I’m not sure if you guys remember my old website but one of my clients (and now friend of mine) Toni Jordan had a few songs playing on there that she had written for the website. The guy who recorded the music for her added me on Facebook.. and lo and behold, he has ended up one of my best mates.

He also got married just over 2 weeks ago, to the love of his life, Rebecca.

People often ask me whether or not I get nervous before a wedding. Well, when it’s for a close friend, I do. When you are watching him, watching her walk down the aisle… then you shake with all the emotions building up. I’m just glad my shutter speed was fast enough to compensate for all the shaking.

I had an aspiring wedding photographer Josh Mikhaiel join me for the day and he just posted some images on his website as well!

Here are a few images that I photographed on the day.

Photography is a conversation. In every day conversations we use pregnant pauses, which is a momentary stillness laden with significance. Rebecca, the bride, had a very busy morning preparing for her wedding, then I pulled her aside just before she was due to leave and asked her if we could set aside a few moments for photos of her. I gave her the space to just let her take a moment where there was no other concern apart from having some time for her. Without words, she sat down at the piano and started playing.

As photographers, I think we need to spend a little less time worrying about cameras & settings & lists of images we need to take, and more time just letting people be.

My first wedding experience 8 years ago was nearly an absolute disaster. I shared that story a few weeks ago. I had both cameras die on me when I arrived at the brides house. That wedding was for Chris & Tahlia, who kick started my career and seemingly told their world about me.

It kickstarted, for me, the career that has taken me around the world numerous times, introduced me to some of my best friends, provided me with such joy, and allowed me to create images for others that I know has brought joy to them.

Last week, Chris & Tahlia called me back. They asked me if I could photograph their family, and while I don’t usually do portraits, I couldn’t say no. I wanted to see these guys again! At the end of it, I posted this to Facebook. “My first wedding photography clients convinced me to be a wedding photographer, and after my portrait shoot with them yesterday, I think they’ve convinced me to shoot more portraits”.

I wasn’t kidding.

Then, out of the blue, another of my favourite clients Bianca calls me, and asks me to photograph her & Sandy’s little treasure, Mila. Bianca suggested that I should be shooting more portraits. I said, “I want to”.

I wasn’t kidding.

So, thanks to these lovely folks, I’ve decided to start shooting more portraits, except, i’m going to do it my way.

Contact me. I’d love to photograph those whom you love.

Here are some images I created for both of these lovely clients.

First, here’s one of Chris, Tahlia, and their little girl Poppy. Tahlia loves horses, so it was only fitting that we would take these images here.

& Here’s an image of Poppy, their beautiful daughter.

& then today, I photographed Mila.

I appreciate you, my clients, who have made my dreams my reality.

James.

It’s been 11 years since my first paid gig as a photographer. It makes me sick that I called myself a “professional photographer” back then. I had no idea what I was doing. I remember photographing a 40th Birthday Party shortly after I started, for a paying client with a flash that only fired at full power. I had no idea how to compensate for that. Every photograph from the night was pure white. I was not ready.

When I was 18, I did a photo shoot for the local car dealership at night of the latest range of Mercedes. Every photo was out of focus. I was not ready.

The very first wedding I photographed, both cameras broke on me within 15 minutes of arriving at the girls place to photograph the getting ready photos. I was not ready.

Are you getting the idea?

Fact is, it’s really really easy to make mistakes. Gear lets you down. Your knowledge & experience may be lacking. I was not ready to market myself as a professional photographer. That’s really hard to put out there, but it’s true.

-

Very few “successful photographers” these days are actually making their money from photography. There is a lot of money to be made in selling stuff to photographers. It’s never been easier to call yourself a “photographer”, put together a website and market yourself on Facebook.

Every second photographer is running a workshop. Most are a waste of your time and money in my opinion. They’re almost always run by people who are almost brand new to the business and have had “success” very quickly. You’ll also notice that there are companies who are behind them, wanting them to become successful, because they’re cute, marketable and can sell their products. The less experience the photographer has, the better, as it makes the newbie photographer believe that they can have the same success really quickly, if they just buy this or that or attend the workshop. It’s absolute bull. New photographers, please do not fall for it.

So, what does this mean for the person who is getting married, looking for a photographer and not sure who to hire? Firstly, it’s really easy to get caught up in budgets and finding a photographer who has pretty pictures that you can afford. Hiring a true professional isn’t cheap. What happens when you find out that the pretty pictures on their website were taken at a workshop, in controlled conditions, featuring paid models? What happens when you find out that most of the photos that the photographer took are rubbish, and are wasting your time on your wedding day, to get a couple of good ones here and there that they fluked because they took up so much of your time taking thousands and thousands of photos? What happens when you discover that the photographer didn’t back up your images and has lost them? What happens when you discover that the photographer has a completely different style to what you’d seen in their photos on their website?

Trust me when I say you can not afford not to hire a true professional.

I think one of the biggest things that has changed since I begun taking wedding photographs 8 or so years ago, is the amount of time that I need to do what I do on the day. Simply put, if I can be efficient, it means more time for my clients to relax and enjoy their day with their guests if I don’t take as long to achieve the results. Does this come into account when people choose a photographer? I think it should. It will affect your day more than you realise.

Now, imagine there was a guy who used to be a chef, and he was making it easy for anyone to open up a restaurant and test out their food on anyone who was silly enough to try it and said that making friends and smiling lots was very important in helping you succeed.
Imagine going to one of those restaurants where they borrow a successful restaurants menu and then promise you an amazing meal, but for half the price. You invite everyone you love to come out and spend the evening with you. You wait 6 hours for the meal to come. When the food is eventually brought out, it’s bland, boring, the ingredients are out of date and the food makes you ill. There’s a reason why it was cheap. That restaurant should not be open for business. They were not ready.

So, how does this relate to professional photographers?

There are a lot of photography businesses that simply should not be open. Receiving a camera for Christmas that makes it easy to take a nice picture does not mean you are a professional photographer. These guys don’t need to charge much. So, they don’t.

I’ve never had a client come to me and say, “I want a stress filled day, and just want to pose for photographs all day by someone who is using my wedding as a testing ground”. Yet, this is exactly what happens for way too many people who hire someone who they think they can trust.

-

There’s a guy in America who used to be a photographer, and now earns his living from selling stuff to photographers. He’s just released a system to help photographers who’ve just entered the market. He’s giving advice such as “If you forget what to do with your camera, just click into “P” mode and shoot away”. This is crap. It scares me to think how many photographers out there have just entered the market and think this is acceptable. I wish someone had pulled me aside when I first started and said, hey, how about you hold off going pro and i’ll show you what it means to truly be a pro. No one did.

If you think you’re ready to open up your photography business, you probably aren’t. Sorry.

Oh, and if you think I’m saying that I’m fully equipped and know everything, that is not what I’m saying. It’s only now I realised how much I still don’t know.

James.