Wedding Goals

So This up coming wedding season will be my first season after graduating

photography school. How many weddings is a healthy goal to shoot for for next

year. I already have 5. is 10-15 to high to shoot for, for just graduating?

and can someone pleae judge my wedding photos thanks so much

 

 

Michaeldavidphotography.com

Mike,

 

Not what you asked for, I know, but I hope you don't mind if I offer a couple of constructive criticisms of your web site, in particular of the biography page. Many people are careless about their writing when posting a response in a forum like this one, but you should be as careful as possible when you write text for your web site. Have someone that writes well read what you've written carefully, checking your spelling, grammar, logic, tone and content.

 

For example, you say, "First, I just want to thank you...." Now this isn't "FIRST." This is the third paragraph and the third topic on this page. And saying "I just want to thank you" means that's all you want to do, but that's not all you want to do, that's just ONE of the things you want to do here.

 

In your second paragraph, the discussion of your camera gear and the software you use seems really out of place. It's hardly biographical info, but more important, almost nobody gives a darn about this stuff. You mention this because it's important to YOU. Fine, my gear is important to me, too. But it's NOT important to your potential client and you should be telling them what matters to THEM.

 

You call this page "biography," but there's no biographical info here at all, as far as I can see. I think "biography" is a bit grandiose in any case; Henri Cartier-Bresson has a biography, you have an "About me" paragraph. Mention what part of the world you grew up in, when you got interested in photography, and for heaven's sake, if you're a grad of a photography school, mention that!

 

I like the photos.

I think you do real nice work. As to the number of weddings you do that is up to how much work you can handle. My first year, I had 14 and the second year there was 27. This is my third year and I had 42, which was a bit much. I think next year I won?t take as many. I think 10 to 15 is a good number for your first year. You don?t want to take on to much because you will start to burn yourself out, so take your time and enjoy. Good luck and I hope I was of some help.

thanks yea i know i have to work on my Bio it hasnt been updated in over a year. thanks for the info its very much appreciated.

If you want critique for your wedding photos, I think the best thing to work on is lighting/exposure. Use that flash to boost some shine in people's eyes whenever possible. You may also want to do some post work on the pics from your site, just bumping up the levels a bit.

 

On the upside, you seem to capture great expressions from people during a very emotional day, so nice job on that!

 

10-15 is definitely not too much, but I would make some of those shoots with another professional that you know you can learn from. School is great, but nothing beats on-the-job training.

I would like to do 100, but I just can't.

Mike,

 

Your site is well done, and the photos are great quality. Given this is my first full year doing weddings. I am shooting for 12-15, but will take more if they come in...

my first full year was (is) 33 weddings, next year it will be reduced to 20-25.

Mike,

 

First, you have to examine your market because nobody on this board can tell you how

many weddings to target in your geographic region. Regarding your area, who is your

competition and what is the average number of weddings locally? What is your pricing

structure and where do you fit in with the competition?

 

Is it your intention to specialize in weddings? If so loose the food and children links. It is

an old cliché, but who would you rather have doing your brain surgery, a general surgeon

or a specialist? The same thing applies for wedding photographers. I always laugh when I

happen upon a photographer's site that specializes in weddings, portraiture, pets, food,

fine art, and clowns. Find what you love and do it.

 

If you do not intend on specializing in weddings but still like the work, you would be much

better off working as a contractor for another studio such as Bella Pictures or another

photographer in your area. It is an expensive production to run a studio and often you will

make more per hour as a contractor while pursuing (i.e. specializing in) other

photographic opportunities.

 

Regarding your current images you have average work for a beginning wedding

photographer. If you intend to make this a full time gig it would be a good idea to work

towards developing a distinctive style over a specific number of weddings to target. It

really doesn't matter what style you choose, but your work needs to stand out to get the

higher price clientele. This could be done while shooting lower priced weddings or

shooting as a contractor.

 

Last, I cannot imagine that your clients care that you shoot Nikon and post-process in

Photoshop. Give them a reason to hire you by relating to them and offering a superior

product.

 

Best of luck,

 

Don

Don i dont think my pics are that bad i think i do have a style. the first 3 weddings on my site are from when i didnt go to school and the last 4 are from after i gratuated

i must admit i get all the clients who want a deal. how do i avoid that

Please review my last post as I did not write that your work was bad. I do agree that you

have a style, but within the current market your work does not stand out. This is critical

for the success for your new business as this is a highly competitive visual business. Feel

free to email me off-list for further critique and ideas.

 

It is hard to avoid clients that want a deal. They all do. I will say that some of my best

weddings were for clients with tight budgets. They also provided me with portfolio

images that allowed me to pursue clients with much larger budgets. Additionally, I was

able to experiment with alternative business models and creatively explore new styles of

shooting. They got a deal and I was able to experiment. Everybody wins. Remember I

said tight budgets, not cheap. Avoid cheap clients like the plague.

 

The best way to avoid cheap clients is to follow Ron and Nancy's sage advice, "Just Say No."

Determine who would just be wasting your time and politely show them to the door.

thank you for your honesty i really appreciate it. you have put fuel in my drive!

Mike, I think you will lose most people because they will give up waiting for your site to load.

Also the flickering fades will reduce the time that people spend looking at your pictures.

Also, and it this may be just my weird mind playing tricks here, but the first thing I thought

when I saw your first page was that it was you who is God's creation and that you are frozen

in time!

 

All the best.

I think a great goal is composite.

 

How much net profit will I make - Not the volume of work

 

How high is my personal success ration when shooting? Can I get 8 out of 10 shots I make so they are good enough for an album?

Ditto on flickering fades. They bothered me too.