How Professional Is Your Wedding Photographer?

I’ve been photographing weddings for more than 25 years and I’ve seen lots of changes in our profession over the many years, but none have been so game changing as with the introduction of digital cameras.

In the wedding business, it even took a few years for many of the pros to make the switch.  I personally made the switch to digital in 2000. It was scary just like anything else you try that is new.  No problem, we made the switch, and I have to tell you, I would never go back to film.  

But things started to change about two years ago. Cameras got cheaper, Facebook got famous, everybody started blogging, Craig’s List became popular, and cameras got even cheaper still. Now everyone with a new Digital Rebel or Nikon D3000 wants a piece of the wedding market.

Last week a friend of mine sent me a link to a YouTube video of Judge Joe Brown lambasting into a so-called “professional photographer”.  The bride booked a photographer and after seeing their images from their wedding, felt they were not representative of what the photographer showed as her samples. 

The bridal plaintiff wanted a refund of $1000 of the $1300 she paid to the so-called “professional photographer”. The judge awarded the bride, not the $1000 she asked for, but $2500 in damages!!!

My first intent was to post this as kind of a “humor” piece – lousy photographer gets what she deserves.  But, upon reflecting on it I decided it was a much more serious issue that that.  Here’s why… I’m meeting too many couples after their weddings with a disk in hand and the very same question “Can you fix these for me?”

The so-called “pro photographer” was shooting the wedding with a Canon Rebel with a “kit” lens, had the images processed at WalMart, and delivered them to the bride in the WalMart parking lot.  The sign of a true “professional” – right? Wrong!!!

Judge Joe Brown didn’t see it that way either asking the photographer why she wasn’t shooting with a pro camera like a Canon 1D, 5D, or 7D.  It seems the judge knows his cameras and a little something about wedding photography, too. He didn’t come right out and say it, but it looked to me like the judge may have shot a wedding or two.

OK, like I said, I planned to just post it for the “giggle” but I’m just so saddened for all these couples that I’m meeting after the wedding!  A wedding is a once in a lifetime event for most folks out there. When a photographer books a wedding, they assume a lot of responsibility for the outcome of their photographic result. How is it one can feel they are delivering “pro” results with “amateur” cameras?

This whole attitude; “I’ve got my Canon Rebel or Nikon D50 and some business cards. I’ve got my Facebook page, I like shooting pictures, I’ve got my blog, etc., etc., etc. I must be a professional.” To me it shows a total lack of professionalism when any photographer engages a client for the job of shooting the wedding and shows up as “Amateur Anne or Andy”.

We have been witnessing the “cheapening” of wedding photography over the last 2 – 3 years.  It has put good studios out of business, sacrificed quality photography for brides, created an entire era of paperless, picture-less couples, given wedding photographers and wedding photography a bad name, and does a major disservice to all the real “pros” in our business.

So to those who cheer the use of the Rebel as a wedding camera, I suggest you think twice before booking you next wedding.  I suggest you ask yourself just how much of a real “pro” you are. Do you really know your gear, your lenses, your lighting? Do you really know what shots to capture at the wedding? Do you know how to handle yourself in an emergency situation like when your gear fails?  Can you still capture the images? These are just a few of the questions real professionals know how to answer. If you are having trouble answering any part of them, you may want to change that or you too just may find yourself in front of Judge Joe Brown.