How to Choose a Colorado Wedding Photographer
GENERAL
Choosing a wedding photographer can be a daunting task. Often, we'll hear from clients that they don't know where to begin or what to ask. The goal of this article is to provide you with knowledge regarding what to look for when meeting with prospective photographers.
TECHNIQUE AND CREATIVITY
First and foremost, a professional wedding photographer should possess both a technical mastery of the camera and his photographic tools, in addition to a well-rounded and refined creative eye. A solid balance between your photographer's technical skills and creative talents will ensure capturing timeless, unique, and artistically creative images that are properly exposed, without missing a beat. The best way to assess your photographer's skills and talents is to have a look at an entire collection of images from a recent wedding they've shot. By doing so, you'll get an idea of how fluidly your photographer is able to adapt to various lighting situations, how well they've interact with and put their subjects at ease, and their ability to creatively capture those special moments. It will also provide you with a big picture of of their overall style of shooting.
STYLE
When you are looking at various photographers' portfolios, you are no doubt attracted to certain images more so than others. It is helpful to take a mental note of those images, and to ascertain what these images have in common. This will give you a sense of your ideal style of photography, and you will be the most satisfied with a photographer who's images match that style. In addition, there are several styles of shooting a wedding that are popular today. Wedding photojournalism and artistic wedding portraiture are two commonly used descriptions in today's wedding photography market. Wedding photojournalism is a more candid, capture the moments style of shooting while artistic wedding portraiture typically leans more in the direction of a fashion shoot. While there is no right answer, it will help to get clear as to which style(s) you prefer.
IlluminArts Photography does both. Typically, our photography from a wedding day is 80% photojournalism and 20% artistic portraiture. Often times, in working with clients, we'll move these percentages around to meet our clients specific needs.
PERSONALITY
In addition to style, it is important that your photographer possess a personality that blends well with yours and your families. When you meet with the photographer, you should feel comfortable and at ease in conversation and communication. This way, you are most likely to feel comfortable and at ease in your photographs on your wedding day. The more relaxed you are, the better you will look! It is also helpful to take note of how relaxed other subjects look in your photographer's portfolio. How at ease does the photographer seem to make them, based on their expressions and body language? Keep in mind that a good sense of humor can go a long way and that your photographer's charisma and personality will have an affect on your mood and on those around you. Lastly, of all the vendors that you hire, you will be spending the most time with your photographers, and working the closest with them. Being comfortable with your photographer will ensure that you are comfortable throughout your time with them on your wedding day.
At IlluminArts Photography, our approach is to get ourselves very organized before the wedding day with our wedding day details forms. On the day of the wedding, we'll keep things moving and have an eye towards keeping things fun. While we have every intention to get everything you want us to capture, we'll never be rude or disrespectful to you, your families, or your guest to accomplish that goal. We've learned that enrolling people into our vision when we see a great image is the best way to have people get on board with us!
EXPERIENCE
The technical mastery of a photographer's trade as well as the development of their creative eye both come with experience. Is your photographer a part time wedding photographer or full time? Have they shot five weddings, ten, or fifty? The more you can learn about their experience as a wedding photographer, and the more experience they have, the more you can rest assured that they are providing their clients with consistently beautiful, well exposed, and unique images. You will also have the peace of mind that they will conduct themselves professionally and fluidly throughout your entire day with them. As with any trade, the more professional experience, the more likely your photographer will be able to handle every situation thrown at him throughout the day.
IlluminArts Photography is in its 25th year of being in business. Our studio first opened in Hollywood, CA and we had a wonderful client list. Fox, HBO, Nike, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, TNT Network, Nickelodeon, and several others kept us busy running around the country from television to film sets shooting celebrities. In early 2000 we moved the studio to Durango, CO to focus more on personal photography (weddings and families) and to start our own family! We're happy to say we love Durango and have an amazing little boy and love shooting weddings!
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
Your wedding day is a once in a lifetime event. Keeping this in mind when seeking out your photographer, look for someone who will provide you with quality images that you will cherish for the rest of your life, rather than someone who focuses on quantity of images or products. Even when planning around a tight budget, you will always be able to return back to quality images time and time again to order more prints or products down the road. If you need to cut down on the price of your package, start by cutting out products, rather than settling for a photographer who provides a multitude of products around a portfolio of poor quality images.
Typically on a full wedding day we'll shoot approximately 3,000 to 3,500 images. After a lengthy editing process, we'll narrow down that quantity to a select final 400 to 500 images. Editing down these images is a crucial part of our service. Once we have the best of the best from the day, we begin our detailed post production process on these selected images.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS AND ASSISTANTS
As you can imagine, there are numerous things going on during a wedding day, and a lot of details that you will want captured. While it is possible to capture the "meat and potatoes" of a wedding with just one photographer, it is impossible for that photographer, no matter how good, to be everywhere at once. Often, on a wedding day, there are great things happening at the same time in several locations. For this reason, it's very helpful for your photographer to have one or more additional photographers to assist them in capturing the details and side stories revolving around the main event. They may also bring along an assistant to provide them with an extra set of hands around lighting tools, organizing group shots, etc. While having two photographers at your wedding is a must, there are some occasions, depending on the number of guests and the size of the wedding party that we recommend having a third photographer.
At IlluminArts Photography, we always provide two photographers for your day. In addition, our team is always a man and a woman. On one level, there are some "gender" sensitive events occurring during the day, yet more importantly, we feel it's wonderful to have the creative eye of both genders telling the story of your day. Lastly, if you're guest list is creeping up on 200 to 300, or if you're wedding party is a large on, we'll typically bring in a third photographer for a portion of the day.
