BEFORE THE WEDDING QUESTIONS:
Are you the person who takes our wedding photographs?
YES! I will always be the person taking your pictures.
I don't hire other photographers to cover dates for me.
I will
often bring an assistant to help transport equipment and do some
set up work, but I will always be taking your wedding photographs.
Are
you primarily a wedding photographer or do you focus on differnt types of photography?
95% of my photography business is weddings ! I used to be a photojournalist for a newspaper and accept editorial work for a few magazines. In the past 5 years , I've photographed almost only weddings !
I feel that it's a huge advantage to the couples I photograph to have someone that specializes in weddings. Wedding photography has unique characteristics that make it different from any other type of photography. Having a photographer who is completely comfortable shooting weddings leads to a more relaxed day for the bride and groom!
What
kind of Camera's do you have? How high is the
image quality? Do you carry back up equipment?
I
shoot with a Canon 20D (8.2 Mega-pixels and a large
digital back). The high resolution images can be
enlarged to 24 by 30 inches perfectly (absolutely no distortion or
loss of image quality). I also have
professional Canon cameras for my negative equipment.
I ALWAYS have backup equipment with me. Generally, I'll be carrying
3 sets of camera's and lenses to your wedding.
Are
the images that come on CD High Resolution? Are they marked in any way? Can I print
from them?
The images are High Resolution images. You
can print from your CD. They are not marked with a watermark or copyright. You own the images!
Are images from you re-touched?
Yes. Many images will already be re-touched by the time you see your pictures. I
provide additional retouching at
no
extra charge
.
This includes airbrushing skin, fixing "fly-aways"
in hair , objects in the background, ect.
Do
you use studio lighting or just a flash?
I
will sometimes bring a studio lighting set-up to your wedding to photograph group
shots and to get some effects that you can't get with on camera
flash. These
lights are used mostly for the largest group shots when a
camera flash isn’t sufficient.
How
did you get into photography?
I've
have loved it forever! I've known since I
was a teen-ager that it's what I wanted to do and I can't imagine
doing anything else! I
have a news and magazine photography background, but my work now is
mostly weddings!
How many weddings have you photographed total?
I just passed the 200 mark in the summer 2007!
We have heard from wedding guides that it's important to see complete weddings by photographers so we can see all the images , not just hand picked highlights. Can we see a full wedding online?
Yes! There are always links to recent COMPLETE WEDDINGS on my wedding gallery page.
Do
you refer other vendors if I need a: videographer, officiant,
DJ, florist ect. ?
Yes,
I have worked with hundreds of talented wedding professionals and
can often help you find another pro at no extra charge.
How
much do vendor referrals cost?
They
are Free.
ON THE WEDDING DAY QUESTIONS:
Do you check out the wedding location beforehand?
Yes ! I will be at your wedding location between 30 minutes and an hour early to check everything out , meet your families, and find the best spots for some formal photographs.
Does the time spent driving to my reception count against my photography time?
No. You only pay for shooting time.
Do we include you in catering figures?
If the shoot is 5 or more hours, most couples invite me to eat. This is entirely up to you. If I take a break to eat, you get 15-20 minutes added on to the end of your shoot. If you are having a sit down dinner, please inform your caterer to have me eat at the beginning of dinner. This allows me to eat when you do (during the time where there isn't anything to take pictures of). If they wait until the end, I won't have time to eat because I'll be doing toast or cake pictures.
QUESTIONS ABOUT RESERVING WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY SERVICES:
How
do I reserve you for my wedding?
To reserve a date, please give me a call and I'll fill out a contract for you with all your wedding details. You confirm the details via email. My contracts are electronic , but if you prefer a hardcopy we can both sign it and fax or snail mail copies too. Once your contract is filled out, you pay your deposit to lock in a date.
How
much is your deposit? Then what do I owe and when?
It is
$500 to secure a date (this can be made in 2 payments).
Your balance is
due the day of your event. I'm very flexible with
contract details - we will customize any contract so that you are
comfortable.
Are you able to take last minute bookings?
I try to accomodate last minute bookings . However , I do take on a limited number of wedding per year ( between 35-40 events ). Taking a limited number of weddings per year guarantees excellent service for my couples before, during , and AFTER the wedding! Every year, I do have to turn some wedding down in order to make sure I have enough time to edit images and create albums. It's always worth checking, but sometime (during the high season especially), I usually can not take last minute wedding bookings.
QUESTIONS ABOUT HAND MADE ART
PRINTS
I've heard that you are doing some hand made prints that you don't usually see in wedding photography. I might be interested in these along with my regular coverage. What
kinds of alternative processes and prints are you doing?
As well
as documenting your wedding with digital cameras, I can also use slide film and high speed film.
Slide film enables me to make a Polaroid transfer print.
The result is a see-through "floating" image on watercolor
paper or plexi-glass. You see these in museums and
high-end art galleries and they look incredible on your wall (great
conversation pieces).
I also
use high speed film which allows me to print grainy, high contrast
prints, and shoot using all natural light indoors (since the speed
is high, no flash is needed).
You let
me know ahead of time if you would like either of these.
The alternative processes are not meant to be the majority of your
album (generally just 1-3 rolls taken). They
just enhance the images already there by adding something different.
