Hiring a photographer in good faith?

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Hiring a photographer in good faith?

posted 2 years ago in Photography
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Member

62 posts

Worker bee

mibee Boston

Hi hive,

I need some input - I'm getting married in Italy next summer and I'm zoned in on one photographer in particular, a local guy with what seems to be a fairly impressive background.

However, I am only able to access a few images per wedding via his blog (under 10) and he does not have many blog posts. There are a total of 5 or 6 weddings represented on his blog.

I'm worried that by booking him based on these few images that I'm not getting a good representation of his entire work and that he might only be picking a few best of images. In addition, his style is seriously photojournalistic, beautiful for sure ... ie. think landscape pictures with the couple really small and really far and I'm worried that I'm going to get a collection of images that is far too artsy with less emphasis on the couple. Again, no way to know based on what he has posted.

How do I go about dealing with him? I don't want to insult his talent and don't know if it's appropriate to ask for a sample of an entire collection of images from ONE wedding (or at least a few more than a handful). I interacted with one well known photography couple in the US and they too seemed reluctant to give me more than what was on their website.

In the event that this guy doesn't have any more samples how should I go about deciding whether to book him or not?

Advice, thoughts?

Thanks!

2 years ago

Member

69 posts

Worker bee

KlingonBride

I recommend explaining to him what kind of pictures you want. Say "We like these shots of yours that we saw, and we'd like a few of those, but we also want this other type ... here are some of the shots we want to be certain to get." If he seems hesitant in his answer, go with someone else. Good luck!

2 years ago

Member

4,481 posts

Honey bee

Gerbera August 7, 2010 NY

I don't think it is unreasonable at all to ask to see a collection of images from start to finish of ONE wedding. He's got to have a portfolio that he brings to meetings with potential clients. Ask him to send you one. Or a client site where past weddings log in to view and order their wedding pictures. As him to give you a log in of one so that you can see a wedding from start to finish. I think this is important. Good Luck!

2 years ago

Member

256 posts

Helper bee

princess poolau October 11, 2010

i know what you mean by the photographers picking a few of the best and using it to represent all of his/her work. i also think its not unreasonable to ask to see more images, particularly as for me, the cost of the photographer is a HUGE part of our wedding budget. as what gerbera has said, he's going to have a portfolio and with many photographers nowadays, he will probably be able to send it to you via email.

2 years ago

Bee

6,780 posts

Busy
Beekeeper

spaniel March 2010 Los Angeles, CA

Meet with him in person (unless by "local" you mean local in Italy :). A full wedding will have upwards of 1,000 pictures, which wouldn't make sense to post on a blog for the general public. Ask to see all of the images from a single wedding. If he can't make that available to you, consider booking someone else. A photog who stands behind their work shouldn't have a problem sharing this.

2 years ago

Member

3,105 posts

Sugar bee

slicey19

I just went through this. I booked my photographer with limited access. WE spoke on the phone, I asked him if I could see a whole wedding from start to finish so he gave me the access codes to a few of his customer pages. even then, he only posts 40-50 of what he considers to be the best photos. I was not impressed with the fact that more than one ofh te best photos had a person with closed eyes. But, overall, I liked what I saw, had a good conversation with him and FI was totally on board so we signed. You can only have so much control when planning from abroad.

The first thing I will ask you is if your photographer is Italian or an ex-pat living in Italy. This makes a huge difference in how to handle things. In my experience, (related to planning events in Italy with Italians) Italians are very high context culture. while an American may not be offended by you telling him which type of shots you want, an Italian may see this as you telling him how to do his job or that you think you know more than him. Most likely, he won't confront you on this but his commitment will drop. That being said, I think you need to be comfortable with your decision. Maybe you can ask him to send you his portfolio/photos from a wedding in a way that does not let on you are judging his work but that you would like ot see more of it. Personally, I find mor value in seeing a previous wedding than his portfolio because it is closer to what you will recieve.

My biggest lesson learned from planning abroad is to not be detail focused. You may not get every shot you were expecting but you get to be in Italy and maybe you'll get some shots you weren't expecting.

2 years ago

Member

62 posts

Worker bee

mibee Boston

Hi all, a follow up. I wrote the photographer's assistant and got this response back.

I'm a bit frustrated bc I really like the guy but feel it's ridiculous to not be able to get a sense of images from an ENTIRE wedding!! I don't live in Italy, won't be able to get there much before the wedding and need to make a decision.

Boo. M

Message below, some details changed for anonymity.

Hi Mibee,

If you see the photos in the website and in the articles published in the blog within the 'recently' section, ie. Wedding 1, Wedding 2, Wedding 3 which include a selection of photos from each of those weddings performed this year, I believe you should get fairly good idea of Photographer's approach to photography and style. Also the section related to his biography and international awards plus the wining photos published of Photographer make quite a good amount of material to grant his quality and professionality. Also if you wish and have the chance to come to Italy before your wedding we would be very happy to meet you at our studio, it would be very good I think so that you can get to know Photographer, go through his works and discuss your requirements for your wedding photography. Let me know your thoughts.

All the best

2 years ago

Member

491 posts

Helper bee

Amanda_B Hawaii

You should definitely see a whole wedding. I'd actually recommend seeing more than 1 WHOLE wedding. It's no easy to upload a gallery of a wedding online. I have 6-7 whole events on my website all the time so that brides can get right to them. I'd research further personally and just tell them " I need to see a whole wedding with at least 300 photos to decide . I just don't feel comfortable viewing only highlights and I really love your work".

Amanda Bowers Photography

2 years ago

Member

12 posts

Newbee

Mark Fillies Photography

Mibee,

I read all the comments here and have to agree with the majority. You should definitely have a chance to see the entire portfolio. I am professional photographer myself and the fact that he does not want to show you sample of the entire portfolio does not sound right. I always tell my potential clients to show me their favorite image and always share the entire wedding. I think this is the only way for you to get the best ides how good a photographer really is. It is easy to make a good portfolio and put few of the best samples on the website, but you want to make sure to get/see as many as possible good pictures from one wedding.

Also, one of the ladies mentioned to deal differently with Italians , I thought that was a nice thought but why? You will probably be paying big bucks and you should know what you are getting yourself into. I am European myself and see no reason to be treated any different regardless if I am shooting in America or in Europe.