How not to be a wedding photographer

Man, they're awesome. :thumbsup:

I should stop my worrying that I ain't good enough and charge £500 too! What the hell, I can't be worse than that. Well, I guess I could.....
 
oh wow

£500 is not much for video+photos+album but you should at least get photos that are exposed correctly.
 
I know he should have produced better images, but I also feel really sorry for him.
Not everyone is good at what they do. I think it's sad that the press is mocking the guy and he's being truly humiliated on a nationwide basis. Does he really deserve that? It must be terrible for his family. Also, they are showing the worst images (they are trying to sell newspapers) so it's a bit unfair imo.
 
Well said Mark - I agree entirely

Jim
 
I just saw a report on Calendar News on Yorkshire TV about this. While I agree to a certain extent with what Mark says, the photos in that article and the others they showed on Calendar were really awful. Any one who claims to be a photographer let alone a pro wedding tog should be ashamed at including these in the final album. OK there may have been some better ones but come on, you don't include the ones that went wrong in the final album.

Also, they showed some of the wedding video on the report and there was a bit in the video where the cameraman slipped while moving around the alter, the video camera moved up to point at the ceiling and the cameraman swore very loudly. This was left in the final "edit" of the video. Again, how difficult would it have been to use a video editting package to remove those few seconds.

One final thing. On Calendar they said that the couple paid £1400 for the video and photos not £500.
 
I just saw a report on Calendar News on Yorkshire TV about this. While I agree to a certain extent with what Mark says, the photos in that article and the others they showed on Calendar were really awful. Any one who claims to be a photographer let alone a pro wedding tog should be ashamed at including these in the final album. OK there may have been some better ones but come on, you don't include the ones that went wrong in the final album.

But these photos could well be from the proof set - after all didn't she say that she actualy liked 40 odd of the hundreds taken ? - so chances are these aren't from the final album perhaps....

Jim
 
Yes, but they shouldn't have even made it to the proof book. They showed one photo where most of the brides face and all of her her dress were completely over-exposed. And not in an arty "hi-key" way either as the the rest of the photo was badly composed too. It was a snap with the camera in the completely wrong setting. It was a mistake by someone who doesn't know what they are doing.
 
I agree Simon - I was just addressing the point about them being "in the final book" ;)

JIm
 
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I know he should have produced better images, but I also feel really sorry for him.
Not everyone is good at what they do.

if you are not good at what you do you should not be a wedding photog, simple as that.

practice, go to college, be an assistant but dont call yourself a pro when you're not then screw up someones day because you cant even use a meter correctly.

i dont feel sorry for him in the slightest.
 
I agee Simon - I was just addressing the point about them being "in the final book" ;)

JIm

And I agree with you Jim. But if I had been the "photographer" I would have shown them a proof book of maybe 100 photos removing the 300 terrible ones. His mistake was to show every single photo he took.

When I did my 1st wedding I shot over 700 photos but I only showed the b&g just over 300. The others were not up to scratch in my opinion. Some of them were duplicates or some were when people were pulling a bad pose and yes some of them weren't exposed properly. But the b&g never got to see them.

That is what he should have done.
 
And I agree with you Jim. But if I had been the "photographer" I would have shown them a proof book of maybe 100 photos removing the 300 terrible ones. His mistake was to show every single photo he took.

When I did my 1st wedding I shot over 700 photos but I only showed the b&g just over 300. The others were not up to scratch in my opinion. Some of them were duplicates or some were when people were pulling a bad pose and yes some of them weren't exposed properly. But the b&g never got to see them.

That is what he should have done.

I still agree :D

Jim
 
if you are not good at what you do you should not be a wedding photog, simple as that.

practice, go to college, be an assistant but dont call yourself a pro when you're not then screw up someones day because you cant even use a meter correctly.

i dont feel sorry for him in the slightest.

Agree 100%.

But you also have to question the judgement of the b&g. Did they ask to see examples of photos from previous weddings the tog had shot? Did they have an in depth chat with the tog about what kind of photography they liked and what type they didn't? Perhaps he conned them by passing off someone elses photos as his own though.
 
if you are not good at what you do you should not be a wedding photog, simple as that.

practice, go to college, be an assistant but dont call yourself a pro when you're not then screw up someones day because you cant even use a meter correctly.

i dont feel sorry for him in the slightest.

Well - putting my "Devils Advocate" Hat on I have to say that I wouldn't have entrusted my Big Day to anyone without seeing some samples of their work - and come on let's face it you would have spotted a Lemon like this..... :rolleyes:

Jim

EDIT ...great minds thinks alike - or are we both just fools ?
 
Plus he will either LEARN by this mistake and improve or it will alert others to steer clear and not ruin the biggest day of their lives where their mates point and shoot jobs are better than the 'official' tog:(
 
Did these people hire Max Clifford? They are everywhere.

Saw the story first on Calendar News followed by ITV National News then later on Sky News.

Didn't they look at any of his previous weddings before signing a contract?
 
See this last night on the ITV News, just shows the cowboys knocking about sadly doesn't it.
 
To be fair something good might just come out of this; peoples awareness is being raised that professional photographers are pro for a reason,a nd you get what you pay for.
 
To be fair something good might just come out of this; peoples awareness is being raised that professional photographers are pro for a reason,a nd you get what you pay for.

Were there photos worth £1,400?

The problem is anyone with a camera can sell their services on a website. It doesn't mean they are any good.
 
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No, but eually I wouldn't book a wedding tog without getting a very good idea of the kind of work they produce...
 
I can't be bothered to trawl through my history but one of the stories did say the couple were shown some evidence of previous work, which they thought were excellent.

My initial reaction was to blame both sides of the story - the photographer for not being good enough to sell the service of wedding photographer - and also the couple for not doing their homework.

However, if they were shown work that was good and they were handed 400 awful photos - then thats nothing really to do with photography - he's just a conman.
 

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