a jokingly serious posting...
* click on image for full size - comic courtesy of WTD.net
'Alrighty, jokes aside. This comic strip is indeed funny coz it has somewhat echoed what we, as fulltime photographers, have experienced before (not the calling the bride 'a B*tch) but about brides who can be a little too over-zealous on collecting their photos back after the wedding.
I know some of my brides do read this blog but there's no malice in this post about anything, just a sharing of the workflow in handling your wedding photos after ...well, your wedding :)
I take a lot of pride in presenting the best shots of your event and through every single shot selected to print, there's lies within a special element that symbolises the uniqueness of a couple's wedding, be it a hidden smile or a quirky expression.. these shots are carefully selected out of the hundreds I shoot in a wedding and not only selected based on its photographic value but also a storyline to piece up together as well with the rest of the selection.
Every bride and groom like to look their best on their big day and we, as photographers, would like to give you the best as well. Why we take so much time in looking through your photos after the wedding, sitting down infront of the computer for literally hundreds of hours to decide what post-processing would suit the mood of the shot and the wedding in general, why we bother to painstakingly DI away that single strand of hair across the forehead in an otherwise pristine looking close-up of the beautiful bride in her wedding gown... it's because we care alot about how the pics would reflect the couple's event.
Sometimes due to work, I have backlogs and other times, I am just being human to feel uncreative and uninspired. I'm sure you have some days in your life where you just feel unmotivated and yet having to force yourself to go to work, only to end up more frustrated coz you can't get work done properly and yet having to work against a dateline makes it even worse. On one hand, you feel the pressure of having to get the work out by the dateline and it requires your 100% and yet on the other hand, you feel unmotivated towards the project.
Every wedding is different to me and what ever happens in the wedding must be reflected in the photos I present. By rushing, (I do get requests from some couples if they can have their photos out within 3 days coz they have to show it to their relatives blah blah blah...), I simply can't present to you the beauty which I want the couple to see in their own wedding, an important stage in their life. As Eadwine once said:" the longer time I have, the more beautiful your pictures will be." and I can't agree more.
Photographers are such perfectionists and frankly, photographers are human and do have a life too :)
I seriously don't do it for the money even though I can churn out weddings and handing over the prints in less than 3 days (most of the time my WB and exposure is pretty decent, in fact after switching to the 1Dmk2n, it's basically a breeze in shooting correctly exposed shots due to the sensitivity of the CCD chip) and move on to the next ambition but I deliberately take my time with every wedding I shoot so that I can retain the emotions and feeling I felt during the actual day and then reflect it back in to the photos I present. Some of my brides did mention that my photos are one of those that you tend to be dismissive about it the 1st time you see it but it will grow on you as you view it the 2nd, the 3rd time and so on. Well, isn't that what actual day wedding photos are all about - being timeless in nature and freezing the beautiful moments of your life-event eternally?
That's why when I saw this comic on WhatTheDuck.net, I can't help but burst out laughing coz it's not about speed of delivery that determines the worth of your wedding memories but the quality that we, as your photographer, input into your every shot our creativity on the actual day and after the actual day.
Okie, enough ranting for now.. hehe...
Labels: Photography, Ranting, WTD
good rant! :)
Posted by
Anonymous |
2:53 PM