Archive for January, 2009

Mark Nichols’ 50th Birthday Party, Sea Island, Georgia

View more images from the celebration here.

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Building the rapport, part deux

January is not a particularly busy time for shooting weddings, but it is a very active time for me and my business. Many couples got engaged over the holidays, and are now planning their weddings for 2008.

I’ve been light on the blog in the past week because I have been very engaged (pardon the pun) with face to face meetings and also long phone conversations with potential couples. Investing time and energy to understand who the couple is, what makes them tick, and what matters to them the most is simple homework. I will be better prepared to see and photograph moments that reveal something about the two people in love, and all of those friends and family who honor them by attending their celebration.

I spoke with a bride earlier this week for about 25 minutes, and it seemed pretty evident that we had similar goals and visions for what her wedding photography should be. Three days later, we had a very long dinner in Charleston, chaperoned by her mother, and now I am really looking forward to photographing her wedding. If we did not mesh, would that have been a wasted effort on my part? Hmm, not really, because just as a bride is interviewing me, I am making sure that she is the best fit for me.

Today, I met with three people who are searching for their wedding photographer, and also had long conversations with two others. I had good feelings about all of the people I met with, and do hope to be able to work with them. Some friends of mine in the business say I am nuts for going to meet with people on their turf, at their convenience. Some say that I should instruct people to come to me, and only meet with people in an environment that I can control. Well, I do meet with people on my terms… those terms are whatever is most convenient for the people who are commissioning me. Though my role in chronicling the wedding is an important one, I never forget the fact that I am the hired help. It is a privilege for me to be entrusted with the responsibility of documenting the birth of a new family. At all times, the message that the photographs convey is infinitely more important than the artist who has created them.

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Maggie and Gardner marry at Palmetto Bluff

See a selection of photographs from this wedding here.

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