It's Really Hard Work

Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it my be. - Edward Weston

In an 8 week period I and the photographers who so graciously assist me will cover 12 weddings. In that time period I personally will meet with probably another dozen bridal prospects, three or four brides who have had their weddings shot and now need to design and create their albums, edit and retouch the photographs in those albums (an average album has about 90 images in it), work on videos (currently I have 2 weddings video projects in production) and shoot several engagement, children and family portrait sessions.

I will also have to prepare monthly sales tax figures, employee withholding and review several marketing projects to see which ones are producing results and which ones need to be trimmed. I probably invest an average of $700 a month in marketing on line and in print. The concept of sitting back and waiting for the phone to ring because "my work is really good and my prices are reasonable" is the surest way for a business to disappear.

Many people see images such as the one I pulled from a wedding Michael Hiser just shot for me and think, "Man, the photographer's life - how cool it must be. You get to work with pretty women and they pay you big bucks." Few things could be farther from the truth. A wedding in particular means getting a dozen to thirty people to work with you, a rushed schedule (no matter how little time the photographer actually takes to the bride and family and friends it feels like forever), working in light or locations you didn't get to select and often pulling victory from the jaws of defeat.

Last Saturday Mr. Hiser had a wonderful couple to work with - handsome groom, beautiful bride and both were very willing to give us the time required for photographs. Unfortunately there was a traffic accident that made everyone "almost late" for the event and there was a huge storm that moved through. Michael, however, always leaves 2 hours early so he was able to arrive with sufficient time to do what he needed to do to serve this couple as their photographer. He actually made use of the inclement weather to get this gorgeously lit image at sunset - a sunset after a storm is often magnificent - and added his own unique sense of style and humor.

In our culture everyone has a "good camera" but not everyone is a good photographer. To be a good photographer requires an innate God given talent, a willingness to learn the technical aspects of your craft (notice in Michael's image how he has lit the subjects with a flash so they are correctly exposed but also balanced the exposure to allow the street lights and sunset to appear natural and saturated in color), the time to spend countless hours on your own often making mistakes and learning from them (not something you want in your wedding photographer - you don't want your wedding to be the one they're learning on) and an ability to relate to people.

One of my mentors, a master photographer named Charles J. Lewis, drilled into me and every student he ever taught that "successful photographers learn the things that "failures" don't want to learn". You can't be a good photographer and be lazy or successful. You can't run a successful business - I'm entering my 30th year as a photographer - and not invest in it a lot of time and tears.

Photography is a wonderful profession and gives me such pleasure and, yes, I and the people who work for me make it look "easy". But only because we work so hard at it. Being a professional photographer is hard work. But my clients deserve the very best and I always strive to make sure they get what they deserve.