originally Posted by PCPhoto

small piece of advice for your friend:

GET THEE TO A SOLICITOR AND ....SUE !

if your friend made the mistake of hiring someone who was not able to do the job then he/she can partially blame themselves - but can also partially blame the photographer and the best way to make the photographer learn a lesson is to teach them that becoming a professional photographer takes a lot more than just buying a camera and pressing a button.

You see i agree with you >> however its in question as to wether the person said they were a photographer.
But askin for payments seems to me that they think they are

[tororosso]

Originally Posted by SteveAdti

You see i agree with you >> however its in question as to wether the person said they were a photographer.
But askin for payments seems to me that they think they are

Surely to God the Bride would know the level of technique that her friend holds in photography and seen her photographic work before agreeing to this?!
If she approached a friend and asked them to do a wedding on the cheap then what does she expect?
I believe that many people who do photography as a hobby are capable of very good wedding work but this example backs up those photographers who work on the wedding stuff.

Couldn't agree with the suing angle though

[AnCatDubh]

Originally Posted by SteveAdti

A friend of the bride who takes great pictures

is probably a really bad way to pick a photographer for your wedding however

Originally Posted by SteveAdti

Pay for a fully accredited and insured Professional.

is equally a really bad way to pick a photographer.

Did that and we have all of 1 photograph from the day that is nice. Em... maybe 2 at an extreme push but then i'm getting more critical as the years go by

Brother in law did that too, and never saw an album. Eventually a few scans of proofs became what is now the only album that he and his wife has.

You don't get to do these days again, so the best advice is don't leave it to chance. Don't just get a friend who is "good at taking photographs". They may do fine but they may not.

But in both instances outlined above, the photographers (2 of em) were accredited members of the appropriate professional association as well as having their insurance (liability) in order. They were the quintessential professionals - had big bloody cameras that whirred and whizzed - except when it came to delivering on the expectations.

There are many amateur photographers who'd put many 'so called' professionals out there to shame. It appears your friend didn't get one of them. There are also some really good professionals who do amazing things with only so much as a disposable camera.

The thing is, at least in my experience, there are a feic load of shabby professionals out there who *think* that being a member of an association, having a 'studio', paying for their work to appear in brides unlimited magazine sorry perhaps that's paying for an advertisement on the same page as the magazine feature, makes them a great photographer and gives them a right to print money.

I think someone who does a really good job at a wedding is worth multiples of thousands of euro for their efforts. Simples.

I also think there are a feic load of sub standard amateurs who'd like to earn multiples of thousands of euro for shooting weddings (hey, i don't blame them, it's an attractive proposition) but in truth they are caught up in a major circle of confusion believing their 'client' are getting a 'great deal' for €700 without having the good self awareness to know that their work doesn't even pass the 'free for experience' mark.

In my humble opinion the marker or standard appropriate to work which you should expect to be charged for compares proportionality to the degree to which the photographer can reasonably expect to reproduce a particular quality with certain consistency. Until a photographer has a consistency of a particular quality to demonstrate, imho they shouldn't charge (btw, I appreciate that isn't necessarily a popular opinion around here ). When someone who calls themselves a photographer demonstrates a recognisable quality with certain consistency, then the client knows what to expect whether they are paying €300 or €3,000 or more.

I'm hoping sometime to see a Humberklog wedding shot on disposable film cameras. Now that will be something

[tommyh1977]

There is a guy like that in my area, 1,000 notes to give you a CD of your wedding day. Shooting using a Canon 1000D with a cheap Metz flashgun. Best of all is the Fuji Bridge camera on his shoulder as a back up. Now I am fairly comfortable shooting on the fly doing some work for local newspapers etc but there is no way in hell i would take on a wedding, not for another few years till i work my way along my training modules.

[EyeBlinks]

Originally Posted by AnCatDubh

You don't get to do these days again,

Well if you're lucky you don't and sometimes if you're lucky you do.

[gloobag]

I know of a fella like this myself. Bought himself a 450D a few years back and a few weeks later had a website up proclaiming to be a pro wedding photographer. All the images on his site were of friends weddings, some of which where it's obvious he wasn't the actual official photographer (I know, because we have some mutual friends). He was charging upwards of €1k and his website was as tacky as fcuk and don't even get me started on the quality of the images themselves.

I've never photographed a wedding, although I'd be very interested in giving it a go. I wouldn't charge for it though. It wouldn't feel right, seeing as I've never done it before. I'd think of it as a portfolio building exercise.

[KKV]

Surely any problems like this could be avoided by just doing a bit of research?

There's no national or international standard for wedding photography. It's not like the hygiene standards your cake-maker will have to adhere to. Let their portfolio; their body of work, speak for themselves (though always ensure that the photos on their site were actually taken by them!).


I wouldn't ever judge a photographer by the gear he's using either (and I certainly wouldn't frown upon someone using a Metz flash! I've used both Canon and Metz flashguns and the Metz are fantastically better, in my opinion. Only let down is the lack of weather sealing).

[pullandbang]

My nephew bought himself an entry level Nikon, took a few shots of his nieces & nephews, did a six week course, set up a facebook page called XXXXXXXXXphotography and now calls himself a "Professional"

He even PM'd me of fb to see if I could put him in touch with wedding togs so that he could be a second shooter at weddings. He's fooking useless as a tog and I wouldn't recommend him to shoot anything, yet he is trying to sell himself as a "Pro".

Buyer really needs to be careful. Those who proclaim to be pros are not necessarily all they are cut out to be.......................

[Hugh_C]

Caveat emptor.

Weddings are very tough. Very stressful. Physically exhausting. I don't do em lightly.

[Freddie59]

I did our son's wedding 12 months ago. Small family affair with 80 guests. As the father of the groom is normally redundant, and they were on a budget, I thought - why not? Canon 40D and Speedlite 580EXII, with a 17-55 f/2.8 lens. Even at that you're pushed. The results were quite pleasant (not like some pros obviously). Would I do it again? I don't think so. One of the most stressful days - ever!

But you cannot tar all amateurs (and all pros) with the same brush. I've seen some truly astonishingly good amateur wedding photos and some truly abysmal pro photos (one individual charging €4K+ locally comes to mind).

But I think the couple have, unfortunately, only themselves to blame. It's one thing doing landscape and some family portrait shots on a casual basis. But a wedding on a timeframe, with lighting changing every few seconds, is a different kettle of fish altogether. It was over from the time he took the first shot using the onboard flash IMHO.

[Freddie59]

Originally Posted by pullandbang

My nephew bought himself an entry level Nikon, took a few shots of his nieces & nephews, did a six week course, set up a facebook page called XXXXXXXXXphotography and now calls himself a "Professional"

He even PM'd me of fb to see if I could put him in touch with wedding togs so that he could be a second shooter at weddings. He's fooking useless as a tog and I wouldn't recommend him to shoot anything, yet he is trying to sell himself as a "Pro".

Buyer really needs to be careful. Those who proclaim to be pros are not necessarily all they are cut out to be.......................

indeed. At the very least they should ask for samples and maybe contact couples whom the 'pro' has worked for.