Being a part of a wedding can be a magical experience in itself but consider capturing all the magic that is about to define someone else’s life. Now that is a challenge.
Wedding photography can be a tough profession to take up. With challenges from getting started to producing pictures that the clients like, a lot of work goes into running a wedding photography business.
Let’s get down to what issues you may have to face if you start taking up wedding photography as a profession.
- Getting Hired Is The Hard Part: The first step to being successful in any field is finally getting a paying project. A strong portfolio makes it easier to convince someone that you have enough expertise to cover their wedding. You should have some idea of your costs but you need to convince someone else that your costs are worth your output. Once you have someone interested and willing to pay, you need to remember the next point so that you don’t ruin your opportunity.
- You Are Your Brand: And you have to create it from scratch. You know how you want it to look; you know what brand image you want in the market. So you are the best bet to handle every aspect of it. From sales manager to CEO, it’s mostly you. You are the one who will look out for production costs and give out advertisements. You get your business up and running and learn how to manage everything that goes in. You have to show your customer your value as a wedding photographer. The good news is you won’t have to do it all the time due to the fact that…
- Weddings Are Seasonal: Wedding photography is not a year-long business. There will be dry months where you’ll have to survive from your earnings acquired in the last season. To overcome this difficulty, you need to make sure you make enough to get you through the rainy months or find an alternative for this part of the year to be able to keep paying those bills. You better be sure to nail the jobs when you get them because…
- There Won’t Be Any Retakes: Literally speaking, you only get one shot. That first kiss, that first dance, it won’t happen again. You need to be skilled and alert enough to be able to capture all these special moments that the bride and groom want to look at on their return from their honeymoon. If you miss a shot, you won’t be excused because of the bad lighting or the overzealous crowd. You need to figure it out yourself. Make sure everything is set beforehand so you won’t have to miss out on capturing that bouquet mid-air or that aforementioned first kiss.
- Give What’s Asked For…But Be Original: A lot of skill goes into photography and so does creativity. Couples don’t want their pictures to be clichéd. They hired you for this exact reason – so that you could give them memories in a way that makes their friends jealous. This would only result in you being hired by their friends. And then the friends’ friends. And so on. Listen to what the clients want and then incorporate your experience and your finesse in giving them a refined version of their dream wedding album.
Wedding photography as a profession is a difficult decision to make. An unorthodox job that can take you to new heights if you are persistent enough to persevere through all the challenges and prove that you are cut out for the job.
It’s an uphill journey to be a wedding photographer looking to achieve success. The business is tough but a wedding photographer has to be tougher.
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This article was written by Saniya Salathia. If you want to contact her for feedback, write to saniya.salathia14@gmail.com
