One Nice Wedding Freebie

There are lots of freebies on offer for brides - most of them end up costing more than if you paid for them, and those that don't you probably didn't need anyway! There are a few essentials though, and close to the top of many brides "must have" lists are their hair styling and professional make-up for the wedding day.


Hair and make-up are a bit like photography... anyone can take a picture, but there is the world of difference between an amateur and a professional photographer, and it's the same with make-up.  And, as a wedding photographer I get annoyed at the time I have to spend  touching up photos because the bride's make-up artist let her down... Not that I would ever say anything to the bride - I just "fix" it in post production to  make sure that, in her wedding photos, she looks as gorgeous as she deserves to be on her wedding day.

How do you avoid make-up and hair disasters, and what does all this have to do with freebies? You should very politely refuse your cousin's best friend's offer to have her sister do your hair or your make-up; and hire a professional. If the cost seems too high, shop around or take up our offer of free hair styling and make-up (good for all brides booking with Practicaps Weddings). - and yes, that is an ad, sort of; but I imagine that there are other photographers who have a similar arrangement with their colleagues in the hair and make-up fraternity... ask them!

Many quality businesses are happy to be in these cross promotions - I work with two great hair and make-up artists (Cam Lam and Mina Arnaout), and a top spray tanning specialist (Tracy at Bare Mystique); it isn't just good for the brides, but it works for me - I can be confident that the girls will look their very best, that their make-up will last the whole, long day, that they are not going to be distressed by a hair or mascara malfunction... that makes my task so  much easier!

It's good for the make-up team, too, because the majority of brides who take up the offer have bridesmaids who need their hair and make-up done to the same standard, which covers the artists costs. A win-win situation.

Christmas and New Year - the Engagement Season

It's true - there are more people celebrating engagements this week than at any other time of the year - except possibly Valentine's Day.

What a Christmas present, what a New Years Resolution! And what a busy time for us wedding photographers... although it is often a question of having the confidence  to say "no" and wait for the Right couple.

I generally do not accept any commissions over the Christmas/New Year period. My children come home for those weeks and it's "family time" for Jean and me... so I have time to think through the requests and referrals that start to flow in. Some are obvious starters: the sister of a young man whose wedding I photographed in 2009 - She was a lovely Maid and I could never say "no" to her. And a bride who is planning to hike into the mountains after the ceremony for her Location Photos, even though it means getting changed in a bush clearing: that  appeals to me.



Others are less obvious; locations like the beautiful Eschol Park House are always a draw (my Wife's favourite venue) and we will probably accept the request for that, although it is a budget photo package.

An enquiry from a keen scrap booker who wants to do her own album is tempting, just to see what she does with out images - the others, well I'll just have to wait until I meet the prospective clients; how we get on together really makes all the difference.

Elegant or Informal - Both Wedding Styles can be Lovely

 Some couples like modern cars - Hummers are popular; many prefer the elegance of a vintage limousine or maybe a classic Rolls. But for real elegance there isn't much to match a horse-drawn carriage.  No wonder Sandra and Phillip wanted to find the most beautiful setting to compliment their romantic wedding coach - their choice: Curzon Hall.

I can't say I am surprised, but despite being a bit "horse shy", Sandra  was so taken with her wonderful grey coach horses that she gave them a kiss!  I don't think Phillip has much to be jealous about -  I have rarely seen a couple so in love. It was a delight and a privilege to be your photographer.

Just a week prior the pomp of Curzon Hall, Rhys and Krystal celebrated their wedding day at a berry farm - what a contrast!  

Hand made ornaments  swinging from the boughs of ancient trees, flocks of parrots competing with the celebrant  for the attention of the guests the reception in a lovely renovated barn, and no limos at all - the bride and her attendants spent the night in a pretty  little cottage in the grounds of the historic farm itself - Montrose House  proved to be a wonderful choice, especially for the photographer  - I felt like I received a wedding gift!

Sharing the Joy of your Wedding Day

Christmas is upon us (you hadn't noticed?) and that means no weddings for me until January - I keep   December for family, and the kids have started to arrive - with 6 adult kids and 8 grandchildren, plus all the spouses, girlfriends, mates and partners, who has time to take on more work? If I did my wife would accuse me of doing weddings to avoid real work!

Something to think about in this giving season: your wedding means the world to you, but it could be very meaningful for others, too - even people you have never met... last year,  the portion of our fees that we set aside for charity contributed $2800 to the Salvation Army; sponsored two African and two Asian children, dug two wells and bought two goats for third world villagers, and helped support victims of the New Zealand earthquake and the Queensland floods. For five of the last 6 years we were also able to sponsor a national photography competition in support of Mental Health Month.

All this is made possible by the fees you pay for your wedding photography; we are grateful for the opportunities you give us to help others, and today, just two days before Christmas, I want to acknowledge what you have made possible and thank all our brides, grooms, parents and friends. Your special day has made other lives better, safer and healthier.

In 2012 the major recipient of your support will be the GROW Residential Rehabilitation program. This is GROW Residential's 30th year of caring mutual live-in community support for people struggling to overcome both mental illness AND drug dependency. That is special: many psychiatric services refuse to accept  mentally ill people if they have a drug problem, while drug rehabs turn away people who have a mental illness.. yet the majority of people have both! So great praise for GROW.

We are hoping to contribute $2500 to the community over the next 12 months   while still meeting our commitments to Child Sponsorship and relief programmes and the Salvos; with most of the first half of 2012  booked already, and wedding bookings coming in steadily for the June-November period, we have high hopes of meeting that goal

So, please accept the warmest wishes from David Rich Photography and Practicaps Weddings. May your Christmas be a time of joy, and may your upcoming wedding day be a life changing event for you and for somebody else, too..

Better than a wedding Album?

I've recently updated my website - well, really, my packages and pricing structure. I discovered that the majority of my clients were moving away from the Black Label and Platinum packages and opting instead for the Coffee Table Package. Then they were adding features from the higher priced collections. The very personal package they finished with was usually a bit less expensive than the Platinum or Black Label, but not that much...

It is obvious that tastes have changed, and in restructuring my packages, I found ways to do just what my brides were doing - designing high-end wedding packages for less money. The average price drop is about $500 compared with last year. That's pretty cool - in a market where many wedding photographers are having to increase fees, to be able to offer a lower price without compromising quality or losing money is a real win-win. 

But just what were my brides building their packages around? Albums and Photo-books! 

"Wall art" (canvas prints and "splits", framed enlargements and so on) is still very popular, especially the wonderful prints embedded directly into metal surfaces. But individual postcard prints and unframed prints up to A4 are not valued as they once were. And  iPads and digital photo frames with wedding photos loaded are just not attracting the same interest as they were. They may again, and I still have them to offer, but the Album is the thing.

Personally, I love the large format traditional album. Not the thing you stick pictures in with a pot of glue or some photo corners... A beautiful matted books with a carefully laid out set of photos in different sizes and formats is just so impressive with its embossed covers and thick, thick pages - you can feel  the quality.

They can be expensive though - partly because of the materials needed to make such a heavy album last through years of handling, but also because they are all hand made and assembled. Every mask on every page has to be cut, the photos printed to fit (often at non-standard sizes) and the entire book then has to be assembled and sewn.  We photographers don't make life easier for the album makers when we insist on designing highly individual albums for you.

Coffee Table books are somewhat less expensive. Since they are made on a printing press, with their images printed directly to the page in any format and layout that the designer desires, assembly is reduced to final binding and sewing. That cuts the price considerably, but the very best of these is still designed to last a lifetime, and the types of paper, the cover options and the quality of their spill and UV protection sets them apart from the many on-line and department store DIY copies. You would never mistake one of these for a $100 make-your-own-picture-book.

There are other options, too - Hybrid books that offer true, high gloss 1600 dpi printing on pages that lay flat when opened to display your wedding photos nearly  a metre wide; "Duo" albums that mix press printed and matted photos in the same album, and metal or crystal or acrylic covers to complement the more traditional photo, linen and leather covers.. 

Is there anything better than a wedding album? I don't think so, and it seems our clients agree.

New Locations for Wedding Photography

"Where should we go for our wedding photos?" Sounds like an easy question for a wedding photographer, and in some ways it is, but if you want to keep you pictures fresh, you really need to tailor your locations to your couples. You need to get to know them first. Thing is, it's often one of the first things they want to know, almost a test question from one of those "what to ask your wedding vendor" booklets.

I usually name a couple of possible locations, then ask if they have looked at any they like or seen any pictures they can see themselves in and try to refine (or expand) the choices from there - 

Very often though, I need to go and see. What is in the local area, how do the travel times fit in with the venues for the ceremony and the reception, and are there any booking requirements or fees involved. It isn't unusual for me to have to do this while the client is still deciding between me and another photographer, which was the case this week. As I write this, I have traveled about 100 Km and made calls to four organisations (2 councils, a university and a private garden) to find out if their venues are available on the required date, and how much they charge.

I have passed the information on to the couple, although I don't know yet if I have the job - I may well be making life easier for the competition... but on the other hand, it builds my database and I have had a very enjoyable time photographing the best of those venues. It is an absolutely beautiful public park with ancient trees, memorial gardens, shaded walkways, a military section with canon, 25 pounders and mortar launchers (my potential groom is a part-time soldier). Great character and variety and with the right aspect re the sun for the time of the post-wedding shoot.

I never consider my unpaid time scouting for venues or negotiating with the people who manage venues wasted. I always learn something of value, often make good contacts, and come away a little better prepared for that inevitable question "Where should we go for our wedding photos".

Post Script - they went a competitor who also provides video.  That's OK - I win about 70% of the jobs I quote for, and I know the photographer they chose - she will do a wonderful job for them. Now I wonder where they will go for the location photos?

Some more thoughts on Style in Wedding Photography

I’m a Wedding Photographer because it is what I love to do. I have been taking photographs for a very long time - it effects the way I see things: weddings keep my vision fresh.  The technical side of image making is second nature now, leaving me free to concentrate on the outcome I want to achieve instead of on the equipment or the techniques I need to achieve it. A photographer's style can flow naturally from this interaction between experience, vision, technique and equipment; more often it seems to come from a conscious effort to be different from other photographers...

So what is the Practicaps style of photography? I tend to be  more interested in expressing  your style  than mine, and I school my students and assistants to stop thinking about their photography and concentrate on putting themselves into the mindset of their subjects. Why should the bride or groom be expected to passively accept the photographers’ vision? 

This is about relationship, so as we get to know one another, the approach I take to a wedding is going to come closer and closer to who the bridal couple are, how they see themselves, and what their wedding day means to them.

My own web site includes five different galleries highlighting some popular photographic styles. Most Brides and Grooms opt for a mixture of photographs, with one style predominating, but there is always something that sets each wedding apart, and the "style" has to bend to the couple, not the other way around.

Photojournalistic Photography as represented in my Relaxed/Casual gallery has been strongly promoted in recent years. Some photojournalistic wedding photographers shy away from the Classical/Formal photos shown in the second gallery, insisting that only candid photos should be included in their work. We believe some “staged” or directed photography has a place in even the most relaxed weddings; for instance, the group photo with your parents that is for their wall or album rather than for your own.

Storybook Weddings are wonderfully romantic. They can evoke true  emotion, and we love to photograph them. Yours might be a themed wedding, which this style is ideally suited to showcase.

Finally, the unconventional, even quirky weddings are great fun and very memorable - they need a photographer who is really in tune with the couple, one who can join in the fun without losing sight of the fact that what underlies the "quirkiness" is the true commitment of soul mates who understand each other deeply and share something quite special.

Whatever the style of photography you decide on, there are moments throughout the day where something extra can be brought to the day by the use of special photographic techniques and editing. Our fifth gallery is a small sampler of these special effects. Wide angle effects, black and white conversions, unexpected angles, motion effects, soft focus, spot colour... when they are right for the photo, a skilled photographer has the  the knowhow and the equipment to make them work.

I'd enjoy your feedback of this blog and on the others in the Style series - please look in on the galleries and visit Vimeo where you will find a series of movies demonstrating the topics from these blogs.