Have you ever asked yourself ‘How Many Photos do you Get from a Wedding Photographer in Atlanta?’ Most brides and grooms have and the answer is quite a low number in my opinion, which is why I’m here to blow your mind.
I wanted to take the time to write about a topic close to my heart. It’s a topic that my brides love me for, and it’s also a topic that other photographers dislike.
I supply my brides and grooms with over 1000 edited wedding photographs. (typically over 2000 if I’m honest)
For most people, their wedding day is not only the most highly anticipated day of their life, but one with by far the most organization and attention to detail. I often hear my brides say things like “there were so many photographs that I didn’t even see you take, of moments I would have otherwise forgotten”, and “I can’t believe the variety”.
I see every individual occurrence of a wedding day as an individual shoot of it’s own, that should be worthy of a multi page magazine spread should you suddenly become famous.
For example, a bride with her bridesmaids in their kimono robes prior to the bridesmaids getting dressed, can easily be turned into a mini fashion shoot. I like to capture a series of beautiful and handsome head-shots of not only the groom, but each of the groomsmen during the preparation.
Firstly there are several stunning photographs that I like to capture of bridesmaids chatting to each-other, and laughing naturally. The bridesmaids can then marvel at the bride as she looks at her dress on the hanger or bodice, and admires it, and takes several moments to take in it’s beauty. How many times has the bride had professional beautiful images taken with her mother? What a fantastic opportunity to capture some moments of fun and get the bride and her mother having a laugh in their dressing gowns.
Whilst many photographers may see this as an opportunity to take one group photograph of everyone in their robes, I see this as an opportunity to create a visual story full of laughter, hugs, and connection. You chose these bridesmaids because you love them, and who is more important than your mum and dad to be photographed with you.
Before you continue reading, if you’re the sort of bride who didn’t grow up in a big family, and maybe you have one bridesmaid and no family helping you get ready, don’t feel overwhelmed because you’ll be photographed just as much! For my own wedding day, Joshua and I got ready in the same room as we got married in Las Vegas with only 2 guests from California who were able to drive up. We still had very comprehensive wedding photographs and I treasure every single one of them, but I will save that story for another blog post.
How Many Photos do you Get from a Wedding Photographer in Atlanta? If it’s under 1000 in 8 hours, you simply aren’t getting enough!
I have watched around 100 + wedding photographers on a wedding day, and I have seen the unedited work of many. I can tell you that I work differently from many wedding photographers, because while some will spend 10 minutes figuring out how to capture one shot, I’m mentally scanning the room for the next 20 shots I’m going to take, and when I’m happy with each of them, I like to think of something either creative and rather odd to try, or something totally fun.
What are these photographers doing all day? Sniffing flowers? There are 60 minutes in an hour. That’s 360 seconds in an hour. Don’t you think 150 images per hour is more than a reasonable minimum? How many beautiful moments are you missing out on otherwise?
I see bridal and groom preparation as a time where literally hundreds of things are going on. I love to take several shots of the groomsmen putting their ties, vests, and jackets on. I feel that these moments and others work beautifully as a series of shots. You might want to design your own wedding album and fill a 2 page spread of the boys getting ready, followed by a 2 page spread of beautiful and charming headshots of the groom and groomsman. The bridal preparation is another time full of emotion, detailed items, and lots of action to be photographed. Hair styles being done, makeup being done, beautifully dresses and shoes to be documented… among many other moments.
Starting out as a videographer allowed me to closely watch and work alongside other photographers, and many of them would do a lot of standing around and waiting, and many didn’t try to come up with anything unique or creative.
I try to work very differently to this, in that while I’m waiting for the next official thing to happen, I’ll be thinking up creative shots and anything unique or fun that we can try to do that may represent who you guys really are.
The detail shots are sometimes enough for a catalogue spread of their own. You have your shoes, rings, engagement ring, flowers, and anything else significant for the day. As a bride, I know that you want the best and most comprehensive photographs of the day.
Usually during the ceremony I will take several hundred photographs. I edit all of the photographs that I take myself, because I like to give you that personal touch. There are so many things happening during a wedding ceremony. Perhaps the groom is crying, and wiping his eyes with a hanker-chief. It’s always nice to try to capture some emotion from the audience. This can be a little more challenging these days when everyone is holding an iPhone to their face, and watching your wedding through the lens of their eye-phone, but I still try to capture some reactive shots, and also a little bit of documentation as to who was there.
There are so many facial expressions that a bride and a groom may pull during their wedding ceremony. I like to sneak around the sides to capture a few close ups if the location allows, as well as combining some close ups and a mix up of distance shots of other things going on during your ceremony.
I asked a bunch of past brides and grooms on video if they wished they had gotten less photographs from me for their wedding. They all said a resounding NO! They know I gave them so much variety that other photographers just wouldn’t have.
After the ceremony it’s always nice to capture some candid shots of your guests hugging and holding you and telling you how happy they are for you about your new life together. I try to capture a nice selection of natural emotion and happy expressions of guests hugging you in this time. It can often be challenging as guests are walking left right and center and they’re not always aware of where the photographer is, but it’s a beautiful time to get a nice selection documented for the bride and groom.
After the congratulations we move onto the family photographs. I like to ask my bride and groom to write a list of each combination of family photographs they would like. If you think Uncle Bob would love a wedding photograph with the bride, groom, and brides parents, then write it on the list. If you would love a photograph with Aunt Betty, then add that to the list. It’s your wedding, so I’m happy for you to make that list as long as you would like. I like to mix up the photographs in this section to have an array of family members looking at the camera, as well as some silly photos of them laughing.
Most of my brides and grooms ask for 2-3 hours of photographs between the ceremony and the reception. If they don’t have this time available on the schedule they typically opt to do the first look with me. This will usually involve a variety of backgrounds and locations, and of course the wedding reception is absolutely full of photographic opportunities. Firstly you have a beautiful cake, beautiful chandeliers, or neon lights (depending on your style) and of course then you walk in and sit down for formalities like the speeches. I stay til the end with my main wedding package, and so I capture a lot of candid shots of guests dancing on the dance floor. At some weddings I like to try to get couples shots or group shots of everyone, but it usually depends on the wedding, and how things are going. I love to take my bride and groom outside for a few romantic lit up shots in the dark as well.
Because a wedding is a story… YOUR story, I like to capture you hugging some guests goodbye, as your wedding is a beautiful story that should be complete in it’s entirety.
I have never had a bride anything less than totally excited to receive her images, and the usual feedback is that they love how many photographs they received, and that they love the variety and selection.
I get a lot of my inspiration from album covers, as well as famous photographers like Patrick Litchfield. If you look at some of the famous photographs of Marilyn Monroe, you will see that a lot of them are sets. You don’t just see one photograph of Marilyn sitting in her white tutu, you see about 12 in the set. Sometimes you see one displayed on it’s own, and other times you see 9 images from the set in a collage.
Each segment of your wedding day should be treated as no less special than that photoshoot of Marilyn Monroe. Are you keen to have a set of gorgeous images of the groom? No problem! Are you keen to display a set of images of crazy dancing on the dancefloor? Well as long as you guys do some crazy dancing, that’s no problem either!
Your wedding is the most special day of your life. Less is more may be a valid point when it comes to salt and pepper, or red lipstick, but in the case of wedding photography, nobody is ever going to give me a valid excuse to take less photographs.
Feel free to browse my pages, and I hope you like what you see!
xoxo
Sky Simone
