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Thread: How much to spend on a wedding photographer

  1. #26
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    So, because I don't have an eye for this stuff, what is ya'll's professional opinion on this dude's work? http://www.bellagala.com/minneapolis...grapher-joel-m

    We (fiancee and I) flipped through a few different photographers employed by this local full service wedding vendor and we both really thought his pictures looked good.

    Every journey to a forbidden end begins with the first step; and the danger of such a step by the federal government in the direction of taking over the powers of the states is that the end of the journey may find the states so despoiled of their powers as to reduce them to little more than geographical subdivisions of the national domain.

  2. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by swmnbmw View Post
    So, because I don't have an eye for this stuff, what is ya'll's professional opinion on this dude's work? http://www.bellagala.com/minneapolis...grapher-joel-m

    We (fiancee and I) flipped through a few different photographers employed by this local full service wedding vendor and we both really thought his pictures looked good.
    I like it.

  3. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by e24mpwr View Post
    I like it.
    Noted.

    Every journey to a forbidden end begins with the first step; and the danger of such a step by the federal government in the direction of taking over the powers of the states is that the end of the journey may find the states so despoiled of their powers as to reduce them to little more than geographical subdivisions of the national domain.

  4. #29
    nathancarter is offline Stretch Haters Club #1 BMW CCA Member
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    At a glance, it looks pretty good. Better than I would do at a wedding (I'm technically competent but creatively lacking for wedding work).

    I've heard hit-or-miss things about those package places that hire the photographers for you. Make sure that if you hire Joel M through them, you'll be getting exactly Joel M, and not his assistant or rep or agent or whoever they happen to send that day.


    Make sure to also inquire about the digital files. Are they included, what resolution, what usage/printing rights. There's no standard for that these days. It might be on the Bellagala site, I didn't dig very much.

  5. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by nathancarter View Post
    At a glance, it looks pretty good. Better than I would do at a wedding (I'm technically competent but creatively lacking for wedding work).

    I've heard hit-or-miss things about those package places that hire the photographers for you. Make sure that if you hire Joel M through them, you'll be getting exactly Joel M, and not his assistant or rep or agent or whoever they happen to send that day.


    Make sure to also inquire about the digital files. Are they included, what resolution, what usage/printing rights. There's no standard for that these days. It might be on the Bellagala site, I didn't dig very much.
    Sounds like that if we book Joel, we get Joel. The exception is that if we want to add a second shooter, then Joel will pick the second shooter. Sounds like we will own the pictures or rights to the pictures and can have them printed whereever we want. We get access through the internet and then maybe also on a DVD or something. I might ask about the resolution though.

    Every journey to a forbidden end begins with the first step; and the danger of such a step by the federal government in the direction of taking over the powers of the states is that the end of the journey may find the states so despoiled of their powers as to reduce them to little more than geographical subdivisions of the national domain.

  6. #31
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    I was not impressed. Lots of out-of-focus shots, shots with the light poorly managed (heavy shadows or hot spots on faces, especially), inconsistent white balance, etc, etc. The pictures didn't have consistency and the quality looked suspect on quite a few. Yes, he has some nice shots but he also had a lot of "bad" ones.

    I'm all for "creative shots" but if you can't focus the camera properly when people are walking towards you, you shouldn't be a primary shooter. If you don't notice bad lighting, you shouldn't be shooting either.

  7. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by JonBoy1979 View Post
    I was not impressed. Lots of out-of-focus shots, shots with the light poorly managed (heavy shadows or hot spots on faces, especially), inconsistent white balance, etc, etc. The pictures didn't have consistency and the quality looked suspect on quite a few. Yes, he has some nice shots but he also had a lot of "bad" ones.

    I'm all for "creative shots" but if you can't focus the camera properly when people are walking towards you, you shouldn't be a primary shooter. If you don't notice bad lighting, you shouldn't be shooting either.
    I just finished looking through several wedding galleries and noticed the same thing. There are a ton of safe shots in there, not very many artsy or creative shots/angles, almost cookie cutter.

    Post processing is a little all over the place not very consistent. some images are cross processed and others look straight raw to jpeg conversion ish. Several shots look like the photographer did not take into account where the sun was or where speckled/spotted light was coming in.

    I have 2nd shot for a local Atlanta wedding photographer who does the same thing that this guy appears to do, they have a wedding photography business but they farm out primary and second shooters and he books a ton of weddings in a month. He sometimes will shoot a wedding as primary but if hes double booked which happens a lot, he will farm out someone else in his place. THat happened when i was asked to 2nd shoot for him. I showed up and he wasn't there as he farmed out the primary as well and so the bride and groom and parents that paid for everythign had no idea and thought they were getting the main photographer. I felt so bad for them and worked extra hard to assure them that they had absolutely nothing to worry about and that their special day would be covered from beginning to end.

    Be careful with that one you are looking at, potentially could turn out to be that way and read the CONTRACT very carefully for any sections or lines that exclude him from liability if he doesnt show up due to "acts of god" etc etc and has the right to find a suitable replacement on day of. only if you are ok with that should you sign it, some try to sneak that in under the presumption that clients dont read the whole thing.

    I would steer clear of wedding vendors that hire out several photographers like this, they are in it for the money and consistency across the board suffers.

    What area specifically are you in and what is your maximum budget you are willing to spend on wedding photography?
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  8. #33
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    Hmm yeah I definitely am not seeing what you guys are seeing. not that I don't believe you, I just haven't an eye for that stuff.

    Noted about the contract, but I'll be sure to read carefully.


    I'm in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/st. Paul) metro area of MN. Wedding will be about an hour southwest of the metro. Max budget is 2500 but ideal budget is 2000.
    Last edited by swmnbmw; 04-30-2014 at 05:11 PM.

    Every journey to a forbidden end begins with the first step; and the danger of such a step by the federal government in the direction of taking over the powers of the states is that the end of the journey may find the states so despoiled of their powers as to reduce them to little more than geographical subdivisions of the national domain.

  9. #34
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    Usually you get what you pay for when it comes to wedding photographers. I would say the very minimum you should pay is $2,000. Of course there are exceptions though.

    I just booked my wedding photographers for $600. Granted, it's in Brazil and it's just cheaper there....and they gave us half the price.

  10. #35
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    Every journey to a forbidden end begins with the first step; and the danger of such a step by the federal government in the direction of taking over the powers of the states is that the end of the journey may find the states so despoiled of their powers as to reduce them to little more than geographical subdivisions of the national domain.

  11. #36
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    I'm not crazy about him. The photos are basic and meh

  12. #37
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    He's not particularly engaging BUT his photos are sharp, the colors are consistent and he seems to get the shot every time (unlike the other guy). I'd trust this one more than the other, that's for sure.

  13. #38
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    Interesting perspectives from both of you. I had the same thought LJ, but was passing him along since the-future-mrs likes him. But also I thought he wasn't fucking anything up to the point where I was concerned I'd look back in 10 years and say "why the hell did we hire him?".

    Every journey to a forbidden end begins with the first step; and the danger of such a step by the federal government in the direction of taking over the powers of the states is that the end of the journey may find the states so despoiled of their powers as to reduce them to little more than geographical subdivisions of the national domain.

  14. #39
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    He might actually be a good option. I would probably pay him around the 1 to 2 thousand range. It doesn't seem like you guys are too picky, which is good.

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