What Is It Like To Be Your photographer for wedding?
10 Reasons I Love Being A Wedding Photographer
"What's it like dealing with bridezilla?"
When I tell people I'm a wedding photographer, they are intrigued by stories of brides gone crazy. But the truth is, I’ve never had a bride like those we see depicted in movies. Think Bride Wars. Most people find wedding photography interesting and they usually want to know what it’s like to work in such a high-stress environment.
Sure, some clients are more difficult than others, but that's mostly because of the stress that comes with planning a wedding and how they cope with it. It’s not personal, it’s just how they react to the anxiety they’re feeling.
Couples are making a significant financial investment and they are pouring their heart and soul into their wedding - that want it to be a beautiful and amazing experience. And not just for themselves, but for their guests too!
Most couples feel a lot of pressure when it comes to their wedding and this can cause them to behave in ways that aren't typical of their everyday personality. Stress can cause us to do funny things. We need to be understanding and sensitive to their situation.
10 Reasons I Love Being A Wedding Photographer!
Today, I want to share you why I love being a wedding photographer.
This is important to me because so many couples share their weddings with me. Because I spend so much time with these couples, I get learn a lot about them.
Well, today I'm going to share something about me - why I love what I do.
1. Meet Fantastic People
As a wedding photographer, I get to meet a lot of fantastic people. Over the years I have worked with a lot of couples and have developed friendships with many of them.
Photographing a wedding provides me with a unique perspective on a couple's wedding and their relationship. Unlike other wedding professionals, I spend a lot of time with our couples during the proposal session, engagement session, bridal portrait session, and of course, the wedding.
This unique interaction I have with our couples is why it's so important to me to earn their trust and form a meaningful relationship.
2. Problem Solver
It's vital, as a professional wedding photographer, to be an excellent problem solver.
Helping couples solve their problems is one of my favorite aspects of being a wedding photographer. I enjoy the satisfaction of making our client's lives easier and their wedding a little better.
I can be a great resource for couples due to my experience with weddings. While their problem may have nothing to do with wedding photography, I can usually help to solve it - and if I can't - I can certainly point them to a person that can.
3. A Positive Experience
Weddings are a positive experience!
Everyone is well dressed, happy, excited, and feeding off the positive energy. As a wedding photographer, it's incredibly exciting to capture these moments and literally freeze them in time.
With time our memories fade, but it's truly amazing how a photograph can return us to a specific moment in time. We can recall smells, sights, and best of all feelings.
4. You're Never Bored
If you ever hear a wedding photographer tell you they're bored, they're clearly doing something wrong because weddings are action packed from beginning to end.
There's always something to be photographed. While photographing a wedding is definitely exhausting, it's never boring!
5. Genuine Moments And Emotion
Weddings are filled with genuine moments and emotion.
You never know when something truly special is going to unfold before your eyes. Capturing the excitement, surprise, joy, tears, etc. inspires me. I find it extremely rewarding to take these moments in time and create this unique story.
6. Professional Growth
When people imagine wedding photography, I think it's pretty common to think it's about taking pictures of people. Certainly, that's a large part of this career, however, wedding photographers must also be highly skilled in other areas as well.
Let me explain.
Wedding photographers must be efficient and effective in:
Product Photography
Portraiture (Posed & Creative)
Action
Low-Light
Flash
During a wedding, we are going to be capturing formal posed images, creatively posed images, wedding details, and dancing. This requires having strong skills in several areas of photography and because most wedding take place in low-light, moody environments, a photographer needs to understand how to use flash photography to capture the moments while also maintaining the ambiance of the scene.
Simply stated, wedding photography will make you a better photographer. Not only will it develop the depth of your photography skills, but it will demand you learn how to be an effective problem solver. Every wedding we are required to make thousands of split second decisions n order to capture the best images possible.
Even though weddings essentially share the same rituals - a ceremony, reception, etc., every wedding is also unique in its own way.
There isn't a schedule for the moments or emotion to happen. There isn't a handbook that tells us when a bride is going to cry, laugh or show us some sort of authentic emotion.
As a wedding photographer, it's our job to closely observe the day and anticipate these moments. Sometimes the moments are obvious and sometimes they surface in unexpected ways.
7. Telling The Story
I love telling the story.
Every wedding has a unique story to be told and photographing a wedding is like telling the story chapter by chapter.
Like any great story, weddings have moments of joy, romance, laughter, and sometimes even sadness.
There are many ways to tell the story, be we are always striving to share it in the most authentic and compelling manner possible. In a way that best reflects the personalities of our clients.
8. My Creative Mind
Photography definitely fuels my creative mind. As a photographer, there are so many areas in which you get to explore and express your artistic side.
Obviously capturing photographs is the most obvious, but we also get to demonstrate our creativeness through editing/retouching, website design, business branding, etc.
It's a journey that's constantly challenging our imaginations and taking our creativeness to new levels.
9. It Reminds Me What Love Is All About
I get to experience all kinds of weddings - from simple to lavish. It's always inspiring to see the love and happiness being shared between two people.
I know weddings remind me, and I'd like to think they remind us all, what love is really all about. It's about finding the right partner and being the right partner. We have to be willing to put our trust in another person and take a leap of faith.
Sometimes love can be difficult and sometimes it hurts. But I believe mostly, it's rewarding.
10. My Work Is Valuable
This is probably the reason I most love being a wedding photographer.
My work and my purpose is valuable.
I'm deeply honored when couples place their trust in me to photograph their wedding. This is one of the most special days in their life and they are allowing me to share in it. I get to go behind the scenes and experience their relationship from a unique perspective.
I have the responsibility of creating the keepsakes that will stand the test of time. The keepsakes they will treasure forever.
Nothing is more satisfying than hearing a couple tell you how much the photographs you created mean to them.
It's at that moment I'm reminded how valuable my work truly is.