darrin ballman www.crossl

Hey gang, I'm in need of an assistant for this Saturday September 22nd. No

second shooting involved. Dayton, Ohio area (Centerville/Springboro). If

interested, please use the email request feature in my profile and email me

directly. Thanks!

I also have it stated in the contract that it's due 2 weeks before the wedding. I send an invoice showing payments made and balance due so it arrives about 3 weeks before the wedding, with a due date on it.. Rarely is it a problem. If it is...then I ditto CJ's answer.

fortunately no....

I'm still at 100% film for weddings. Usually Fuji Pro400H and 160S. That being said everything is hi-res scanned and I PS from there as well. As far as the business? Absolutely...I would say any well planned direction still works whether it's film or digital. (for me, next year is shaping up to be phenomenal) The well planned part being the essential ingredient. I will be adding a D200 to the arsenal this month, but no plans to incorporate it full time into the weddings yet. I will probably shoot a small percentage of the day's events with digital next year. Of course...I also just took delivery on an RB Pro SD set up for some of my studio work. I guess having the variety is going to be fun!

Hi Meg,

I've had a couple of leads lists from advertising/bridal shows this year, and only used emails from them. Response back was minimal really. No actual bookings from them to date. I did include in the email a small, simple collage of a few photos to (hopefully) capture their attention.

I also jumped right in....I was working in a lab years ago - trying to decide if I was going to pursue some form of photography or stick with the wine business - when a customer asked if I would photograph her 25th wedding anniversary for $200...(my processing was free at least...)It turned out it was a full mass, renewal of vows, I think at least 14 attendants and a reception for 300 guests!Baptism of fire...a few weeks later another customer asked if I would photograph her daughter's wedding that was coming up. From there I continued on and kept doing the wine biz too up until a year ago(wholesale sales, and 3 years as sommelier). Nows it's all photography - although I miss the wine samples! Those first weddings were a little under 20 years ago now....Would I have changed things? Nah...not really...I do wish I would have been a bit more aggressive about things earlier on, and planned out what I wanted to do - hec', knowing what I wanted to do would have been a plus! (I can't complain about the wine biz though since I've had some incredible experiences through that too).

Hi Delanza,

In most cases for me I am there through the "usual stuff" and then a little while longer for some extra spontaneous shots. The bride and groom are aware at our final planning meeting of when I will be heading out - and they are given about a 30 min heads up before that time in case there's any other special shots they want - or if they want some overtime.

 

That being said - all of my coverage is set up to essentially be "full-day" with 10 hours as the mark. So at our planning meeting they know how things are set up regarding time and events. I think the important thing is for everyone to be well aware of the plan ahead of time.

I guess there's still a lot I enjoy about the day - always have - I thoroughly enjoy shooting weddings and love the anticipation of never knowing what opportunities may present themselves for shots....but recently I got a thank you from a bride that said..."We really wanted good pictures from the wedding, and we got amazing ones....thank you!!!"

 

That's why I keep doing it...for me it makes it all worthwhile...

Ditto what Mary said...while personally it may not be my favorite time of the day, they are essential, and when you get a system down for doing them well and in a time effective manner you will feel much better about them. It's also the key time to project confidence in what you're doing so you don't have others trying to run the show or get in the way.

 

I also start with whoever has the largest family group shot between the bride or grooms family and then work into attendents then B&G solo...it can help in showing a steady influx of people arriving at the reception.

I too will collect as much info ahead of time at both our initial consultation and our final planning meeting about a month before where we go through the entire day hour by hour. I also ask a ton of questions - both to get a good feel of what is important to them and to prompt them to see how well things are planned out. This has helped to alleviate possible time crunches numerous times. I do solo w/family shots beforehand whenever possible, and saving the B&G together with family for after the ceremony. After ceremony I keep formals time to one hour unless they want extended time or an extra stop etc...I feel it's extremely important to be asking enough questions to really get a feel for their priorities so you can cover your bases properly....

I have an opening for an assistant on March 31st in the Dayton,OH area.

Assisting only - no shooting involved. If you're interested best to contact me

directly at: info@crosslightphotography.com .Please leave a contact number too!

Thanks!

 

- Darrin

I also agree...no refund...especially since it was files that were given. If they were really unhappy they should have been contacting you directly, shortly after delivery - not just commenting to the coordinator four months later. Offering something like the album, or enlargements, etc...is a fair gesture. My gut feeling would be that if they thought the quality was really that bad you would have heard about this a lot quicker.

I'm with Steffi on this...I only keep on me what I'm shooting with and let the assistant carry and take care of everything else. I do like to make sure that they are very capable of staying focused so I can change equipment often though - so they're not just lugging around.

I've been primarilly been using the Fuji Pro400H, and some Fuji Pro160S at times. For Ceremony, Pro800Z with no pushing. The last couple seasons, all of my B&W have been conversions.

Thank God for IS/VR

P.S. - I'm still trying to get the hook out of my mouth after Marc's first post - I totally fell for it.

Well, at first I did the usual "nice" redo...then I saw Mary's reminder about having fun and I thought to myself..."I would love to do more beach weddings!" Hence the result....For starters, I did do the following before extracting...

- Multiplied two layers to bring out detail in the dress

- Adjust contrast on the couple

- used the "Caponigro" B&W action

- Brightened teeth, catchlights and necklace/ring by painting and sharpening

 

...the original photo was one I took of my youngest daughter on the beach in Santa Barbara this past October...so I had to pull her out as well. I posted the original of her in my singles folder if you want to see it.

 

I also tried to call upon some of Marc's Central Michigan mojo by accompanying the work with some Bell's "Kalamazoo Stout". It was a two beer job. God, that stuff is great!!!<div></div>

similar to Anne's....tell them to blink on two when you count to three. I don't think I would have her start with her eyes closed though. The blinking on two gives enough of a reflex to get the eyelid open when you snap the shutter. Makes it easier for the person to time their blink also....and I think I would take the shot on the early side of three.

Man, and I just finished narrowing it down to my "Top Ten" for my blog...hmmm...go romantic or funny...I guess I'll stick with romantic...<div></div>

I always meet either at their place or at mine. I have done Starbucks or Panera a few times, but I don't like the distractions. I want them to be focused on my work. About 80% of the time I go to them.

like Robbie and Marc's comments...tools...everything is tools. For me at least - I am still 100% film, always scanning and post processing...perhaps I'm a little masochistic...but that's another story. Next year I will add digital to the toolbox - but I don't plan on really incorporating it into the weddings yet. I'll take my time on that.

kind of funny (ok, really funny!)...I just saw yesterday's What The Duck strip (#110-"Killer Resume")...what a tie in... www.whattheduck.net

I ditto everything Mary said. I've only been using assistants for the last couple of years and wished I would have started earlier! From set-up and tear down, reloads and yes parking too, it helps me focus on shooting rather than spend a few seconds or minutes here and there doing something other than. That second pair of eyes does come in handy as well.

 

Personally I don't have them do much second shooting. A couple times, with extra large groups, I have turned them loose for some people shots. So far none of mine have been looking to build a portfolio of wedding work, so that hasn't been an issue.

 

In finding assistants, of the three I've rotated around, I have known each of them at least a fair amount before hiring them on. In addition to each having fair to advanced photo knowledge, the common ingredient was a strong "customer service" kind of attitude. I had also seen each of them in other work situations, and how they interacted with people, so that was a huge plus. That is what I look for. I can't complain, I've been very fortunate!

 

For pay, at least for our area, I tend to be on the higher side, about$150 per 8 hour day, and up to $175.

 

Hope that helps...

I also went to a print credit a couple of years ago - I've never been big on dictating specific quantities and sizes. Also no time limit as well. Like Mary said, it is funny how apologetic many couples are that it takes them so long to use it at times. However, while I have not thought about using/or asking about a voucher for my online proofing (digilabs), I have them go through me exclusively for using it - wider margin, of course.

I've gone back and forth on this plenty of times...! Most of the time I have listed package pricing. I just recently went back to listing them after a few months of no pricing, and "starting at" as well. For me, my inquiries and percentage of booking goes up when it's readily available to them up front. I'm sure others have experienced differently - but for me it's worked. I definitely grew tired of fielding inquiries from the $1000 budgets. I guess if it was me shopping, I would want as much info up front as possible so I wasn't wasting their time or mine - but that's how I tend to work anyway.