Creativ Productions

Groom Hug

I had an interesting conversation with my sisters in law the other night about the recent trends in wedding photography.  They were commenting on a friend of theirs recent engagement shots and how they made her look so self centered.  She is a really sweet girl, but the photographer focused all the shots on the bride and often cut the groom out.  You know what I’m talking about, these real abstract framing kind of shots where we cut off faces and heads on the side of the picture or the top corners.  I’ve never been a really big fan of this style because I feel like the photographer is shooting more for themselves than for the customer.  The shots look awesome and look like they could be in a J-crew magazine, but the problem my sisters in law recognized is that these are engagement shots.  They are supposed to represent the love that the couple shares.  I’m all about creativity, but the way a photographer poses and instructs the bride and groom can represent a couple inaccurately.

I’ve always had the photography philosophy that the pictures I take for couples should capture the natural and deep love they have for each other.  I have a secret hope that the pictures I take will help remind couples of how much they love each other when the hard times come along and help keep them together.  I try to capture the personality and style of their love, whether it be silly or sweet.  Seems like so many photographers today are shooting like they would for a modeling session, no smiles, abstract framing, the bride and groom often aren’t even touching each other and looking in opposite directions.  What do those pictures say about the couple?  They might be awesome if we were trying to sell tuxedos and wedding gowns, but what about the couple?  When people are picking out pictures to send in their engagements, they most often want a nice portrait that shows theirs guests who they are marrying.  Now I make sure to get a bunch of other fun interaction shots too, but always placing equal focus on the couple, after all this whole marriage thing represents a union of two people, right?

Now I suppose there is the occasional self centered bride that thinks it’s just all about her, but in the 10 years I’ve been doing this, most brides are really in love with their groom and they want their pictures to represent that.  Picking the right wedding photographer is crucial to making that happen.  You’ll never have to worry about your photos misrepresenting you when you choose Creativ Productions to document your love, we always place the focus on both of you.  Here’s a couple of examples from yesterday’s shoot.

Bride Hug

Kind of a sad story. I had a bride come in today to pick up her wedding video from us and we got to talking about how everything turned out. She’s had such a hard time sending in a print list to us because there were too many good ones, and it’s hard to narrow it down.
She then told me she wishes she had done her engagements and bridals with me. I asked her why she hadn’t and she said, “Well we had a friend that wanted to do our engagements as a gift, and then we won some free bridal shoot.” That sounded really good before the wedding, but after comparing them with the shots she got from us from the wedding, they don’t even compare. She even asked me if I would be willing to go do her bridals again. Apparently they turned out so bad that she wouldn’t even hang them on the wall next to our photos.
Unfortunately, this happens all too often. Some well intending friend or family member offers to do the photos and inevitably the bride and groom are left wanting. Often times it’s too late to redo it though and they will forever regret letting their friend “help” them.
A few red flags to look out for to tell the difference. If you find yourself saying, “They do photography” that is a bad sign. Maybe they like to take pictures but obviously they aren’t good enough to make living at it. Or if someone says, “They have a really nice camera” If they are a true professional you wouldn’t question if they had a nice camera, it goes without saying. Just because I have a nice oven and refrigerator doesn’t make me a chef.
So what do you do if your friend or family member offers to help you with your photos? Just politely say “No thanks, we’ve got a professional who is taking care of it,” then call us. You’ll never regret having us do all the shoots, but you run a very high risk of disappointment if you let your “friend” help you. 10 years of experience has proven that to be true.

Time Stands Still