A dear friend recently reminded me of a very important truth: we are the custodians of our children and grandchildren's memories. That got me to thinking. How many times do we say to ourselves, "oh I don't need another picture of me" or in some other way pass off capturing our own life as insignificant? I know I think this way all the time and yet I would kill for photographs of those insignificant moments in the lives of my grandparents. After their weddings, couples say that they won't need photos of the two of them for many years now. Every year when someone older wins a portrait session through the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway, they pass it on to their kids or a friend saying that they just don't need photos of themselves. Maybe you don't need more photos of yourself but those photos are not for you. That is the important thing that we all need to remember.
Taking it one step further, here is my biggest conviction from that conversation (can you relate?): we are so careful to back up and re-back up our clients images, but not our own. They're on our computers here at our house and if someone were to break in and steal those computers, or if a fire claimed our office, all of our personal photos would be gone. I'm working on changing that right now as we move a copy of all our personal images off-site to be stored with our client images. This is so important! If you don't have a company for off-site storage, at least burn a dvd of your images and take them to a family member's house. You just never know and we are the custodians of our children and grandchildren's memories. It's time that we take that to heart.
As our files from the last several years begin their move to off-site locations, here are the most recent images we've taken for our children and grandchildren. I hadn't really planned to do much with this stage in our life. After all, I was just pregnant and we know what that looks like. I don't really feel like I need another picture of me in this state, but this is for our son and his children, so that they can glimpse back into this insignificant moment in our life and hopefully know us a little better for it.
They'll know a little better just how much we loved him before he was even born and how much we anticipated his arrival into our lives...
They'll remember how much new gadgets, like a new remote shutter trigger, fascinate Sean and how funny he can be. :0)
They'll see how I humored him and those gadgets...
...until I didn't ;0)
They'll glimpse the younger selves of their elders, who we are as a couple, and hopefully still see some of this in us all those years later.
Most importantly, we hope that they'll see love and remember us for it.
We are the custodians of our children and grandchildren's memories - of their heritage. No matter how insignificant our life's moments may seem to us, I plan to move forward both documenting it and preserving it well. We hope you'll do the same.
Incorporating our couple's personal style with our own photographic style is something that is so important to us. That's why we were so excited to work with Jamie and Drew. These guys have a very strong sense of self which makes them so much fun to photograph! You probably saw their engagement session and wedding a few posts back. Here is the conclusion of their marathon shooting extravaganza! We met up a couple of weeks after the wedding to get some great couple images outside of the time constraints of their wedding day and despite the fact that it was FREEZING, I'm so glad we did. :0) I love this session! Check it...
Her grandmother's furniture, his grandfather's old musket...family history meets a new life together...
I'm pretty much in love with Jamie's Vera Wang gown. The detailing is just gorgeous and it had the perfect feel for their vintage inspired wedding!
Warmth in the cold.
I can't wait to share more of these once we've had the opportunity to premiere the whole shabang to Jamie and Drew! Hope you've enjoyed them! :0)
4. Consistency is key
Make sure you are striving to deliver a complete high quality body of work for each and every one of your clients; not just shooting for one or two “money shots.” Think about it from the bride’s perspective; chances are that your clients have looked through featured galleries on your website of your favorite work; maybe they’ve met you in person and seen a couple of albums that are the best ones you’ve put together. This is how they view you and your work and this is what they hired you for. They probably aren’t thinking about the 99% of your work that they haven’t seen, and how maybe that might not measure up to what you’ve featured.
What happens when you share the images with your clients from their wedding day, and there are one or two shots that match the quality of what you presented before they booked you, but everything else is lackluster by comparison; when it’s all just “the rest”? It’s like buying an album with one good song on it. You usually leave that transaction feeling like it was a waste of money, right? It’s disappointing.
Take a look at iTunes and how $0.99 for picking and choosing just your favorite songs has completely turned the industry on its head. What if every song was the quality of the singles? What if every photograph was meaningful? What if every photograph was great quality?
Delivering a huge variety of fantastic images is really going to set you apart and your clients will love you for it. Is this tip make-or-break? Probably not if you’re at a lower to mid range price point—assuming that you are delivering a body of work that’s technically sound, of course. So no, this isn’t a must—but just remember: These are tips on “How to be a Successful Wedding Photographer” not tips on “How to Be a Decent Wedding Photographer”
