Today's wedding photographer often takes wedding planner training
Many successful wedding planner careers have been built by wedding photography professionals who take wedding coordinator training, seeking their wedding planning certification and starting a wedding planning business by leveraging their existing client base, vendor network, and knowledge of wedding venues. Today's savvy wedding photographer stays up to date on wedding trends, wedding facilities, and changes in the wedding business. Digital photography has enabled almost anybody with an adequate camera to take passable wedding pictures. Photojournalism has transformed the way wedding photos are made, and how today’s wedding photographer conducts business and interacts with clients when planning a wedding with a wedding planner or couple getting married. Wedding photography studios with ample space and elaborate lighting for formal portrait pictures are no longer needed, or affordable, in an age of digital photography, informal style, and the personal wedding website. Becoming a wedding planner is often the natural next step for a wedding photographer who enjoys interacting with couples over many months, as professional wedding planners do. In fact, the wedding photographer is frequently the first person hired for the event once the venue and date of the wedding are in place. Wedding planning careers and wedding photography have close contact with clients, and more, in common. Without personal experience in wedding photography, wedding planner jobs require a professional familiarity with the principles of digital photography, changing styles in wedding pictures, and the tools, techniques, and qualities of a good wedding photographer. Almost no vendor referral you make is more important to the success of your client’s event, or the reputation of your wedding planner business.
Personality Counts When Selecting and Working with a Wedding Photographer
Despite the digital photography revolution, one fundamental feature of traditional wedding photography remains unchanged. The wedding photographer will have closer physical contact with more people at the wedding, and with the couple over time, than almost anyone else. Although the information on the photographer’s website is important when determining the wedding budget and deciding what kind of wedding pictures are desired, the client’s personal chemistry with a prospective wedding photographer can be tested accurately only in person. Certified wedding planners know this and make wedding photographer referrals carefully, matching a client’s budget, style, and sophistication based on input, intuition, and concern about avoiding wedding stress. Those who understand professional wedding photography from their personal experience or their wedding planner training also know to prevent conflicts by avoiding micromanagement, a common complaint from professional photographers about insecure planners. An intelligent introduction to contemporary wedding photography, including the technology and applications of advanced digital photography to create high-quality wedding pictures and augment wedding planner websites, will give anyone becoming a certified wedding planner without a background in professional wedding photography a big advantage when starting a wedding planning business or diversifying an existing one.
Course Video Tutorial: 'An Emmy Award-Winner Teaches Contemporary Wedding Photography' (40:51)
Kiet Do, the owner of Kiet Do Photography, is the intelligent traveler’s guide to the brave new world of professional wedding photography, digital photography technology, and the application of photojournalism to contemporary wedding photography. On weekdays he is a reporter for CBS-5, KPIX-TV. On weekends he photographs weddings for clients of every ethnicity, budget, and age, employing skills developed over 10 years reporting the news for network affiliates in New Mexico, California, and Georgia, where he won an Emmy Award for news reporting in 2006. Born in Silicon Valley, he is a master of the technology, techniques, and tools of digital photography for weddings. In this course video tutorial, Kiet teaches Members the inner workings of today's changed wedding photography business, describing attractive options for nontraditional engagement shoots, detailing the process of the wedding day, and clarifying how the wedding photographer fits into the structure, scheduling, and logistics of the contemporary wedding. He also provides practical pointers on using advanced digital photography and clients’ wedding photos to build a winning website for your wedding planning business.
Learn 12 essential elements of contemporary wedding photography and navigating the wedding photography business:
- Contemporary photojournalism and why's it's here to stay
- Using the Internet, interviews, and referrals to find the right wedding photographer
- When multiple and back-up photographers are a must
- Planning and scheduling a unique shoot
- Choosing colors, clothing, and settings to set the right mood
- How to schedule and coordinate photography throughout the wedding day
- How to overcome restrictions imposed by a temple or a church
- Optimizing indoor lighting conditions for candid contrast
- Outdoor venues that make ideal wedding pictures
- How modest wedding day make up enhances most wedding photos
- Digital files, photo books, and why clients still want both
- 10 ways to start your wedding professional business at home
