A Keen Friend
If you have a friend, a relation or perhaps a work colleague who is keen amateur it is always a temptation to accept an offer from them to photograph your wedding day. If you have a low (or no) budget for photography then this may be an option, but, in my opinion (I know, I would say this) photography is a very important part of a wedding and its worth re-working your wedding budget to get the job down properly.
Your wedding photographs are amongst the most important you will ever have taken. You will be showing them to your friends and family (including your own children) for years to come so with that in mind, why would you put that pressure on somebody who should be there as a guest enjoying themselves?
One Good Camera is Never Enough
Lets start with basics; whilst there are some very good consumer cameras available they are not meant to be relied upon to produce under all or any conditions. For instance, they don’t like being rained on; part of the reason professional cameras cost several thousand pounds is that they are built to take a soaking and a bashing and still keep working (and they do, I can testify to that!).
But let’s assume that the amateur is very keen and has splashed out on a top of the range Nikon. It’s unlikely he will have bought more than one but any professional wedding photographer’s kit bag will contain at least one back-up body, several lenses and multiple flashguns. Even the best camera can fail; it’s man-made and, essentially, a computer, enough said, I think.
Invest in Experience
So, what else are you gaining by foregoing the chocolate fountain and employing a professional photographer? Well firstly, experience; no two weddings are the same but after covering more than 300 of them I have learnt that my greatest asset is anticipation. Being in the right place and having my camera pointing in the right direction at the right time has become almost subconscious.
Weddings aren’t as easy to photograph as some may think and producing hundreds of photos that tell the story of your day and making sure they are ‘all’ technically excellent is not an easy job. There are periods at a wedding when things are happening at a sedate and controlled pace followed by moments of unpredictable mayhem! The lighting and colour balance are constantly changing; inside a dark church one moment, outside in bright daylight the next. Throw into the mix the ability to communicate with vicars, registrars mother-in-laws and batty aunts and I would say that wedding photography is one of the toughest photography disciplines.
It’s always nice to involve your friends and family in your big day and most people are honoured to be able to contribute. But you only get one chance with your wedding photographs and you need to have confidence that you will end up with the perfect record.
One of my future articles will be an explanation of why professional photography costs what it does.
Lloyd Dobbie is a London based photographer working across the UK and Europe. You can see more of his work here on his website and keep up to date with his latest wedding work by visiting his blog.
