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hello wedding/event photographers i need help!
I'm not sure if there are any wedding/event photographers on this site that have established business but I need some advice. How on earth do you find wedding/event client or in general how do you market yourself to get potential clients? I've heard it all doing blogs, instagram, magazine, and even craiglist which isn't something I believe will get good clients. I'm still struggling to find a couple willing to hire me I'd like to change that. If you have any opinions on what I need to improve by all means tell me! Thanks Aug 15 14 07:54 pm Link LavandeBrie Photography wrote: What's your experience with weddings--- what do you have in your portfolio and on your website that would cause them to want to hire you? It's all about what you can do for them! Your website has no wedding sample images-- before you can get paid the big bucks you need to have something unique to show. Your fashion work is fine, so I don't see any technical issues. However there's got to be a disconnect between you and the people you're talking to somewhere. You've got to figure out what it is and fix it Aug 15 14 08:01 pm Link SPierce Photography wrote: I have a separate site the link to my fashion work is something totally different. You can view my wedding work here: www.anneliesebliss.com Aug 15 14 08:48 pm Link LavandeBrie Photography wrote: Do you own a Wedding Camera and Wedding Lenses? This is a moot point till you look into that fact. Aug 15 14 08:57 pm Link find a wedding photographer that will let you assist...your work will have to demonstrate your ability of course...and wedding photography is not that easy...you have to deliver and be reliable to develop a reputation...then you will get repeat contacts because you delivered...you can do CR or face book...but...network and doing a professional job will build your business....and remember you are responsible for the memories...no redo, re schedule, you have to get it right the first time....just some thoughts...and equipment...a 200 dollar camera is not going to get you there....you need good gear, you did not say what you have invested in...Mo Aug 15 14 09:03 pm Link Finding a couple willing to hire you with no experience is going to be a hard sell. I just shot a friend's wedding as she liked my art nude stuff (lol), I warned her multiple times that it would be both a learning experience and very much indicative of the fact that I wasn't taking any payment besides a few PBR tallboys. It was a very small, intimate wedding and I don't plan to take anymore without a few second shooter gigs under my belt as even with a small wedding I felt very overwhelmed and stressed. That said, San Fran is also going to be a market I assume is saturated with photographers at all budget levels. I'm sure there are some photographers who need second shooters/assistants, get some experience under your belt! Aug 15 14 09:34 pm Link Most of my clients are word of mouth referrals. About 35% come from ads or published blog efforts. Aug 15 14 10:59 pm Link DOUGLASFOTOS wrote: mophotoart wrote: Mark C Smith wrote: Some people clearly did not read this: LavandeBrie Photography wrote: Look up the WPPI and see if they are running anything local to you. Aug 15 14 11:32 pm Link get a few male/female models and do a couple shoot but better find a few photogenic friend couples and offer them a free session and prints. Post them to facebook and tag them. That how i started. i soon got offered to do quite a few weddings, all of which i turned down, due to my lack of experience. I'm wishing i would have done a few now though as im trying to get back into that area myself. :- hell you could even fake a few wedding shoots with some models if you really wanted to. IMO the key is to use photogenic people, its superficial i know, but as soon as i started putting up pictures of good looking couples and models the interest in me took off.. Aug 16 14 05:39 am Link 1k-words-photograpy wrote: That's how most of mine are to. Aug 16 14 06:04 am Link Network with other wedding shooters. A lot of times they have to turn down a wedding either because that date is booked or maybe the budget is too low for them and they don't have associate shooters. So they may want to recommend a person they feel is better suited for them. Or even other photographers who don't do weddings but may get called for them. When I was a commercial shooter we got calls all the time out of the blue. We just gave them the name of a wedding shooter we were good friends with. Aug 16 14 10:59 am Link I've shot 2 weddings. The first bride was my sister who asked if I'd like to shoot her wedding. I'm not a pro shooter now, more than 4 years later. Back then, I wasn't even taking pictures seriously. It was something I had considered but hadn't spent the first dollar to pursue. I didn't own a DSLR until 2 weeks before the wedding and had not held an SLR of any type before that. I thought it was going to be the beginning of a great thing. Since I had zero experience, zero portfolio and zero education, it could only get better. 2 weeks after her wedding, I signed up for another one. This bride was (she died now) a friend and coworker of my now ex. She didn't have a lot of money and wasn't expecting miracles. I still had zero portfolio (in terms of weddings as my sister asked me not to show "her" pictures to anyone else), in effect zero experience and zero education but I wasn't asking for a lot of money, either. This bride approved showing the pictures to anyone I so chose to show. So, a month into owning a DSLR and I've already shot 2 weddings and looking forward to the next one. Well, 4 years later I'm still looking for the next one. While my picture taking has improved dramatically, the number of "photographers" has increased exponentially. Most people are looking for a sure thing (someone who has been doing this a long time) even if it's expensive or someone who is dirt cheap (or even free, like Uncle Bob), like less than $100 or so. So ... all I can say is leave no stone unturned, keep pounding the pavement and don't be afraid to take a little less money to get the job. If you're wanting $1000 (for instance) but they only have (or say they only have $950), I see zero problem with that. The money is a minor drop in price but the experience will be worth every penny. Aug 16 14 01:57 pm Link Would you hire a wedding photographer without an established reputation and body of work? You have to start with assisting and second shooting for established ones and learn in the field under their tutelage and even do some engagement photos and styled bridal shoots...and work your way up through lots of marketing and persistence. Aug 16 14 07:00 pm Link our first wedding came from a boudoir client who trusted us to shoot a non-skinny bride. it's all who you know. work to get known in the local community which might involve second shooting or maybe putting up a display in the window of a florist. some people do their first weddings for free (just put a note on craig's list). and others do a ton of free shoots of all kinds, not just weddings. have a ton of fbook friends. shoot lots and try to get known. another route is to spend a lot of money on trade shows, advertising in the popular bridal books, etc. hit up all the venues and pay to be in their advertising. get to know all the bridal consultants and offer them kick-backs. really work it. the wedding shooters i know are mostly doing it for their weekend hobby, not full-time. if you can make $1K profit (after expenses) on each wedding and need to make $50K then that's 50 weddings per year. there are places like eventective where you can buy access to leads. but they've never worked out for us. also my thought is the best wedding shooters are the warriors. you might have to shoot in 100+ temperatures and/or shoot for 12+ hours. and some people do that for free or cheap! we found that we could do plenty of weddings at $500 but not so many at $1,000. but i'm not working that hard with the potential of getting sued for $500. and we started feeling like we were only getting paid for the event coverage and had to do the 20 hours of post-production for free but we didn't want to just shoot&burn. so for us it's just something we do for friends (like one of our models). now if i could book 50 $3K weddings per year and upsell high-margin albums and other products then i might feel differently. you see some folks shooting 2-3 weddings per weekend in the summer. this guy seems to stay busy: http://www.amelsephoto.com/ but i think at the end of the day you're either someone brides want at their wedding or you aren't. simple as that. Aug 18 14 11:46 am Link You make contacts; wedding planners, wedding venues, banquet halls, hotel banquet departments, caterers, florists, churches, and who ever else you think gets to see a bride and when she says, "do you know of a photographer ?" they give here your card. Sometimes there is a little quid pro quo involved. Once things start rolling word of mouth brings in more. Aug 18 14 01:07 pm Link Vector One Photography wrote: Even that is not easy to do....seems wedding industry people, many are horrible at networking, makes it a pain. Aug 18 14 08:07 pm Link |
