In the month we've had of an engagement, an increasingly greater share of my internet browsing has become, as you might imagine, focused on all things wedding - dresses and photographs and menus and venues and ideas - and there is so much out there.
I've started two different files for photographs. One is of "Ideas I Like," for inspiration as we're putting together invitations, decor, food, and such; the other is "Photographs I Like," to help give our photographer an idea of our style.
How beautiful is this?! Not that we're necessarily doing it...though I would like to incorporate lanterns/diffuse lights somehow.
Speaking of photographers, they are presenting us a bit of a dilemma. From, well, probably before our engagement, Brad and I both stated that photography was one of the things so important to us that we were willing to spend a good portion of our budget on that item. However, we had a few very specific requirements:
1. Brad is quite a capable editor and dislikes the effects used in most wedding photography (over-use of all of the following, as dictated by him: false depth of field, soft focus, highlight diffusion, "punchy" dynamic range, shadow/highlights filter, over and under saturation, and color isolation). He would much rather have a photographer take a thousand well-composed pictures of us and give them to us in RAW format so that he can do whatever editing he'd like. Most photographers are uncomfortable with this.
2. One of the reasons that most photographers are uncomfortable with giving us unedited photos is that they sell themselves as a package. "You're not just buying my time," one said, "You're buying my artistry and, especially, my storytelling." And I get that. Were I photographing weddings, I would probably feel the same way. There's our trouble. I fancy myself a storyteller and think I am particularly good at telling our story. Having a photographer decide how our story should be told doesn't appeal to me; I would rather tell our story myself.
3. Professional photography packages come with albums and print credits, which is really great for some people. We're not really interested. Yes, we'll want an album at some point and, yes, our parents will want albums. But we're pretty sure we can handle that ourselves. Several photographers have protested that, under no circumstances do you want to have anything printed that will go on your wall or your coffee table not printed by a professional. But, to be perfectly honest, I've always been perfectly happy with the photos hanging on my wall that were printed at Kit's Camera. So we would be paying extra for something we don't feel we need. That's not to say that those tangibles don't make the photo packages fairly priced; however, "value" has to be determined by what something is worth to us and albums and print credits aren't worth as much as they cost.
All that said, we've got several friends and family members who, though not professionals, have shot weddings and know their way around the composition of a photo. We're thinking of asking one of them. Though this does have the advantage of being easier on our budget, we would be doing so primarily because we think we have a better chance of getting the experience and photos we want.
Feedback:
What are the risks of asking a friend or family member to be our photographer?
Are we missing out on anything by not hiring a professional?
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