job until we knew we had enough bookings and consistent enquiries to make a go of photography.
Looking back, some of my work was terrible but I think every photographer would say the same thing looking back at their work.
The clients loved what I was doing, loved Linda and trusted us to photograph their weddings. The enquiries kept coming and two years after going part-time with my day job, I was given an ultimatum by my employer- the other worker I was job sharing with had given his notice... I needed to come back full-time or quit.
I quit and we made it work. I was a full-time photographer and Linda and I were running a successful and fast growing photography business.
In hindsight, quitting was the best thing for growing the business and I should have done it earlier. Quitting meant no safety net and it was time to commit to the business, get serious about marketing and going for it.
Talk us through your process of getting ready to shoot a wedding, what gear do you take, bags? What about lights or reflectors? Maybe fill us in on a typical day.
Before a wedding I don’ t like to do anything much. I like a no stress, easy morning and I’ m already focussed on the day and somewhat absent from everything else going on.
One hour before I need to leave, I have a bit of a routine in packing the car, checking gear, showering and changing. After so many interview for PhotoBizX and hearing about split pants and embarrassing moments, I always wear dark underwear and take spare trousers. Gear wise, this has changed a lot since the beginning and is always evolving. Currently I’ m using a Domke shoulder bag which I love for it’ s ruggedness and simple utilitarian looks.
For shooting, I’ m using a Fuji X100f and a Fuji XPro2 with a range of lenses, almost all primes. My go to lenses are the 23mm f1.4( 35mm equivalent) unless I have the X100f with me. Otherwise it’ s the 56mm f1.2( 85mm equivalent) or the 90mm f1.4( 135mm equivalent).
For the reception coverage, I’ ve been using a Nikon D750 and primarily a 24-70mm f2.8 lens and SB900 Speedlight with Yongnuo triggers for any off camera flash work.
I’ m yet to shoot with the Fuji EF- X500 flash which I now have and am hoping this will mean the end of using the Nikon for reception coverage. Until now, the Fuji’ s just haven’ t delivered the kind of functionality I like when working with flash at a reception. The Nikon and speedlight combination on the other hand, just work flawlessly.
In addition to my shoulder bag, I have extra speedlights, a sunbounce reflector, tripod and other gear in the car but honestly, I rarely use any of it on a wedding day. Since discovering and moving to the Fuji system, I love working light, with minimal gear and I’ ve only just added the X100f to the kit- until now, my preference has been to work with a single camera body- Fuji or Nikon. I’ m making an allowance because of the small size and light weight of the X100f.
And after you’ ve finished, what do you do... back up wise and also post processing... what do you do there? After any shoot, I drop my card and paperwork with my studio assistant, Tenneille. She downloads and backs up all the files over two separate hard drives. The files on her computer are backed up via time machine and the copy on the external hard drive are also copied to another drive automatically.
From here, all our work will be on the one set of files with the knowledge we have three other copies backed up plus the original card.
I shoot in JPG and don’ t use Lightroom so our workflow probably differs from most pro photographers.
Following an edit / cull in Photo Mechanic, files are renamed and numbered. These renamed files are all put through a photoshop action for‘ enhancement’ and they are now client ready.
We don’ t do anything else with the files at this stage unless a client is purchasing an image. Commercial, wedding and portrait clients will all see these enhanced JPG’ s with no other work being done on them. Album designing and sales sessions are also carried out with these enhanced files.
Once a print, album or file is purchased, we’ ll do some additional retouching in either or both Photoshop or Alien Skin’ s Exposure.
It’ s a simple, streamlined, fast and easy approach for handling image files.
Do you have any moments that stand out as a wedding photographer?
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