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Featured Shoot Q&A

Q and a okay, I know. So what I'm thinking, eh? So what? I'm understanding my course that's kind of coming is as I was putting it together there's an ebb and flow there's going to be something that's a little bit more lively and then there's just gonna be a lot of, like, meat a little bit more dense work that we just need, like work through. So just kind of hang on for the ride with me. Talk back to me, john. Yes, you're bringing up themes I can see potential for a really cool, really elegant way for a theme to be incorporated at the same time knowing how to build in a starting point. I can see if maybe a starting point wedding be done in a theme that would not necessarily be featured. Well, alright can even example, maybe of a theme that has been either cheesier. Have you ever encountered a theme where you didn't go? Yes, like I'm loving this and going to photograph it, but you go oh, a themed wedding wow! Four in regards to salvage shoot are either style I shoot our wedding really ju...

st in general what I have to understand that I am not that I have it's a it's, a job, but I'm there to document so I'm not gonna have an opinion about the thing with this team did not work no gosh no I'm gonna shoot it in a machine to the best way I know hand I know how when it comes to the themed a photo shoot again I'm over communicator so I want to be included in the loop as like so if for instance I was able to come up with this idea of nineteen forties art deco I'm not gonna be the one to produce it I have to bring on ah wedding coordinator or it a designer and I give her like this idea they share the story with her if she's on board she'll start running ideas with me so go over color palettes over with what works, what doesn't work and we'll talk about that actually in a little bit too would you like a process on the board of being the designer being the person writes and I'm in charge I'm actually going to talk about that on sunday why I made that mistake I became the everything and why it was quasi disastrous yes pretty records are you going to talk about how you maybe say like, I don't really have these kind of connections the wedding at weddings I've shot I've never had like wedding coordinators and things like that so how do you approach someone florist a cake designer wedding coordinator tio collaborate with you on these stylized shoots if you don't have any of those connections and it's kind of like a cold e mailing, how many weddings have you photographed myself last second shot last year and I photographed a lot of weddings but was a second shooter. Ok, so my my own weddings have only shot about five or six great, I will assume of the five in five or six you have five or six forests and of the five or six force isn't perhaps one that you kind of sort of like, yeah, I have a florist that I that I liked um, I don't really know any of the cake designers because they weren't at the wedding, you don't necessarily need to be the impetus for who bring who brings everybody on. So for this particular case for the creative live shoot, I started doing research of who I wanted to work with as a designer in seattle to talk a little bit more about that in detail. Now, all of a sudden, I start realizing I have to put together a team, and I've never been in the last time I worked in seattle was in two thousand eight like and since then, you haven't spoken to any of those that any of that creative team, so how that I was literally starting from scratch creating a cold call, I emailed a photographer here in seattle who I'm friends with, and I was just like, hey, like, who do you like working with? And she had recommended a makeup artist, and I have seen this makeup artist come up a lot in the seattle scene, and I like her a time, and I was like, this girl, tiffany colors. I don't care who else is on my team. I want her on my team just to make my girls look good. They could know in trash bags and she's making look good eye contact. Tiffany and then tiffany brought in your own team she's, like I have status I this I that so all of a sudden it could be like I didn't bring on krista and milady. I actually met chris at like an industry mixer, and I just, like, liked her so it's like a weather effect. Well, all you have to know is maybe a couple of the you need to know one, and then that one knows one and that one knows one. And then all the sudden you have, like a pretty killer team don't feel daunted by you feeling like I have to do ever. I think the first thing you gotta have that type of personality, like I need to control this thing. There are such elements. Remember? What was one of the first things they talked about? There are things that are out of your control. Yes. How far into your business did you start doings? Stylized sheets. So I wasn't sure how the snippet inning was that your very for that was the very first. Ok, so that was in two thousand eight, so I was safely. I would safely say that I had been shooting weddings for up to two years before I was featured online. Um, again, I know that doing due to, like, changing nature of the wedding industry and the fact that there are so many wedding laws now. I mean, like, if you I heard a joke like if you go up to something like a really like your block, like four out of five people will see thinks, you know, like everybody has blog's everybody there's like so many wedding blocks and so there's more opportunities to get featured. So I don't think that it will take it will have to take two years for somebody, tio. Get published. It could take three years. It doesn't matter when it happens as long as that's. What? You're thinking in the back. Your mind? Yes. As far as do you feel like a cell, she has to be a wedding theme cell shoot or no, I did a bridal party and dip bridal shower. Okay, so? So it doesn't really have to be a wedding as long as no, I did. I carried. Oh, I did, um, a styled shoot for bartle party. And then I did a styled shoot for, um, engagement party. Okay. Yeah. So what did that as long as it's like houston saying you talked about their business early at a wedding, but in regards to tell it shoots like, if it was a portrait photographer, I would do a style I shoot for a kid's birthday and I would bring, like, three or four kids to model. And I would set up like a cake table for the cake I would set up. Ah, play table like you can apply the same theory to stall the chutes in a lot of different markets. Yes, I shall. Um, how long in advance to you find that you should be like, a month before your style, she like how I had time operation I guess it depends on your team it depends how it pains they are it depends how many connections they have but I think a safe amount is six to seven weeks so I've planned to start chutes upon my return both at different times throughout and we're doing one at late may and one image in and a zoo photographer how involved are you and do the other instances where you just show up in your job is to shoot or are you actively involved in repairing the details behind it on every team works different but I come to find out that I'm hardly asked to shoot style jews I don't know what it is and I'm gonna talk about that and a little bit like well like guys I want to play too I don't know why I'm not asked but that's just that's how it is I'm just not ask to shoot so if I want to shoot I have to be I have to be the igniter so I kind of take on a role of the pitch person I'll reach out first to the designer because if I could get the designer on board all of a sudden I have somebody in my corner to approach other people or the designer can take on the reins and bring on people she wants toe personally work with so um I'm sorry what was the question? Oh justus faras how in march I am so I'll do the pitch so I'll say this is the idea that I have this is the story are you down and most of the time people are like, I can tweak it a little bit, I can do this and then they put their own phone and make it even better, but from my perspective, since I'm not being asked to shoot, I have to come up with the content first, which is why I believe in the goal theme in this story, so that's kind of my pitch, I'm going to go actually to the web questions if that's okay, john, you have a question will come back to, you know, people vivian hyphen photo is wondering, uh, she's from orange county, california, and I was wondering if you, when you submit images online or for publication and print, dress the bride and groom to sign a model release? Yes, that's that's the first thing that they that's the first thing that happened, the model release is actually part of the contract, so they're on the same page about what could possibly happen. But if it bride does not want her wedding featured, I usually know about that in advance, and I don't push it like again that a wedding is not a style to shoot, I do not have an opinion I am there to do my job, I would love for her to get it featured, but if she wants to keep her wedding a private matter, that is absolutely proud of it, and I respect it question from bramble, and I'm not sure if we talked about this, but how many weddings do you book each year from your style shoot features? Can you even measure that? I think it's hard it's hard to measure, because again, we go back to this idea of consumption on the web and people just kind of flip, flip, flip, flip? I think though the business has I shoot twenty to twenty five weddings a year that's where I want to be that's, why price myself to be? And a lot of times they're coming from word of mouth referrals and web referrals to stay I both I get featured in print and online. I want to get featured online it's a mix of weddings and style shoot, so I can particularly say yes styled shoots bring in twelve percent of my business it's very difficult it's kind of murky because it's mixed with online features of weddings and online feature installed shoots, but I will say, we're going to get to this in a minute, but the styled shoots aren't necessarily to procure business they're basically used tio be spoken about in a good way and in a bad way, and we'll talk about that to court a my question from pamela uh, you said you were shooting about, like twenty to twenty five weddings a year and there are now, and some people photograph thirty to forty weddings and you're just what I was doing my first year and second year that's a lot how do you possibly organize and keep track of all of those weddings and submitting? I've been submitting them, everybody has a different every day, it's a different system, I I'm probably the worst person to ask for this because I am the type of person who organizes my organization, so I was like, I was bred like this. In fact, a couple days ago, I was at my mom's house and she brought up this box of stuff that she saved from, like my childhood in high school, and I was seeing, like, how I took notes and like, how I was organizing my life and jd is like, you were born this way was like I was I didn't realize it. So when it comes to teo, how I keep track, I don't know, I just do like I always feel I have this theory that if you want something done, give it to a busy person because sometimes the people with the more time just like kind of just be like, oh, I'm going to get what I want to get to it, but I have it in the back of my mind that as far as a wedding is concerned, there's a rotation do I think it's a viable option for submission? If I do think it's a viable option for submission, then do I think it's viable for print? Or do I think it's viable for online? If I think it's viable for online that they need to go through in coal? It in a way that I think it is once the bright has already started her selection process for the album, then that's when I feel like it's respectful for me to go in a minute, I don't want to be like next week and it's featured here and just like I haven't even had the time to sit down in process, all of her image is the minute I know she's already kind of got into a groove and that's when I feel like all talk to her about it, and she also knows in advance where what I'm planning to do with the wedding, but we're going to get into that in a little bit so it's not like she's smack out of blue like it got featured, not at all all right so folks have been asking that morning christina coal and amos and claire graham from the uk where did you get your dress? Um it's a nicole miller dress nice there's I think there's a cover deal but you have course like me come on creative eye view just like stress out my poor husband has been like oh my god I'm married ones like you know it's always like a last minute decision like what you're gonna wear you know you're really always I know girls like all the guys went to the internet are like boring next question and all the girls like to know what it is like to stress about it and I told him the day before I came I just land on the bed of course first with problems are closet is full and yet there's nothing okay, next question this'll be the last question that's ok that sounds great all right question from k hinton jazzy jazz with your stylish shoes that you submit do you say that their stylized orjust feature them and leave that little detail out I tried to be as forthcoming as possible I gotta feel like it's a misnomer and actually what I am I want to do is actually extend the q and a because I believe we have lunch scheduled for twelve thirty and it's not twelve fifteen so we'll take questions for next ten or fifteen minutes if that's okay sorry, it was my mistake I should be and I hear him bragging on the organization and I don't even know we are in the day. Um, yes, I am forthcoming. I do let people know that is a style shoot. But I do think that it's it's evident that it's a style shoot because most weddings have more than one table. So yeah, I'm not tryingto, like, hide behind that. Do you guys have any questions in class? No. Okay, mark, I guess so if you make known to your prize that they may be featured in, like, on a block or something, is there any form of compensation for them as it worked? You know, it like me paying my brakes. Yeah, no, I mean, if they bring it up like also arena like you're gonna pay us to be your mom was kind of, you know, I have never come up with that. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but for me, the way that my brides have proceeded, it's, that it was an honor because I'm not I'm not paying, nor am I getting paid for me. It's if you want to get featured, they look at it is almost like a social validation that their wedding was good enough to be featured I think that that's a weird psychology, but and it's difficult so I always manage expectation to when people when I do tell people that I'm going to submit to a blogger I always let them know it is extraordinarily difficult there is the probability that it will not get featured I need to let them know because if it doesn't get featured it hurts your feelings you know it's like, oh, it wasn't good enough it's just the nature it's the nature of how the industry has changed ah wedding that has got that got featured two years ago that beautiful probably might not get featured today because the way that brides have been viewing their weddings I don't control that I simply shoot it the best way I possibly can and I submitted and if it doesn't get picked up it doesn't get picked up yes so with a bride that you're working with who is educated in the editorial process if she wants to help you in whatever capacity she's able to get like she wants her wedding published, she knows the photographer that she hired as a I'll just have a wedding committed bring august that the bride wants this to be published and that's kind of why I was so excited about coming here is because bar way raised I feel like at least I'm more familiar with how difficult that is can you suggest any ways that I mean I know you're teaching us as photographers how to do everything in our capacity tio get this content published is there anything on the bride side if she knows that she wants it? Is there anything that a bride could do? Help tells like have good taste I think the ideas and they know that sounds so blunt and I go when I'm saving lives because I think it rubs people the wrong way but listen I'm here to make you feel something I'm here to make you think I disagree good have an opinion what I want to clarify too bright is it tio extraordinarily difficult to get featured and every wedding is beautiful because it's yours my wedding would never in a million years get featured on the on blog's today, nor will they got featured when I got married in two thousand five on ly because I didn't know what was available to me if your bride is really like really intent and she serves the weapon she's on wedding logs every day she's well versed in what what details it takes to get featured so then now you could say I went tio a workshop I want to die in war lin of course that prepared me for this moment so if she knows what details should be there and if you have the time to photograph those details and if you successively photograph those details and if you get it a few pledge shots of the bride and groom you should be ok, there will be a block to featuring now if she says it must be featured on this block got to go back and say there's a chance we won't get feature on this block we'll talk about why certain blog's features certain weddings because it's a matter of taste and style according to that blogger that is all subjective and something I cannot possibly control if I could absolutely would, but I can't so for her, I just caution whenever my bride walk in and they're like, so I want to get this featured in all of this and I'm just like rumblings in my chest too want your wedding featured however some things are outside of our control, I will do my best and as long as you give me those details, I will shoot the heck out of him and then we will put forward the strongest admission that I know how oh, and if it gets picked up an awesome and if it doesn't, we will look for every possibility to for having featured somewhere cool. Yes, it's kind of goes back a little bit um I want to ask it before, but then I don't get a chance to but you're saying how jd would go and grab a couple details while you were doing something over here what if the ceremony and the reception aren't in the same locations? How do you get that table that's like, would you send him while you're doing something like getting ready? Dot just have the conversation with the bride and anything in and let her know that these that these are the parameters in which we're working, and so guest cards that might my biggest concern or guest guards, I don't know why I'm just like successor the virgin gescard if I felt like they were at different locations and they're getting married in a church and a reception was at a country club, I would ask the coordinator I would ask the bride to keep the guest cards off premises because most of the time, if that's at a separate location, they keep the guests outside of the room because they don't want the guest going into the room before the bride and groom either have an opportunity to see it or just go in and approve or last minute changes, whatever the case may be, if that then is the case, I have them. Specifically asked that they keep the guest cards in the room and then j d will drop me off and I run well, the guests are in cocktail hour, I shoot those cards, then they move the cards out and that's when guests can have access to them. Ok, yes, you kind of go off of john question that he had. Have you ever had a bride and groom bride go and actually submit a wedding that you did and may not have been your best work? And how how would you handle that if that did happen? Because I know there's a lot of blog's where you can go and you could bring a cancer summit work as a great bride. Great. Um okay, michelle, I'm going to probably ruffle your feathers, but if the bride submitted the her wedding and you didn't know about it, the on ly person's fault it was is yours. It wasn't hers. So the best thing for you to do in advance is too caught. Talk to your brides and let them know that you are responsible for submitting weddings because you know how and it's your work now, it doesn't mean that a bride won't. I actually worked last year with the professional publicist, and I knew that I had met my match like she was determined to get her wedding and every avenue and many possible know what I know as a wedding professional that she maybe not might not know from um a publicist point of your publicist one of you is to get it everywhere from a wedding perspective if it's if a wedding has been featured on a blogger it will not be featured on any other block if it has been featured in print it will not be featured are there's much less likelihood that it will be featured on a block so basically it's exclusivity any time that he's been featured elsewhere you have to know that weddings now done it's now archival and we're done with it now I decided to take a step back from that perspective because she said that she had connections at a certain magazine and that she her wedding was going to get featured in light of this in light of not causing troubles I said the only thing I request is that once those images have been selected I must be given those images so I can edit them in a way that I'm proud and I will directly summoned editor just put me in contact after that has happened so making sure that you're just the conduit because listen if the bride wants to submit and you think there's no way it's going to be published there's just no way making pretty you know you have a bad hair day but on the boat you know, I mean as much as you can to protect it and then forward from there it hasn't happened just providing in the future, you know, and most of time brides are usually on the same page with you about and so then that then good. So then the conversation that becomes I need to have a conversation with my bright in advance to let her know I am the one and responsible for it. No, I have a question from monica in nova scotia and scotia back tio your signature weddings. You limit how many of them you have in a year that you choose a signature weddings and what is the big thing that makes a signature wedding stand out from a non signature? Well, I think that all my winnings I mean, to be honest, I think that all of my weddings are are seriously beautiful. And I'm so lucky to work with the brides and grooms and the feelings that I that I have I really am, but then there's some things that are unquantifiable, like whether you could spend I worked with it. I worked with a client and she as her family has been a considerable amount of money and built a literally custom reception location for them on top of a roof, in loss and in hollywood, and it was it was slated to be absolutely impeccably over the top. Awesome, and we were so excited about it. Everybody was so excited except for the fact that this wedding happened to be on a day in hollywood that it was one hundred seven degrees on top of a black prove top, the guests were sweating profusely. They had to run down to the gift shop and bite sunblock. Babies were crying, ice was melting before even like got to like the guests. It was so frustrating from the right. I felt so bad for her feel so bad for her mom. They were she was from she had moved from florida to los angeles, the family had flown so many people out for this big, lavish event, and they rented the entire rooftop of the london hotel, and we were quarantined almost toe like literally like sixteen feet by sixteen feet, the one patches shade, so all the toasts has happened the shade the father dot doubter dance had to happen in the shape, like everything he had mapped out his beautiful lay up. It was too hot. We couldn't even go and use those places. What can I do in those situations? Absolutely nothing. I don't know where that question came from. Where did that question? My question was about signature weddings versus non signature with so many. All of my ways I'm so looking for them I can't control certain things and sometimes but what didn't just happens where it just feels right there are certain things like the lighting works so impeccably well the church or the ceremony that you just worked so well the kids aren't crying that everybody's happy there's so much about something happens I call it the unicorn wedding and if you shot weddings for more than two or three years you will know that is true there are some weddings that something just happens and you're like this is different I should every wedding giving it one hundred ten percent and sometimes something happens where you realize this is just different and I can't explain what that thing is but until this photographer nova scotia has shot as many weddings as she can, she'll start understanding and here's the thing my signature wedding is probably not your signature wedding and it's not your signature winning it's not your signature winning what we want to shoot are very different things so that's good for brides to think what if I'm not a signature wedding everyone all of my ride this award is I pick searching weddings within a year and I usually update them as soon as I get them as soon as they get a wedding that I'm just like movies winning all update that the email response that I sent to prospective clients to reflect newer material so it's not a hard invest rule on how I pick a signature wedding and just when it happens and the funny thing is is that it's usually reflected through social media when there's a lot of talking back either on facebook or twitter or in the comments section what I felt on that wedding day is what the internet felt, you know, and it was not anything that I could have control over anyway. Um we'll do maybe one more question. Karen noble is wondering how many weddings do you typically submit for publication out of the twenty to twenty five you shoot that just depends on it depends on the weddings that I get that year. You know, if I can submit all twenty five, I would be like, hey, yes, it sometimes it just doesn't is sometimes it just doesn't work in that capacity so depends here to hear ok, thank you. Awesome. Okay, do you want to do one more question? That was short, john. Okay, why not yours so you can submit to print and online? Uh, is it possible for a wedding to be featured in both? Or when you say exclusivity? If something gets featured on a certain wedding blawg site is probably not going to be featured in print, it will not get featured brand ok, yeah, so if you get it featured in print the on ly copy it you have to do when you're submitting is to let it know it was featured in this magazine and so if the editor chooses to feature as well that's her prerogative but especially for print because and maryland is the print editor from inside weddings we'll be talking to he talks heavily about why they feel so ardently about this is because the print quarterly it's like they save everything for that quarterly submission to know that it was been featured and shared four months before I already been there and done that all of a sudden it makes that wedding that they spent a lot of money to print less valuable so would you say print trumps it depends what your goals are okay? It depends we're going to talk about we're going to get more into print and the differences between that and itemizing I don't think one is better than the other it just depends what you want for your business at a particular time quote and with that we will take a lunch break. Yes, we will be back in about forty five minutes for lunch break, but first as winning if you wouldn't mind letting us know what we're going to be doing after we get back oh good, I'm excited ok, so I'm particularly excited because I am going to be um, hosting an interview with an online blogger, who's flown from orange county to seattle, to talk with us in person about what she looks like, what she looks for. From an editorial perspective, she's and talk about what she thinks is good photography. What works? Well, what works better, how we can all get better at it? What we also, um, we're going to be doing is an in class critique from our students, work and a perspective submission. So they were all clowning on my tilted camera. We're just gonna bring it to the table, okay, but, yes, certainly that's gonna be the main thing. The crux of the next section is going to be a new interview with an editor and talk about how all improved all in progress.