I’d like to say I’m amazed at what I have just found out – but sadly I’m not. But it does make me feel both sad and angry.
For the sum of £295 + VAT I “could” if I wished attend a training course as follows:
Photographic course overview…
Not enough images in your wedding portfolio to secure that crucial client? But without that client, how can you build it? We have the answer!
what you will need…
To know your way around your camera (this seminar is not suitable for beginners)
Two trainers; a stunning location and numerous brides and grooms and pre-wedding couples to model all in one day! Away from the traditional church setting, we focus on the happy couple both before and on the big day to provide you with a new set of images that will sell themselves! If your wedding portfolio is in need of some attention this is the seminar for you.
Ok – so here is my issue with this course. There will be people booking on it for precisely the reason stated – that they don’t have enough material of their own to form a portfolio. The two trainers for the course are well established photographers who run successful businesses of their own. They are competent in posing, lighting and all the basic skills necessary to successfully photograph a wedding day. Their students however may not be so skilled. So what do they do? Book themselves on a course like this which enables them to photograph what appear to be “real” wedding couples in a flattering and competent way.
Along comes an unsuspecting couple who look at these images and naturally assume that the photographer whose website it is has created these images all by themselves.
Fast forward to the unsuspecting couples wedding day and the pressures photographers face on “real” weddings both from a time front and people skills and to their horror they find that the photographer that they booked can deliver neither. What do they do? Sit and cry would be one answer which springs to mind.
So how do you, as a bride/groom or someone shopping for a wedding photographer avoid falling into the trap of booking someone who has created their portfolio like this? Ask to view complete weddings and wedding albums. With the best will in the world £295 training courses cannot provide a room full of wedding guests and father of the bride giving speeches for example.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m all in favour of training courses and photographers putting in the effort to realise their full potential – but showing a portfolio of pictures created on a training day and then passing them off as a “real wedding” is just plain wrong. Add to this portfolio one of the sample albums of photographs you can buy from a well-known Italian album manufacturer which are shot by a very accomplished Italian photographer (& then pass off as your own work) and look amazing and you have a recipe only for disappointment.
So ladies (& gentlemen of course!) to avoid being let down by your wedding photographer do your research properly and check out a minimum of 2 or 3 full weddings and albums before parting with any money.
You have been warned!
Hello, I want to say thank you for an interesting site about a subject I have had an interest in for a long time now. I have been lurking and reading the posts avidly so just wanted to express my thanks for providing me with some very good reading material. I look forward to more, and taking a more active part in the discussions here, whilst learning too!!
Hello thanks for the comment, I’m glad you find the writing entertaining!
Interesting post. I don’t think that showing a portfolio of pictures created on a training day is wrong, as presumably the photographer should be capable of reproducing those same images, having been instructed on the lighting and posing techniques required. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with the advert or in photographers obtaining good images to help attract enquiries. The only problem would be if photographers were not honest about where the photographs origined from at the enquiry / pre-booking meeting stage. If they are up front and admit that they lack real wedding experience then I can see no issue – I don’t think you need to be sad and angry!
Hi Gavin
Thank you for commenting. My worry is that pictures created on a portfolio day are done in a totally different environment to that of a real wedding day. There is a trainer present to hand hold for a start and the models are presumably co-operative and have a bit of an idea of how to pose. There isn’t people around refusing to come from the bar to have their picture taken as requested by the couple or a maitre d’ waiting to serve a wedding breakfast at a set time. The venue for the training day will have been chosen with care and should it rain the trainer will know how and where to pose and light the couples they are photographing to get a pleasing result – all of which makes for a great portfolio but how much of which can be replicated in real life by the person receiving the training?
I’m all in favour of photographer undertaking training to further their skill set. What I worry about is some photographers (& there are more than a couple in our area who do this) showing pictures at the likes of wedding fairs which have been taken on one of these training days coupled with the Graphi Studio sample album which isn’t their photography and are then leading people into believing that this is how their wedding photos will look. Whilst the odd really talented person might be capable of reproducing such images the majority will not. It’s not like portraits where the images can be recreated if the photographer balls up – this is one very precious, unrepeatable day and it does make me feel sad that some people will not get the photographs their either deserve or pay for.
I agree that if the photographer concerned is upfront about it in the first place then the couple can make an informed choice and there is no issue but how many are actually that upfront?
The main selling point of these portfolio-days is that a newbie can appear to be a seasoned wedding pro, but without having to put in the hard work and without having to learn anything.
Last Sunday, I went to a wedding fair and sure enough, there was one hopeful snapper who passed off the big Graphi demo album as his own work.
Any of us who’ve been through the MPA judges training would immediately have recognised the two distinct standards on show – competent work from a seminar or portfolio-day and the rest. Bad photographers simply don’t have the visual literacy to see the difference and, sadly, neither do their prospects.
I regard this practice as nothing short of criminal. The providers of portfolio-days are as guilty as the delegates who set out to cheat the public.
Sad thing is that, as so many photographers are having a hard time, training is so very profitable.
Hi William
We have also seen the Graphi album touted around at wedding fairs as if it were the photographers own work. We do believe that there is a place for good training and photographers striving to attain distinctions or qualifications from recognised established bodies such as the MPA and the BIPP. We are also all in favour of people trying to improve and learn.
The big issue is when someone only undertakes such a training course with the view of attaining a portfolio of a standard that even with the most switched on, quick learner ability around they stand no chance whatsoever of replicating under the pressures and time constraints inherent on a real wedding day.
There are no shortcuts to gaining experience in our opinion – a real wedding day is a far cry from a training day. The other worry of course is that other things which should be present are not – such as back up gear and insurance. By insurance we don’t just mean Professional Indemnity and Public Liability but also insurance for the camera gear – what happens if a lens is broken in the week of the wedding and the photographer can’t afford to replace it and has no insurance to cover it? There are too many compromises being made at the moment in this industry in our opinion.
When it comes down to it I think Alec Baldwin said it best in the Glenn-Garry movie. A.I.D.A attention, interest, decision and action. I’ll spare you guys the full speech where he cusses everyone out.
Thanks for the informative blog, some interesting posts. Enjoyed this in particular, be back soon. Cheers.
Thanks for the informative blog, some interesting posts. Enjoyed this in particular, be back soon. Cheers.
I enjoy checking in daily to see your musings. I have your page bookmarked on my must read list!
Thank you – that’s really nice of you to let me know!
Very good site to learn from. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you.
Very useful info. These is exactly what I was looking for and it`s what I need if I am to become more than an amateur photographer. Thanx and keep up the good work.
Thanks for sharing this info. I will definitely be needing this kind of informations if I am to become more than an amateur photographer. I hope you upload your blog constantly as I`m looking forward in reading more about this topic.
Hi there could I use some of the insight from this entry if I reference you with a linkback?
Hi yes – please put your link back to Yorkshire Wedding Photographers – thank you.
Your story touched my heart, thank you!
This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing websites that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free. It?s the old what goes around comes around routine. Did you acquired lots of links and I see lots of trackbacks??
Hello – I’m not sure to be honest but certainly hope so! I write a lot for online article directories to try to build up the backlinks to our site.
Hey just a thought, you would probably get more readers if you interviewed controversial people for your blog.
Hi that’s probably true – and I do know of a couple of photographers who do exactly that but they also get slated in the trade for trying to use other photographers credibility to help their SEO. Not especially interested in going that route at the moment but just out of interest did you have anyone in mind?
Amaze! Give many thanks you!
This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing websites that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free. It?s the old what goes around comes around routine. Did you acquired lots of links and I see lots of trackbacks??